“You are inspiring in these difficult and uncertain times.” Peace Trainers meet Members of Parliament in Ottawa

“You are inspiring in these difficult and uncertain times.” 

With those words, Gord Johns, NDP Member of Parliament for Courtenay—Alberni, welcomed Peace Train participants to a reception in Ottawa at the Sir John A. MacDonald Building. 

Eleven Members of Parliament attended the reception—something Johns noted was exceptional considering how busy Parliamentarians are each day.

“This is a tremendous showing,” he said, noting that every political party was represented at the event.

Johns praised the Peace Trainers, saying they were bringing an important and hopeful message to Ottawa in calling for a Centre of Excellence for Peace and Justice—something he was glad to support.

Following Johns was John McKay, Liberal Member of Parliament for Scarborough—Guildwood and Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence.

McKay said he spends most of his time thinking about the latest threats. “We live in a fraught environment,” he said, adding “I’m glad to see you here bringing a message of peace.”

He went on to say while the results of the U.S. election “don’t augur well for peace,” it was important for Canadians to look for ways to avoid conflict.

“We are all on the same train for peace,” he said. “We need your guidance and wisdom . . . I hope you come back again and again and again with your important message.”

Alex Ruff, Conservative Member of Parliament for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, spent over 25 years in the Canadian military, including on peacekeeping tours.

He reminded the reception about the challenges facing peacekeepers who are “put in harms way” in different countries around the world.

“The world is complicated than it has been in decades,” he said, adding that “traditional peacekeeping roles don’t exist anymore . . . It’s hard to find places where both parties in a conflict want peacekeepers.”

He concluded by emphasizing the need to promote peace, noting that one group of people who never want to see war again “are soldiers.”

 

Elizabeth May, Green Party Member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands—and self-described “peace nerd”—told the reception that the Peace Train was needed to “put peace back in people’s minds.”

May went on to compliment the Peace Trainers for the media coverage they had received along the way, adding there is a need for the peace movement to be revived in Canada today.

“Thank-you for spreading the message of peace,” she said.

 

Also speaking at the reception was Donald MacPherson, president of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association.

He noted that about 130,000 Canadians served as peacekeepers since 1956, but that Canada currently has little involvement in peacekeeping.

Canada can’t send peacekeepers everywhere there is conflict, he said, but it should revive the peacekeeping tradition.

“We can be more selective,” he said, but “neither should we avoid the responsibility” for creating and maintaining peace.

Peacekeeping makes a difference, he stated, adding he joined the Peace Trainers in calling for a centre to promote peacekeeping and diplomacy.

Such a centre would prepare Canadians to once again “be leaders in peacekeeping operations, contributing to peace internationally,” he said.

 

For Walter Dorn, a professor of defence studies at Canadian Forces College, acknowledged the presence of so many Members of Parliament at the reception, and praised the Peace Trainers for coming to Ottawa.

“The government doesn’t move unless the people move,” he said, adding that their message of peace was needed at a time “when there is so much conflict in the world.”

The situation today is discouraging, he said, “but not hopeless.” The challenges facing peacekeepers today have changed, but history shows “it works,” he added.

The reason Canada is doing less peacekeeping today is because it is “an immensely hard job” and Canadians military leaders “are risk averse,” he said.

But peacekeeping is part of Canadian identity, he went on to say, part of “what it means to be Canadian.”

A centre for peace and justice could not only train Canadians to promote peace, but also people from other countries, he added.

 

Also speaking was Adrienne Larouche of the Bloc Québécois, who said she came to “salute” Peace Trainers.

The evening was concluded by Peace Train organizers Keith and Bernadette Wyton.

Keith said he hoped the Peace Train would build “a new peace constituency” in Canada, while Bernadette she hoped it would help a “culture of peace” to serve the national interest.

Other Members of Parliament at the reception were Taleeb Noormohamed (Liberal, Vancouver Granville), Shelby Kramp-Neuman (Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington), Dave Epp (Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington), Ted Falk (Conservative, Provencher) and Don Davies (NDP Vancouver Kingsway).