PAST EVENTS

2003

28 November to 30 November 2003, Ottawa
Nonviolent Peaceforce Canada's 2003 Visioning Weekend (including AGM)

Nonviolent Peaceforce Canada members and volunteers gathered to re-connect
and plan for the future of our work in Canada and abroad. The weekend was
designed to gather inspiration, further develop our shared vision
(particularly how to root international work in our local efforts for
justice and peace), and set realizable goals for 2004.

Programme

11 November

Work a Day for Peace!

Calling on all waged people to donate one day's wage to Nonviolent Peaceforce to support its project in Sri Lanka; calling on all unwaged people to volunteer one day's work to Nonviolent Peaceforce Canada. Stay tuned for more details!

Multi-media Event: "Dispelling the Shadow: Understanding Just War and its Alternatives"

(Ottawa, 1 October, 2003)

Gianne Broughton created a workshop which involves role plays, focus groups, and screenings of clips from the Lord of the Rings film. Beginning with a dramatization of a nonviolent intervention by the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine, the workshop is designed to encourage participants to free themselves from the world established by Lord of the Rings, in which there is no alternative to wars and violence to defeat violent power and injustice. The workshop will be offered again in early spring 2004.

16September

Reception at Ottawa City Hall to Launch NP Sri Lanka project

Members of the Sri Lankan diaspora, NGOs, peace activists, representatives of the Sri Lankan High Commission, local politicians and other friends of Nonviolent Peaceforce and Sri Lanka gathered for an Ottawa launch of NP's Sri Lanka project in the Ottawa City Hall on 16 September. The event was opened by NPC's coordinator, who asked all present to lend their support to the project and the long-term objective of building a peace army. Recalling that the present times were ones in which it was more necessary than ever for people to "stick up" for one another in different parts of the world, she presented NP as one way in which people could do so more effectively. Ottawa City Councillor Clive Doucet drew parallels between the local and international realities and called on the people of the world, the "Second Superpower", to stand up against corporate rule and for human values by supporting initiatives like NP. The reception was closed by Angela Pinchero, an Ottawa woman who will be joining the Sri Lanka team. She expressed hope for the future of Sri Lanka and her resolve to support the work of building a just and sustainable peace in the country. As they left, guests expressed their support for Nonviolent Peaceforce and wished Angela well in her work.

Under Occupation: Reports from Iraq, Palestine and Canada

NPC Panel Discussion moderated by Bill Skidmore (Ottawa, 26 August 2003)
Aided by video footage of Palestine (produced by Fiona Becker of ISM-Montreal) and Grassy Narrows (produced by Dave Clement of Thunder Bay Indymedia), three peace team members came together to report on their experiences of the occupations of Iraq, Palestine and Canada - and to find the links among the three situations.
Colin Stuart of Ottawa, who participated in a Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation to Palestine and Israel, described how the town of Hebron had been emptied of its original inhabitants through oppressive military measures to make way for settlers. He found parallels between the settlement of Hebron and the settlement of Canada, in which his own family participated and which drove the original inhabitants off the land and onto tiny reserves. Zehira Houfani of Montreal, who was in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team during the invasion in March and April, and returned again in August with the Iraq Solidarity Project, related her anger, as an Arabic woman who had struggled against the occupation of her native Algeria, upon seeing a process of re-colonisation of the Middle East. She reported that people she had met in Iraq, even those who had previously believed that the invasion was a case of an evil means for a good end, were frustrated and fed up with the occupation. Leila Moanmar, a Palestinian born in the Canadian state, participated in an International Solidarity Movement - Montreal delegation to Grassy Narrows, Ontario in the spring of 2002. Read related Mouammar article here.She was deeply moved by the devastation of lives that she witnessed in this indigenous community, which is currently mounting a blockade to halt logging and continued destruction of their lands. Moanmar described how the visit had created a conflict between the two parts of her identity, Palestinian and Canadian, as she came to identify the situation in Canada with a mature version of what is happening in Palestine.
Event endorsed by Direct Action Casework Ottawa, NOWAR-PAIX, OPIRG-Carleton, ISM-Toronto, and World Inter-Action Mondiale.

First Regional Peace Team Consultations

Networking meeting for nonviolent accompaniment groups (Ottawa, 4-6 July 2003)
In cooperation with Peace Brigades International-Canada, NPC held a regional consultation among organisations and initiatives in central and eastern Canada involved in nonviolent accompaniment work. The weekend in Ottawa provided a chance for Christian Peacemaker Teams - Canada, Aboriginal Rights Coalition Atlantic -Observer Project, PBI-Canada, Iraq Solidarity Project, Projet Accompaniment Quebec-Guatemala and NPC to benefit from closer communication, cooperation and sharing of ideas, resources and experiences - to strengthen our efforts to achieve greater justice and peace. The organisations created a listserv to promote greater cooperation and agreed to make the consultation an annual event. Full report here

Call for Protective Presence in Palestine

Introduction to Peace Teams Workshop (Ottawa, 18 June 2003)
The workshop was designed to provide participants with a basic understanding and experience of non-violent accompaniment and monitoring projects, with a specific focus on the work of International Solidarity Movement and of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Palestine. About 15 participants learned about the history of civilian, unarmed peacekeeping, shared ideas about non-violence, explored the theory of deterrence, and participated in a role-play of a situation in which ISM and CPT activists might find themselves in Palestine.

Peace under attack: How to respond to recent violence directed at peaceworkers in Palestine?

NPC Panel Discussion (Ottawa, 7 May 2003)
Four speakers analysed the causes and implications of the attacks on three International Solidarity Movement activists - Rachel Corrie, Brian Avery and Tom Hurndall - which took place in spring 2003. Lucho van Isschot from Peace Brigades International - Canada questioned how the attacks might affect similar work in other countries and suggested ways for ISM to respond effectively. Jaggi Singh from ISM-Montreal described the Palestinian reactions to the death of Rachel Corrie and the violence against two other internationals. He noted that the situation was analogous to the moment in the American civil rights movement when white solidarity workers were murdered and argued that the best response would be to redouble efforts to recruit and provide a protective international presence to support the struggle against the occupation. Yavar Hameed, an Ottawa-based international human rights lawyer, gave an overview of the legal duties of occupying powers, and suggested possible legal avenues of response. Anita Block from Women in Black outlined the possibilities for local activists to respond to the attacks and the underlying causes of the violence. The presentations were interspersed with poetry and readings from the writings of Rachel Corrie, the two men, and their family members.
Endorsed by: NOWAR-PAIX, Middle East Discussion Group, Solidarity with Iraqi and Palestinian Children, Women in Black, OPIRG-Carleton, Canadian Arab Students' Association, Ottawa Quakers, Global Peace Coalition, and the Committee for Peace in Iraq.

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