by Don Woodside

On October 18, 2013, board member Don Woodside presented on Conscience Canada at a workshop at the Canadian Peace and Justice Studies Association at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo ON. The workshop was organized by Jack Payden-Travers, director of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund in Washington DC, and the third presenter was Maria Santelli, director of the Centre for Conscience and War, also in Washington. The panel was advertised as: “Conscientious Objection to War, Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Funds”.

Maria did a very interesting PowerPoint presentation about conscience in general, and conscience as it relates to soldiers; how they have to be specially trained to shoot to kill, for example, and how they are routinely traumatized by the experience of war and killing. My reaction to her talk was that we speak too little about conscience, what it is, how it guides us (or not), and the impact of ignoring it.

Jack talked about the national campaign in the US, its goals and recent history. He talked about the development of resistance to war as a human right. He also talked about a variety of funds into which resisted taxes can be deposited, some of which are spent, like the People’s Life Funds.

I reviewed Conscience Canada’s history and goals, and the recent shift to promotion of nonviolent conflict resolution.