Our May newsletter is being brought to you by our National Coordinator Alley McDonald.

This May we want to highlight VOW's Mothers' Day Peace Awards Ceremony (Register Now!); On to Ottawa Peace Caravan; Red Dress Day May 5th; No to NATO, Yes to Peace in Washington; and so much more happening this month!

Be sure to scroll all the way down for upcoming events, calls to action, and recommended resources!

VOW's work of peace, anti-war and demilitarization merits your support! Make a donation. Even better, join our growing number of Monthly Peace Partners. Consider $5 or $50 or any amount in between. Become a Peace Partner today!

IN HAMILTON IN-PERSON: “Palestine, Genocide & Resistance: The Big Picture in West Asia” with journalist and lawyer Dimitri Lascaris on May 15, 2024 at 20:00 hours—22:00 hours. Organized by the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War: https://hamiltoncoalitiontostopthewar.ca/

IN OTTAWA IN-PERSON: “Palestine, Genocide & Resistance: The Big Picture in West Asia”

Ottawa Peace Council event. May 22, 2024 at 18:00 hours—20:00 hours at Jack Purcell, Room 203, 320 Jack Purcell Lane. Doors open at 17:45. Two great speakers: Dimitri Lascaris just back from West Asia and Hassan Husseini (Labour for Palestine). Organized by the Ottawa Peace Council.

Organized by the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War

From Dec. 20, 2023 - April 15, 2024:
1,350 people were on hunger strike for a cumulative of 6,831 hunger strike days.
There were hunger strikers in ALL provinces & territories. 

We'll be at Gaza square once again this Sunday morning with hot chocolate and coffee, buttons and posters, lawn signs and colourful chalk! Come say hi and meet your fellow neighbours/organizers as we make our presence known and continue to build safety in our community!

TKARONTO: LET’S KEEP THE PRESSURE ON EVERY MONDAY! 📱🍉

Week after week, we’re keeping the momentum going with our Monday lunchtime zaps.

Our collective action is making waves, but we need to ensure our elected officials continue to feel the pressure until real change happens.

Gather with neighbours in an online space to phone, email, and fax representatives together! Guidance, script, and contacts provided. Invite your friends!

☎️Whether you’ve zapped before, or are just getting started, all are welcome in this weekly action! And if you’re interested in organizing in your neighborhood - these zaps are a great way to meet your people. Bring a friend or two! Facilitators from GTA ridings are present to offer support, demo live phone calls, and answer questions.

Join VOW and WILPF in an online open discussion about Canada’s new federal budget, new defence policy update and third national action plan on women, peace & security. We will talk about the dangerous warpath that Canada is on. Please see a link below to these documents plus SIPRI’s new report on global military spending.

Let’s discuss these plans and figure out how we take action.

*Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81629765160?pwd=dXF6cC9yUnZBRXJ2S1l0RTRwWm5LZz09

Meeting ID: 816 2976 5160

Passcode: 020765

Documents to Review:

1. Third National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security: A Foundation for Peace:

https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/assets/pdfs/women-peace-security-femmes-paix-securite/2023-2029-foundation-peace-fondation-paix-en.pdf

2. Defence Policy Update “Our North, Strong and Free”: 

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/corporate/reports-publications/north-strong-free-2024.html

3. Federal Budget 2024: https://budget.canada.ca/2024/home-accueil-en.html#pdf

4. SIPRI Report on “Trends in World Military Expenditures, 2023”

https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/2404_fs_milex_2023.pdf

Mark your calendars for the No to NATO, Yes to Peace conference and demonstration in Washington D.C. in July: https://nonatoyespeace.org/

VOW is calling for Canada to withdraw and the alliance to be abolished. Find out more about our opposition the NATO here.

Get involved, sign the statement:

Women United for Peace Against NATO are committed to a statement, which is here: https://nonatoyespeace.org/sign-the-statement/ and can be signed by individuals and organizations. It also offers different possibilities to participate and you can subscribe for email updates.

