KWPeace 2018 Summer

KWPeace Potluck Meeting for Summer 2018

Date

Thursday, 19 July 2018

Location

Peace and Justice Room, Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church, 57 Stirling Avenue North, Kitchener Map

Present

Sharon Sommerville (Fair Vote Waterloo, Alliance Against Poverty, Council of Canadians, Yes Cambridge)

Esther Kern (Christian Peacemakers Team)

Aleksandra Petrovic (Social Development Centre Waterloo Region)

Gehan Sabry (Cross Cultures)

Dwyer Sullivan (Conscience Canada, Educators For Justice, Camp Micah)

Mary Groh (Conscience Canada)

Charles (Social Development Centre Waterloo Region, Disabilities and Human Rights Project)

Ellen Papenburg (Council of Canadians, Animal Protection Party of Canada, Funeral Advisory and Memorial Society of South and East Ontario)

Mo Markham (KW Animal Save, KW Vegan Society, Mother Earth Save, KW Climate Save)

Sue Klassen (Alternative Vision for Peace, Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church Peace and Justice Committee)

Megan Ruttan (Citizens Climate Lobby)

Cathy Scott (Fair Vote Waterloo)

Jim Sannes (Council of Canadians, Unitarian Church Peace Outreach)

Bob Jonkman (WR Nonviolence, Green Party, Fair Vote Waterloo)

Scott Miller Cressman

Meeting Notes

WR Nonviolence Day In The Park

The day in the park is Saturday, July 21st, on Roos Island in Victoria Park, and many of us participated. (The rain held off until just about 5pm. YAY!) ... Bob or Matthew

Photography At This Meeting

Scott Miller Cressman from WR Nonviolence took some photos at the meeting, at Bob’s request. He is hoping to post on some of the social media sites, including KW Peace: http://kwpeace.ca/pictures-from-the-kwpeace-potluck-meeting-for-summer-2018/

KW Peace Blog

From Bob:

• Please contribute!
  • An invitation for all groups to post to the blog.
  • http://kwpeace.ca/posts/

Civic Hub

From Aleksandra:

• We have a chance to move ahead with the idea of a Civic Hub and I can ask how important is that civic space to the groups that come to the potluck. The idea would be to be cross-promoting as well.

If yes, I would have specific questions for the groups such as:

• • the need for the space (meetings, work, events, etc.)
  • the times the space would be mostly used (evenings, weekends... )
  • other logistics needed in the space for the first while (telephone,Internet, printing, scanning, storage, etc.)
• link to survey re civic hub: http://www.waterlooregion.org/civic-hub-survey

Municipal Elections

Aleksandra:

• doesn't have anything for this year.
  • the pages are from 2014 meet the candidates… http://www.waterlooregion.org/kitchener-all-candidates-october-21
• we would be looking at a different model, simpler and somewhat creative to host a dialogue with people and candidates on the local issues.

BLANKET WORKSHOP

from Hannah Enns:

• Blanket workshop taking place on July 25th at Seven Shores Community Cafe…
• Register at http://www.sevenshores.ca/events-1/2018/7/25/blanket-exercise
• Tickets:

$25/settler (non-indigenous)

$15/student/low-income/refugee

Free for Indigenous folks

• What does it mean to be a treaty person today in Kitchener-Waterloo? What is the untold history in Canadian society about colonization and movements of resistance? How do you push yourself to unsettle the settler within?

Perspectives On Peace (KW Peace)

• Laura Hamilton has arranged for KW Peace to use the Rotunda at City Hall on Saturday, 27 October 2018 from noon to 2:00pm (setup at 11:00am). Tamara Lorincz will be the speaker, and Food Not Bombs will provide snacks.
• All KWPeace groups are invited to have display or information tables around the rotunda.

" ...we're calling the event "Perspectives on Peace" or "KWPeace Connections".

Grant Applicant Needed

From Laura:

• We need someone to apply to the city for an in-kind facilities grant for our October 27 perspectives on peace event. See below regarding the event, and contact Bob or Mo regarding applying for the grant. This is the application: https://www.kitchener.ca/en/city-services/grants.aspx
  • SHARON has agreed to do this

KW Peace co-sponsor film?

From Tamara:

• Wondering if KW Peace would "co-sponsor" a screening of the film A Bold Peace: Costa Rica's Path to Demilitarization that she is hoping to screen at Conrad Grebel with Project Ploughshares this fall (likely early November) as this year is the 70th anniversary that Costa Rica abolished its army. The movie is a very powerful. It wouldn't cost KW Peace anything to "co-sponsor" just to add our "moral" support. More info about the film is at: http://aboldpeace.com/
  • we agreed we'd be happy to do this

Updates On Our Groups

Fairvote

Sharon & Bob:

• meeting with Bardish Chagger and Karen Gould … was Bardish who suggested the meeting, which is new!
• Fairvote Waterloo and Fairvote Canada collaborating
• there was a pop-up rally when Karen Gould was here … we got lots of support with honking etcetera
• national and provincial chapters of fairvote are meeting
• fairvote social next week at Sharon's
• need national education campaign but there is no money for this
• YES Cambridge … they're trying to get a ranked ballot for Cambridge municipal elections… Fairvote is supporting this because it's a beginning and people would have the opportunity to get used to an alternative voting system

Alliance Against Poverty

Sharon Sommerville:

• free transit requested … there will be (was) a pledge at the Nonviolence Day in the Park

Council of Canadians

Sharon Sommerville:

• attended all-candidates meeting
• will help establish A Chapter Ontario health coalition … they have a couple meetings coming up
• they are discussing the privatization of healthcare etc

Waterloo Region Nonviolence

Bob Jonkman:

• 26 exhibitors now for the nonviolence day in the park compared to 15 last year
• then IDOPAN (International Days Of Peace And Nonviolence) is coming up, and they have 3+ events planned
  • human peace sign
  • games night (fundraiser for sexual assault center and recovery)
  • and maybe a ...meditation for peace,
  • a movie night & discuss peace and democracy

KW Peace

Bob Jonkman:

• Web site statistics:
  • Steady hits 400/day
  • Events page alone gets 2000 hits in 2 months
  • KW Vegfest is the top page since May 2018 with 262 hits
  • 6 Month Statistics:
    • Perspectives On Peace top non-Events page with 5788 hits
    • KW Vegfest second place with 477 hits
    • Various Potluck Meeting events rank from 6 to 10
  • Search Terms:
    • nonviolence waterloo day in the park
    • where to vote in elmira%2C ontario
    • vegan festival waterloo june
• we have free web hosting
  • but we need pay for our domain name in October
• Perspectives On Peace
  • October 27 noon to 2…
  • Tamara Lorincz speaking on violence and climate change;
  • food available from Food Not Bombs;
  • all groups in KW Peace can have tables
• all agree to us co-sponsoring the film
• Megan Ruttan will help Tamara with the film
• application in-kind grant for the use of City Hall… Sharon will apply

Green Party

• very successful last election … in Waterloo Region three of the Green candidates were in 90th percentile for Ontario ridings; all five WR candidates in 80th percentile
• approached by Guelph and Brantford to collaborate???
• Green Party has an MPP in provincial parliament now for the first time ever!

Social Action Committee Unitarian

Jim Sannes:

• attended the all-candidates meeting re municipal election

Funeral Advisory and Memorial society (FAMS) of South and Eastern Ontario

Ellen Papenburg:

• green burial
• they're working on London and KW and other cities
• many thought had reached goal, but no
• still lot funeral homes don't show list options even though obligated to show
• funerals can be done very cheaply but people not made aware
• Bereavement Authority of Ontario exists at to ensure laws followed… FAMS works with them, but there are some ongoing issues with BAO re green burial, and composting human remains

Animal Protection Party

• Ellen may run for the party
• she met with Dutch Party for the Animals… they have five seats in their parliament because they have proportional representation

Disability and Human Rights

Charles:

• help for people with disabilities
• they were also at the all-candidates meeting
• there's also an advisory group through disability services on campuses

Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Megan Ruttan:

• coming up … talking Kai Raimer-Watts re event Sept… Beyond Crisis film may be shown
• need motivate people get involved … get past despair and into action

Divest Waterloo

• the film Directly Affected was at KPL with three area members of parliament and speakers. The audience was quite vocal about their concerns for the climate.

Alternatives to Violence Project

Sue Klassen:

• looking for more facilitators (not lecturing … experiential)
• it involves 18 hrs of training… communication skills, using power to respect all, non Violence etc
• in prisons or outside
• $90 for training unless $ not possible
• speak to Sue if you're interested

KW Animal Save and Kitchener-Waterloo Climate Save

Mo Markham:

