KWPeace 2018 Spring

Date

26 March 2018 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Location

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

Participants

Laura Hamilton: Divest Waterloo, Food Not Bombs, Faith and the Common Good

Cathy Scott: Fair Vote Waterloo

Sharon Sommerville: KW Council of Canadians, Alliance Against Poverty

Dwyer Sullivan: Educators 4 Justice, Camp Micah, Conscience Canada

Sue Klassen: Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church, Peace and Justice Working Group, Grand Valley Institute outreach, Alternatives to Violence

Victor Klassen:

Gehan Sabry: Cross Cultures Magazine

Lynn Schulze: Crossing Borders Program

Alejandra: Crossing Borders Program

Bob Jonkman: Green Party, WR Nonviolence, KWPeace

Meeting Notes

• We should get Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) to come to KWPeace meetings

Groups Reports

Fair Vote Waterloo

• Electoral Reform is on hiatus, it is not active at the government level
• FairvoteWRC is still doing education
• No petition, but has a form to pledge to vote only for a party with a commitment to Proportional Representation

KW Council of Canadians

• Primary campaign is water

Alliance Against Poverty

• Political Action Campaign to implement Free Transit
  • First steps: Get Free Transit for low income people

Educators For Justice

• Speaker Candice spoke on native justice at Conrad Grebel University on Friday

Conscience Canada

• Promotes the divestment of 8.9% tax used to fund Canadian military to be used for other purposes
• Saturday, 7 April 2018 at 3:30pm is Conscience Canada AGM; Tamara Lorincz will be speaking on Canadian military spending and the effects on climate change.

English Catholic Teachers

• Social Justice for Human Rights

Crossing Borders

• A group of refugees and students, coming together to break down barriers
• Have done 100 presentations to schools, organizations!
• Workshops with 16 kids, presented to City Hall, schools, &c.
• Partnering with Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support (MCRS)
• Working on a partnership with CJI
• Have received grants (maybe can provide some experience for the Social Develop Centre's Community Hub initiative)
• Jeremy Horne has been their fundraiser
• 10 years of Crossing Borders
  • Started by kids, from program during Human Rights Week

Other Notes

• Alejandra is a refugee from Colombia
  • Got permanent residency through Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds
  • The Refugee Board and Immigration Board don't communicate; she was still receiving notices after getting permanent residency
  • How to get employment as a refugee? Kitchener Waterloo Multicultural Centre