On Friday evening (July 5) there will be an informal get together

On Saturday (July 6) we will have a daylong international conference

On Sunday (July 7) we will have RALLY at Lafayette Park

Registration for the weekend is possible here: https://nonatoyespeace.org/attend-events/

Website No-to-nato.org

Additional information about peace events are here: https://www.no-to-nato.org/calendar-of-peace-activities/

This free, public webinar will feature a friendly debate on the proposition "War Can Never Be Justified. Large-Scale Violence Is Never a Better Choice Than Nonviolent Action."

Participants will be able to suggest questions for the moderator to ask.

Arguing the affirmative will be David Swanson, an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He hosts Talk World Radio. He is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and U.S. Peace Prize recipient.

Arguing the negative will be Jared Ball, a Professor of Communication and Africana Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power. Ball is also host of the podcast “iMiXWHATiLiKE!”, co-founder of Black Power Media which can be found at BlackPowerMedia.org, and his decades of journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at imixwhatilike.org.

Moderating will be Youri Smouter, host of 1+1, a topical history and current affairs program on his YouTube channel 1+1 hosted by Youri Smouter. He is based in Southern Belgium and is a left-wing media critic, NGO critic, anti-imperialist, an advocate for Indigenous solidarity and a Native Lives Matter movement and socially liberal thinker.

Host Contact Info: David, david@worldbeyondwar.org

Welcome to the Spirit of Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford Day and Peace Through Education Fund Launch!

Join us in Esquimalt, BC, Canada, for an unforgettable occasion as we launch the Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford Peace through Education Fund. This special event is dedicated to honoring Mary -Wynne's remarkable legacy and promises to be a source of inspiration, community, and shared dedication to positive change. Lunch is being provided by Syriana Restaurant & Catering with vegan/vegetarian options

Tickets are limited, so register now to secure your spot! Read more about Mary-Wynne's extraordinary life here: https://marywynneashford.ca. You can also contribute to the cause by donating at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/100389, all donations will be matched by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada up to $25,000. Be part of this exciting new chapter as we honour Mary-Wynne's compassion and activism, and strive to carry her legacy forward.

What will be discussed:

• UNSC resolution – how can it be enforced? (speaker: an expert on UN law and previous intrventions, sanctions)

• Stopping the weapons at source – getting an arms embargo (speaker: on latest steps on embargos)

• Trade union action to stop the Israeli war machine (speaker: some one from India where there have been big actions?)
• Feeding the people – getting the aid into Gaza (speaker: someone who can assess different options and what we can do to help
• Taking action inside Israel – what is being done? (speaker: an Israeli opposed to the crimes in Gaza)
• Building the solidarity movement internationally (speaker: giving a global overview and highlighting most impactful actions)

• Anuradha Chenoy, India, Professor Emeritus at the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
• Andrew Feinstein, former South African MP, author of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade.
• Frankie Leach from Action Aid, UK,
• Taking action inside Israel
• Medea Benjamin, USA, co-founder of CODEPINK & the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, ACERE* and LetCubaLive.info
  

Moderation: Kate Hudson, UK, CND and Reiner Braun, Germany, IPB

Science for Peace

Peace and Conflict Lectures, Winter 2024

Paul Jay is a journalist and filmmaker and the founder of theAnalysis.news. He is the past chair of the Documentary Organization of Canada and was the founding chair of Hot Docs! Jay was the co-executive producer of "counterSpin" on CBC Newsworld. He is working on a dcocumentary titled "How to Stop a Nuclear War" based on Daniel Ellsberg's book "The Doomsday Machine," narrated by Emma Thompson.

Register:

In-Person (University College, U of T): http://tiny.cc/6a1rxz 

Zoom: http://tiny.cc/pa1rxz

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has announced (repeatedly) that it will select its preferred site for a deep geological repository in which it will place all of Canada's high-level nuclear fuel waste (that's 60,000 tonnes and counting). The NWMO claims it will only proceed with an "informed and willing host". The final decision to approve the site, the design, and the operation will be made by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. This webinar will explore issues with each.

Common Thread Community Chorus of Toronto is an 80-voice choir that promotes community and social justice through music. Boasting a rich and diverse repertoire drawn from multicultural folk music traditions, the choir aspires to make a positive impact on the world, one song at a time.

