Peace Train Canada

The 2026 Peace Train is filling up! Thirty people have signed up so far, some taking the train and some flying to Ottawa. There’s still room for more, says organizer Bernie Wyton.   “We hope for more to make this trip a much bigger event,” she said of this year’s trip, which departs from Vancouver on Oct. 23.   The goal of Peace Train is to get peace back on track, Wyton said.   “We are calling on our government to commit to a culture of peace by establishing and funding an integrated, independent Canadian Centre for Peace and Justice. This is not a protest, but an effort to lift up all those who will rise to the current global challenges of resisting polarization, rampant self-interest, and an industrial war machine that is out of control.”   The train will arrive in Toronto on Oct. 27; participants will take a train to Ottawa on Oct. 28. There will be a reception with Members of Parliament that evening, arranged by Elizabeth May. More info about the trip be...

Want to know more about the Peace Train and meet some of the people behind it? Check out this video   on YouTube!

  One of the publications I write for is Canadian Affairs, an online news source that wants to cover topics that don’t get much attention. That includes about peace and peacekeeping. Earlier, I wrote there about the lack of attention to and questions about Canada’s increased defence spending. And now one of my colleagues has written about Canada’s peacekeeping myth, including comments from Peace Train supporter Walter Dorn. The article is below, but I encourage you to check out Canadian Affairs. Canada’s peacekeeping myth   Canada rightly once saw itself as a peacekeeping nation. But with just 27 peacekeepers on missions now, experts say much will need to change to restore that legacy   by Sam Forster   April 2, 2026   For much of the Cold War, Canada was widely seen as one of the world’s leading peacekeeping nations.   As thousands of Canadian soldiers served in United Nations missions around the world, peacekeeping became a cornerstone of...

  Peace Train Canada 2026 will be departing the station this fall—and you are invited to be onboard.   Travelling on VIA Rail’s The Canadian once again, it will leave Vancouver for Ottawa on October 23.     It arrives in Toronto on Tuesday, October 27 and Peace Trainers will depart for Ottawa the next morning, on Wednesday, October 28.   A parliamentary reception with MPs is on October 28, from 5 to 7 PM.   “This will be a journey across our great land to support peace,” says organizer Keith Wyton.   “With wars wreaking havoc, now is the time to tell our government that we must strengthen our diplomatic efforts to prevent conflict . . . if we want peace, we must train for peace.”   Along the way, Peace Trainers will meet supporters at train stations before ending up in Ottawa for a week of meetings and events with government representatives and officials.   The goal of the meetings is to call for the establishment of a Canadia...

The goal of Peace Train Canada is the establishment of a national peace centre that would, among other things, promote the Canadian heritage of peacekeeping. What do Canadians think about that?   A Nanos poll in 2025 sought to get some answers to that question. According to Jean-Christophe Boucher, who teaches political science at the University of Calgary and who helped create the poll, the older you are the more you support that idea of peacekeeping. The younger someone is, the less they do.   In that poll, respondents were asked to rank different national defence priorities from defending the homeland to contributing to international security through things like peacekeeping.   Overall, Boucher said in an e-mail to Peace Train Canada, contributing to international stability through activities like peacekeeping ranked lowest among the four “missions” the poll analyzed. Defending Canadian territory was number one at 91%, but 66% of Canadians still said contributing...

On Nov. 20 in the House of Commons, MP Elizabeth May (Green Party, Saanich-Gulf Islands) raised concerns in about Canada’s declining role in international peacekeeping and nuclear disarmament.   She noted that Canada once led in these areas—especially through Lester B. Pearson’s historic work—but now ranks very low in peacekeeping contributions and has closed the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre.   May went on to criticize the Canadian government for refusing to participate in or observe meetings of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, arguing this contradicts the government’s stated belief in a world free of nuclear weapons.   She noted that there are grassroots efforts across Canada promoting peace, including the Peace Train.   In response, Robert Oliphant of the Liberal Party (Don Valley West), who is also the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, responded that Canada remains committed to nuclear non-proliferation through the long-standing ...