• KWCS was one of the organizers for KW’s first VegFest on July 7th in front of City Hall
  • 3000 people
  • coverage from CTV News
    • two speakers, one of them talking about climate and animal Agriculture, and the other about the intersectionality between speciesism and racism and sexism Etc
  • the film Sea of Life was shown as well, and the filmmaker came for a Q&A
• we also attended sarnia vegfest, and the nonviolence day in the park
• a member of another of the animal rights groups in Kitchener, Malcolm, is on trial right now for breaking in and filming the deplorable conditions in several Ontario mink farms. He submitted the films to the OSPCA. No action has been taken by the OSPCA, but one "farm" is charging him, and another one may as well
• be save movement and many other environmental and animal rights groups I had a large protest in Ottawa on July 14th called Nation Rising, demanding that the federal government stop subsidizing animal Agriculture and, thereby, subsidizing climate change, to the tune of billions of dollars every year
• we will be promoting an Australian animal rights film, Dominion, in universities and colleges in the fall. It is a brutal but realistic film about what happens to the animals in animal agriculture
• we are still trying to promote the film Sea of Life, an award-winning environmental film made by a high school student in Burlington, in high schools, if anyone has any connections
• also trying to promote other films across world, and I have started the save movement animal rights film page to try and encourage people to show films as much as possible
• we continue to do monthly vigils Atlee slaughterhouse outside of Kitchener, and we do outreach on the street as well
• we are starting an Adopt-A-School campaign in the fall to target high schools as much as possible
• some of the local sanctuaries needing financial support and practical help as well, and most of them have times available where people can visit with children, or come to help out with Farm chores
• the Save Movement started in Toronto 8 years ago, and now has 420 groups in 50 countries, and we are actively growing this number and recruiting organizers in other countries.
• we made upcycled shirts to sell at our booths this year… bought Thrift store shirts and had them printed … more environmentally friendly and more economical
• we attended both days of the Benjamin Stein trial and sentencing, and had an online petition that got several thousand signatures regarding the farmer who left several thousand pigs to die in his barn without heat or food … the petition was to ask that part of his sentencing be that he never have animals in his care again … the petition was largely for a media attention, which we got, but in fact this is one of the conditions he was given, except domesticated animals such as cats and dogs were excluded from his sentence . .. this was the largest case of animal cruelty in Canadian history … almost all of the media around it was local to Simcoe and Brantford, unfortunately, despite the magnitude of the case… he pleaded mental health issues, and got no jail time at all

Scott

• attended the meeting to take some pictures
• former journalist and blogging and websites, and he is looking for volunteer opportunities

Conscience Canada

Mary Groh:

• will be at nonviolence fest
• people don't want support military with taxes
• can withhold tax and send the money to Conscience Canada to hold in a peace tax trust fund … can get it back from CC if CRA comes after you
• or you can do a peace objection without holding funds from CRA
• started by Mennonites and Quakers
• they'll have a table at the Beyond War conference
• Tamara spoke at one of their meetings re climate change spending and military spending
• Trudeau increased military spending and no MP objected, including Elizabeth May
• trying get bill thru Congress to allow conscientious objectors to be allowed to not fund war
• Stephen wodworth … ???

Palestine meetings

Dwyer Sullivan:

• Israel just voted themselves to be called a Jewish State … official now … apartheid-like
• monthly vigil outside the embassy

Camp Micah

Dwyer Sullivan:

• August 19 to 24
• usually 60 people at the camp, but don't have that many this year so far
• it's a leadership and peace and justice camp
• there are a number of Syrian refugees attending
• inclusive camp … have more spots … 3rd week August… high school or on way into … usually grades 9/ 10 / 11 … or mature grade 8
• funding … many free … money never problem
• need more attendants

Cross Cultures

Gehan Sabry:

• restoring common ground… monument at Victoria Park, it's in the works … unveiled mock-up of it
• now indigenous group looking at ???
• will partner with indigenous scholars and others to discuss water in the area
• maybe in the spring an event called Arabian Nights … with artists, documentaries, discussions and booths etc with different groups from various Arab countries…. maybe get Montreal and Vancouver to host a similar event as well
• she needs help with organizing it

Gehan on her own

• is taking the city on
• seniors advisory committee involved
• snow removal … city not taking responsibility … pitting people against each other. She wants the city to take responsibility for snow removal

Mennonite Central Committee

Esther Kern:

• Mennonite Central Committee is sponsoring a speaking tour of two young adults from Israel from October 23 - 29. The first one is Tarek Zoughbi, a Palestinian Christian who works with Wi'am - a Palestinian Reconciliation group in Bethlehem. The second one is a Quaker Israeli Conscientous Objector, ((I don't have her name --Mo)). They are looking for venues, and especially an audience of young adults. Contact Laura VanderGreindt at the MCC office if interested in hosting them. lauravandergreindt@mcco.ca

Justice for Palestine

Esther Kern:

• I met with my MP, Irene Mathyssen in May after the attacks on Gaza protesters. She was part of the MP Delegation to Israel/Palestine in March and is putting together a Power Point presentation of her experiences, and wants audiences to speak to. She is very sympathetic and supportive of justice for Palestinians. Let Esther know if you have a venue for her! estherk@cpt.org

Christian Peacemakers

Esther Kern:

• Skylight Festival at Five Oaks Education and Retreat Center, Paris, ON - July 27 - 29. Esther is representing CPT and leading a workshop on Palestinian justice. www.skylightfestival.ca
• Canadian Voices of Women for Peace Retreat at Hub and Hearth, August 17 - 19. Esther is a resource for the weekend, speaking on peacemaking initiatives. info@vowpeace.org
• MC Canada Resolution Working Group - will be starting to meet again in September, with new initiatives on the agenda.
• CPT will be (was) represented at the Day at the Park, with Waterloo Region Nonviolence Group
• Rizwan - a Student from Pakistan in the MPACS program at Grebel is available to speak in churches or other groups about his peace and nonviolence work in the country, and the persecution directed toward Christians.