Cross-Country Peace Train Seeks to Get Canada Back on the Track Towards Peace











Getting peace back on track in Canada—that’s the goal of the Peace Train. 

The 40 or so people travelling on VIA Rail from Vancouver to Ottawa Nov. 15-22 plan to ask the Canadian government to establish and fund a Centre of Excellence for Peace and Justice focused on research, education, and training in conflict resolution, diplomacy, and peace operations. 

“In the face of ever-increasing violent wars, nuclear threat, climate disruption, and humanitarian crisis, the Peace Train seeks to raise the voice of Canadians about the need for us, as a country, to find peaceful ways to promote stability, security, and human rights both here and abroad,” said Keith Wyton of Port Alberni, B.C. 

For Keith, who is organizing the Train with his wife, Bernadette, it’s not about Canada doing something new but, rather, recovering its “honorable history of peace efforts going back to 1957 and Lester Pearson’s Nobel Prize for helping create the first UN Peacekeeping force,” as he put it. 

Keith would like to see Canada become a leader, once again, in not only promoting peaceful solutions to conflict around the world, but helping to train Canadians to be those leaders on the ground in conflict situations. 

The Peace Train is a “symbolic way for us to share that message,” said Bernadette, adding that the project “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 Peace Train will start its journey with a launch event in Vancouver on November 14, 7 PM at the Canadian Memorial United Church, 1825 West 16 Avenue. The VIA Rail “Canadian” Train leaves Vancouver Pacific Central Station at 3 PM on Nov 15.  It will conclude with a multi-party reception and public event in Ottawa after Peace Train participants meet Members of Parliament to make their request in person. 

For more information about the Peace Train, visit the website.  

 

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