Statement on the Canadian Culture of Peace Program

STATEMENT ON THE CANADIAN CULTURE OF PEACE PROGRAM

November 25, 2004

You will be pleased to know that we have successfully completed 9 days of intensive peace conferencing here in Hamilton, involving someexcellent minds,and I am happy to tell you that our deliberations have given birth to a 'Canadian Culture of Peace Program' - a new formal institution (Note 1) with the missionto advance a Culture of Peace and Non-violence, at home and abroad. We have a larger core group of people to carry on this important work (there were approximately 20 to 30 people participating at the time who have all pledged their support and assistance in one way or another), and a wonderful list of tasks to commence work on (which will be described in a Report in the near future). We will also enlarge our community of support and engagementthrough inviting the participation of all Canadians, individuals and organizations, who wish to share our mission, and follow the values of the U.N. Culture of Peace Program.

We have a smaller core group who will more directly work together to nurture lifein the Program during this most important first year: they are Sue McGregor, Don Grayston, Bob Stewart, other members pending, and the Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C.as Honourary Chairman.The smaller core group was charged with the responsibility to get on with this important work on a pragmatic (results-oriented)basis, reporting back and being accountableto thelarger community,with the needs to be as democratically participative, inclusive, transparent, non-hierarchicalas possible. It was recognized that, while we all believe in the values of the Culture of Peace Program, we all are quite different, have different skills, perspectivesand have our respective jobs to do, to 'nourish this baby'.

In the meantime:

1. we have agreed to a name: Canadian Culture of Peace Program ("CCOPP")

2. we have agreed to use:

a) mailing address - Box 70, Okotoks, AB, Canada, T1S 1A4,

b) email address - ; when a CCOPP web domain is established then the email address will change accordingly,

c) telephone number - in the Calgary area 1-403-938-5335; toll free throughout Canada and the U.S. 1-800-574-7126

d) fax number - in the Calgary area 1-403-938-4117; toll free throughout Canada and the U.S. 1-800-399-3832

e) web site address - to be created

f) communication network/email listserver - the existing CPIdiscussion email listserver will be usedas our tool for communication, networking, information dissemination with respect to CCOPP ("CPI" stands for "Canadian Peace Initiative"). The current list has approximately 120 members, primarily peace educators, who are eagerly interested in the Culture of Peace Program and the outcomes of our conferencing.

3. the small core group has been given a mandate to get on with the work at hand, including:

a) refinement of a short vision document (we did discuss the proposed vision statement, but the discussion needs more time than we had available),

b) developing a plan of action, with timelines and key milestones, starting with a super menu of ideas provided by the co-participants (reference CCOPP Initial Action Plan),

c) entering into discussions with University of Alberta representatives to explore a possible relationship between the Canadian Culture of Peace Program and the University of Alberta's new program for peace education,

d) convene a Governance and Canadian Culture Of Peace Program Workshop soon(reference CCOPP Leadership and Peace November 2004 Workshop Report),

e) identifying potential stakeholders in CCOPP and convening a conference of stakeholders in March 2005, so that the outcome will be available to feed into the Canadian Report on Culture of Peace activities (see following item f);

f) preparing a Canadian Report on Culture of Peace activities for April 2005 deadline for the United Nations General Assembly debate in September 2005,

g) develop a Marketing Strategy and seek funding for CCOPP projects,

h) seek people and organizations to “champion” the key tasks,

i) continue to build on the Canadian Peace Education Strategy, and promote regional peace conferences,

j) support governmental peace and non-violence initiatives.

This is just a very brief report and will be followed up with more detail. We have much good news to talk about. "The baby is born ... we will now nourish and care for it, and watch it grow." One could not be prouder of our co-participants and achievements at this foundational stage of the evolving Canadian Culture of Peace Program.

I would like to close with some Gandhian words of wisdom from Dr. Shall Sinha following our meetings, "one of the essential characteristics of a Culture of Peace is 'patience'. Impatience almost always leads to a culture of violence, whereas a continued practice of patience is guaranteed to develop a culture of peace. So may God grant you extraordinary patience and thereby peace within you."

Note 1 -" 'institution' ... tucked away among the many historical meanings is:"something that enlarges and liberates" ...An institution is a gathering of persons who have accepted a common purpose, and a common discipline to guide the pursuit of that purpose, to the end that each involved person reaches higher fulfillment as a person, through serving and being served by the common venture, than would be achieved alone or in a less committed relationship." Robert K. Greenleaf, in his book "Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness" (ref. )

For further information, contact Bob Stewart