Peace Train Canada

By Bernadette Wyton A presentation given to the Oct. 22 breakfast with Parliamentarians in Ottawa. Since Peace Train Canada’s visit to Ottawa last year, the political climate has completely changed. President Trump’s rise to power in an aura of dissonance and disrespect helped distill our minds and usher in our current Canadian government. The ongoing erosion of democratic values across the border is a warning call for us to re-examine our own. We stand at the crossroads of our Canadian identity. Will we trade democratic values for militarized security? Will we uphold truth or submit to power? Will we cash in our inheritance of the Golden Rule for the glitter of a Golden Dome? Will we choose to live in the rubble of discontent, distrust, and disinformation or celebrate and uphold the institutions of truth and  freedom that support our own individual freedom and agency? As we teeter on the fulcrum of multiple tipping points, it becomes increasingly clear that peace is a fundam...

  “It’s good to see you here, building on the momentum from last year.” With those words, Gord Johns, NDP Member of Parliament for Courtenay—Alberni, B.C., welcomed a dozen members of Peace Train Canada to a breakfast with parliamentarians at the Senate of Canada building in Ottawa on Oct. 22.   The meeting, which found 10 Members of Parliament and one Senator, or their representatives, at the event, was a follow up to the 2024 Peace Train Canada reception with Parliamentarians, also in Ottawa.   “We are honoured to join you in building peace and understanding,” Johns said, adding the efforts of the Peace Train “is inspiring."   The need for peacekeeping around the world is more necessary than ever, Johns said, noting that over 120 million people have been forced from their homes by conflict.   “These are not just stats, these are people and families,” he said.   “Peace begins with action,” he went on to say, adding he supported the Peace Train’...

Want to take ride on the Peace Train? This short video by Jase Tanner from the 2024 trip from Vancouver to Ottawa will give you an idea of what it was like.   View the video here.

If you are in the Ottawa area, and you want to support the Peace Train and hear some great music—and spend time with others interested in peace—come to Music and Words for World Peace on Friday, October 24 at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 82 Kent St., Ottawa. 

  Peace Train Canada will be in Ottawa in October 21 to 25 to call on government to establish a Peace Centre.   Foundational to our request is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); it inspires our goal. With the enactment of the declaration, Canada and other countries committed themselves to build a more secure world for all.   Our request was emphasized and given credence on September 25 in Vancouver when about a dozen Peace Trainers attended the Massey Lecture delivered by international human rights lawyer and Peace Train Canada advisor Alex Neve.   This year’s title was “Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World.” In his presentation, Alex delivered a tour de force argument to reinvigorate the understanding and efficacy of human rights.   In his presentation, which will be delivered in five cities across Canada, Alex—who was also a panelist at the November 22, 2024 Peace Train Canada panel discussion in Ottawa titled “Peace an...

Peace Train Canada has received a National Community Peace Award from the Canadian Peace Museum.   The Award—the first time the Museum has given a national award to an organization—recognizes Peace Train Canada for “creating a national movement calling for peace.”   “We were impressed with Peace Train Canada’s grassroots effort to promote peace, along with their event in Ottawa which was attended by Members of Parliament from all of Canada's major political parties,” says the Museum’s President, Chris Houston.   For Keith Wyton, who organized the Peace Train along with his wife, Bernie, the award is “amazing, wonderful.”   “It’s so encouraging to receive it,” Keith said, adding the Award went to everyone who was on the Peace Train last November when it went to Ottawa and when it went to the United Nations in New York in March—and for all who support it and its efforts.   “We’re all just regular people, lighting a candle when it is darkest,” Keith said....

Peace Train Canada is going back to Ottawa! By plane, this time; VIA Rail was unable to accommodate us this time around, so we are travelling by air. And you are welcome to join us!   We will be in the nation’s capital Oct. 22-26.The time kicks off with a parliamentary breakfast gathering co-hosted by Senator Marilou McPhedran (non-affiliated, Manitoba), Elizabeth May (Green Party, Saanich—Gulf Islands) and Gord Johns (NDP, Courtenay—Alberni), Andreanne Larouche (Bloc), Dave Epp (Conservative, Chatham-Kent-Leamington),  and Taleeb Noormohamed (Liberal-Vancouver-Granville).   At this event, Peace Train Canada and the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (CNANW) will each present their case. (Peace Train Canada is now an official member of CNANW.)   On October 23, three PTC representatives will observe the Expert Round Table on Nuclear Disarmament entitled, “Advancing Nuclear Disarmament in a Chaotic World”, sponsored by the Nuclear Disarmament 4 (ND4): Ca...