Peace Train Canada

  The Canadian Peace Museum has published an open letter (below) to the Prime Minister calling for more efforts to promote peace and support the launch of the Canadian Peace Museum.   Signatories include two recipients of the Order of Canada, including author and humanitarian Dr. Samantha Nutt and Professor James Orbinski, the Principal Elect of Massey College, University of Toronto.   The letter to the Prime Minister is below.   December 23, 2024   The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P. Prime Minister of Canada;  The Hon. Pascale St-Onge, P.C., M.P. Minister of Canadian Heritage;  The Hon. Mélanie Joly, P.C., M.P. Minister of Foreign Affairs Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister St-Onge, and Minister Joly: Promoting peace has never been more necessary. The number of wars and their deadliness is rising. Polarization is rising globally and in Canada along with hatred. Climate change, record-breaking number of extreme weather events, ...

“Merville resident among 40 West Coast activists riding Peace Train to Ottawa.” That was the headline of a story about Sally Gellard that appeared in the Comox Valley Record on Dec. 13.   Click here to read the story.

  By Bernadette Wyton   In a time of sabre-rattling and NATO calling us to a “wartime mindset,” the image above, beautifully illustrated by Pauline Conley, offers a clause to give us pause over Christmas.   Keith and I stumbled across the Canada Clause (Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty) in the underground nuclear war escape warren of the Diefenbunker, just before hitting its deepest inner sanctum, the great vaults of the Bank of Canada.   Who knew it existed? Lester B. Pearson, architect of multilateral peacekeeping and namesake of Canada’s once lauded peacekeeping centre, also led Canada’s vociferous defense of NATO’s second article, known as the Canada Clause, committing them to minimizing conflict and promoting stability and well-being.  It kind of sounds like what Peace Train Canada has been calling for! In his address to NATO members at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, Pearson begins by setting the context for Canada’s s...

For Winnipegger Gordon Matties, being part of the November 15-23 Peace Train from Vancouver to Ottawa was about imagining “a hopeful future, a future without war, a future of peace with justice for all of creation.”   Read more about the Peace Train in Canadian Mennonite magazine.

  One of the activities on the Peace Train was making paper peace cranes, led by Kristi Lewis. Watch the video and learn from Kristi how to make your own peace crane!   About the paper peace cranes: The history of paper cranes as a symbol of peace goes back to Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who folded paper cranes to recover from leukemia after being exposed to radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. S he folded 1,300 cranes before she died in 1955.    Her story spread around the world, and paper cranes are now a symbol of peace and hope in many countries. 

Now that the Peace Train is “over”—the actual train part, that is—what do Peace Trainers think about the experience?   For Diane Mayba, what stands out is the “incredible generosity and good will we experienced throughout our whole journey.”   This includes the advisors, who “were so incredibly generous and willing to share their wisdom and experience with us,” others on the Train itself and supporters along the way.   “The trip on the train with so many amazing people was unforgettable,” she said. “I loved just about every minute of it.”   Of note for Diane were the Compassionate Listening workshops and time together at the Quaker House on Nov. 22. “I hope to carry those lessons learned with me,” she said.   John Mayba echoed everything Diane said, and added that, for him, the Peace Train “was a spiritual, life-changing experience.”   From the first time he listened to the Peace Train song in April until singing it on Parliament Hill, he felt he was j...