Meet the Peace Trainers: For Vancouver couple, the Peace Train is a family affair

For the Cathy and Sameer Merchant of Vancouver, getting peace back on track in Canada is a family affair. 

The couple are part of the Peace Train with their children, Inara, 10, and Ammar, 7, and Cathy’s father, James. 

For Cathy, who is Minister of Community Life at Canadian Memorial United Church and the Founder and Interfaith Leader of the Living Interfaith Sanctuary, an Interfaith congregation in Vancouver, taking her children on the Peace Train is a way to provide them with an “excellent and intergenerational learning experience” and to “inspire other families to work together to promote peace in their own ways.” 

She believes the Peace Train is important because “we are dedicating fewer resources to peacemaking now than ever before . . . and yet we think nothing of spending two percent or more of our annual budget on military spending. It's no wonder we don't have peace in the world; no one wants to fund it or take it seriously.” 

While on the Peace Train, Cathy also taught compassionate listening, which enables people to “her and understand the pain of others and differing perspectives.” 

For Sameer, traveling on the Peace Train as a family has been a bonding experience and enabled their children to get a sense of how big Canada is. 

At the same time, he said, they were able to learn more about how government works and see that “the actions of ordinary people can make a difference.” 

As an Ismaili Muslim, the goal of the Peace Train resonates with him since his religion emphasizes pluralism between religions—something that would be great to see between nations, too. 

As the U.S. looks poised to abdicate its role in the world, this might be an opportunity for Canada to step up through things like peacemaking, he said. 

For more information about the Peace Train, visit the website at https://www.peacetraincanada.com

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