This year the choir is celebrating its 25th season. Over the past quarter century, its repertoire has focused on many themes including peace and freedom, equality, the lives of women, working people, housing, and the challenges faced by immigrants and refugees.

Our 25th Anniversary Concert takes place on May 25, 2024, at Church of the Redeemer in Toronto. Making a donation, purchasing an advertisement in our concert program or sponsoring our concert are great ways to support the choir. Donations of $50 or more will be recognized in our program booklet. Please donate through Canada Helps, and receive your tax receipt right away.

Buy your tickets now!

Closed for signature May 5, 2024, at 4:03 p.m. (EDT)

There are scientific and public concerns about the risks of radioactive exposures along the transportation route and in the region of and downstream from the repository site under both normal operating and accident conditions.

The Government of Canada has affirmed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which sets out that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of Indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent (Article 29); and Canadian law recognizes that every individual in Canada has a right to a healthy environment (CEPA 2023).

SIGN BY MAY 3rd, 2024!

Please sign the petition to recognize Ecocide.

• Scientific assessments underline the urgent need to address the intersecting crises of climate change, biodiversity breakdown, pollution, and resource depletion;
• The most severe, widespread, and long-term forms of environmental damage (ecocide), which contribute to these crises, are not recognized as a crime under existing international laws;
• Amending the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to include ecocide as a crime, alongside genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression, could provide a simple, effective deterrent for corporate and government decision-makers from causing intentional or negligent environmental destruction.

Sign by May 7th, 2024

The women, peace and security (WPS) agenda
was born from the advocacy of a global movement
led by women experiencing armed conflict, crisis
and instability. It is both a commitment to gender
equality and a call to action to promote and
protect the rights and agency of women, girls
and gender-diverse people.
The agenda has evolved since the year 2000,
when the United Nations Security Council passed
resolution 1325, prompted by the increasingly
complex and changing nature of conflict, emerging
security threats, new technology, competition
in the Arctic and outer space, and shifts in
the geopolitical landscape.

The federal government has announced a massive increase to military spending and carbon-intensive weapons programs under Canada's new defence update entitled "Our North, Strong and Free."

The federal government will spend an additional $9 billion to make more guns & ammunition, $18.4 billion for attack helicopters, $2.8 billion for cyberwarfare, $2.7 billion for missiles, $9 billion for naval fleets, more artillery, battle tanks, armoured vehicles and attack drones: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2024/04/our-north-strong-and-free-a-renewed-vision-for-canadas-defence.html Plus the federal government announced further militarization of the Arctic and oceans.

The Prime Minister explained that the government will increase military spending by $73 billion over 20 years to be included in the upcoming Budget 2024 released on Tuesday, April 16 – this in the midst of a climate emergency and poverty crisis.

THUNDER BAY — Canada has better options than nuclear power in the country’s quest to reduce carbon emissions, says a professor in York University’s faculty of environmental and urban change.

“I think we’ve got lots of options in terms of what sort of pathways to decarbonization we take – within which an expansion of nuclear, I would argue, is an option of absolute last resort,” Mark Winfield said in an interview before speaking to an Environment North meeting in Thunder Bay.

Join author Yves Engler on Mondays for a weekly news roundup and interactive discussion about Canada’s role abroad. This weekly session will delve into the latest developments on subjects ranging from military affairs and Canada’s role in Ukraine to its contribution to Palestinian dispossession and exploitation of African resources. Join Yves for a critical take on Canada’s foreign policy. Questions, comments and criticisms are all welcome.

Mondays 6PM EST

On 20 July, Secretary-General António Guterres presented to Member States his Policy Brief on A New Agenda for Peace, which outlines his vision for multilateral efforts for peace and security, based on international law, for a world in transition. It outlines an extensive and ambitious set of recommendations that recognize the inter-linked nature of many of the challenges we face.

Be sure to renew your membership and donate to support our important work building a culture of peace in Canada and so that we can continue to hire youth throughout the year. Make a donation today!