Monthly Archives: February 2023

Recent McGill graduate Carley Dove-McFalls writes:”Trudeau’s government is using our tax dollars to exacerbate violence in the world and we will do everything in our power to stop this unacceptable behaviour. People are suffering; the Canadian government must stop using empty words and PR campaigns to absolve themselves from the harm they are inflicting on the entirety of the population (and particularly on Indigenous peoples) and the environment.”

Read her article in full here: https://www.scienceforpeace.org/post/min-guilbeault-there-is-no-canadian-climate-leadership-without-canceling-the-f-35-fighter-jet

Our Peace Tax Return offers a way to challenge this hypocrisy. https://www.consciencecanada.ca/?page_id=132

Conscience Canada has signed the DefendtheAtlantaForest solidarity statement & we encourage others to do likewise. (Sign here: https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/solidarity/ )

On Jan. 18, forest defender Manuel Esteban Paez Teran was killed (shot 13 times by police).

As the statement explains, “The struggle that is playing out in Atlanta is a contest for the future. As the catastrophic effects of climate change hammer our communities with hurricanes, heat waves, and forest fires, the stakes of this contest are clearer than ever. It will determine whether those who come after us inherit an inhabitable Earth or a police state nightmare. It is up to us to create a peaceful society that does not treat human life as expendable.”

Nonviolence International https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/ has very useful information on what it’s like for those resisting occupation and war in Ukraine & Russia, and what we can do to help people there build peace and justice.

This includes a report from Dec. ’22 on attitudes towards the war in Russia. It struck me that, although the situation in Russia is, in many ways, more harsh than what we face here, a key recommendation from the report applies to our situation as well as theirs:

This Valentine’s Day, make love not war

Who was Saint Valentine? Stories vary but according to one account he was a third century Roman priest. Rome at this time was ruled by the bloodthirsty Emperor Claudius II. Single men were thought to make better soldiers & only they were subject to the draft. Worrying that men would marry to avoid military service Claudius outlawed marriage. Valentine disobeyed the law & performed marriages in secret. Not only did he unite lovers but he provided war resisters with an alternative to the draft. Valentine was eventually executed for his act of defiance.