Thank you to Shakil Choudhury for permission to share this BEAUTIFUL story, in honour of the National Day of Truth & Reconciliation, from his useful book! This story is more fully recounted online at: http://francinelemayenglish.weebly.com/my-story.html

The First Step to Reconciliation

In the summer of 1990, a blockade was set up on a local road to Kanesatake, home to the mostly English-speaking Mohawk people in the French-speaking province of Quebec, about an hour’s drive from Montreal. Once again, Indigenous rights were being trampled. This time the scenario involved the local town, Oka, pushing for townhouse development and expansion plans for a golf course over the ancestral burial grounds without consent or permission from the Mohawks of the Kanesatake community.

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Nonviolence News https://nonviolencenews.org/ editor Rivera Sun shares “success stories” including one from Truthout about this successful petition campaign https://truthout.org/articles/activists-now-have-104000-signatures-to-put-stop-cop-city-on-the-ballot/.

Thanks to author Leonard Desroches for the lead to Nonviolence News.

We are told that the military protects our lives, our freedoms. If we needed proof that militarism undermines health and wellbeing, and rights and freedoms, not only overseas but at home as well, this article, by PBI-Canada’s Brent Patterson, provides it. https://pbicanada.org/2023/08/22/nagata-links-rcmp-c-irg-coastal-gaslink-pipeline-former-cia-director-david-petraeus-and-us-military-counter-insurgency-manual/

Wear white poppies from Sept. 21 (International Day of Peace) to Dec. 10 (International Human Rights Day).  By wearing white poppies, we affirm our support for a world free of war & the harms linked to war & militarism (eg. human rights violations, sexism & other forms of denigration and marginalization, colonialism and the destruction of natural life systems). Other important dates to highlight include the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (Sept. 30), the International Day of Nonviolence (Oct. 2), Remembrance Day (Nov. 11) and the Day of Remembrance & Action on Violence Against Women (Dec. 6)

Open the door to questioning war and the fear that feeds it.

Renew our commitment to work for peace with justice. Withhold taxes and other energies that feed war. Defund the military; defend the earth.

Contact b.nota@icloud.com to order wallet cards.

See the “Creativity” tab https://www.consciencecanada.ca/?page_id=1592 for ideas for making poppies.

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Bruna Nota and Murray Lumley represented Conscience Canada at the annual Hiroshima Day event in Toronto this year. In a recent letter, Doug Hewitt-White points out, “As August 6th approaches we remember the criminal horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet our country has chosen not to vote for the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons approved by 122 other nations around the world. ”

As the famous “Doomsday Clock” is set closer to “midnight” than ever, Doug invites us to remember our humanity. Read his letter here: https://millstonenews.com/remembering-our-humanity/

By World BEYOND War, July 31, 2023

Activists with Montreal for a World BEYOND War and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute gave out free ice cream at Parc Lafontaine on Sunday, July 23 at 1PM in a “Cones Not Drones” action calling for an end to Canada’s planned armed drone purchase.

Find out more about what a proposed drone purchase means for the rule of law and how to set up your own Cones Not Drones stand: https://worldbeyondwar.org/cones-not-drones-using-ice-cream-to-take-on-canadas-planned-purchase-of-its-first-armed-drones/

A subjective report of the International Peace Conference for Ukraine in Vienna.

There was the elephant on the stage when several hundred committed peace fighters and human rights defenders – of which at least half were women… [Read more at: https://www.pressenza.com/2023/07/militarism-is-the-elephant-in-the-climate-room/ .

Letter sent on June 5, 2023

To: Bill Blair <bill.blair@parl.gc.ca>, Chrystia Freeland <fin.minfinance-financemin.fin@canada.ca>, Jonathan Wilkinson <jonathan.wilkinson@parl.gc.ca>, Guilbeault Steven <ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca>, Anita Anand <anita.anand@parl.gc.ca>, Justin Trudeau <justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca>, Melanie Joly <melanie.joly@international.gc.ca> </melanie.joly@international.gc.ca></justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca></anita.anand@parl.gc.ca></ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca></jonathan.wilkinson@parl.gc.ca></fin.minfinance-financemin.fin@canada.ca></bill.blair@parl.gc.ca>

Cc: Carolyn Bennett <carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca>, Pierre Polievre <pierre.poilievre@parl.gc.ca>, Jagmeet Singh <jagmeet.singh@parl.gc.ca>, Yves-Francois Blanchet <yves-francois.blanchet@parl.gc.ca>, Elizabeth May <elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca></elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca></yves-francois.blanchet@parl.gc.ca></jagmeet.singh@parl.gc.ca></pierre.poilievre@parl.gc.ca></carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca>

Subject: safety, security, budgetary prudence?

Dear Prime Minister, Dear Ministers,

I hope you and cabinet will take time to reflect on the wisdom of some of the decisions you have made at budget time and continue to make day to day.

Will fighter jets provide Canadians more security than water bombing planes?

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Thank you to Britain’s Peace Pledge Union

for publishing the history of the International Conscientious Objectors’ Day, originally published in Housmans Peace Diary https://www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance/history-international-conscientious-objectors-day

Conscience Canada welcomes new members. Our AGM takes place Saturday, April 29, beginning at 15:30 Eastern (12:30 Pacific) via zoom. After a fairly short administrative section, we look forward to learning about a successful outreach effort by board member Linda Thyer. This will be followed by discussion of the role of conscience in our society and how Conscience Canada can be of service. To participate, please send an email to info@consciencecanada.ca.