STATEMENT ON THE CANADIAN CULTURE OF PEACE PROGRAM
You will
be pleased to know that we have successfully completed 9 days of intensive peace
conferencing here in Hamilton, involving some excellent 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
mission to 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 engagement through
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 people who will more directly work together to nurture life in
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 accountable to the larger
community, with the needs to be as democratically participative, inclusive,
transparent, non-hierarchical as 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, perspectives and 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 -
b) email address - info[at]peace.ca
; when a CCOPP web domain is established then the email address will change
accordingly,
c) telephone number - 1-403-461-2469
d) fax number - 1-309-407-6576
e) web site address - http://www.cultureofpeace.ca
f) communication network/email listservers - http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPgroups.htm
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
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. http://www.peace.ca/servantleadership.htm
)
For further information, contact Bob Stewart info[at]peace.ca
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REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS:
I am attaching the following Canadian Culture of Peace Program ("CCOPP")
Reports for your information:
1. CCOPP Summary Statement (in HTML)
(in Microsoft Word)
2. CCOPP Initial Action Plan (in HTML)
(in Microsoft Word)
3. CCOPP Leadership & Peace Workshop Report (Nov 15 - 17, 2004) (in
HTML) (in Microsoft Word)
4. CCOPP Organization Network/Stakeholder Web (Draft) (in
HTML)
5. CCOPP Mobilizing Peace Resources (Nov 19, 2004) (in
HTML) (in Microsoft Word)
6. CCOPP Open Space Technology Conference Report (Nov 22 - 23, 2004) (in
HTML) (in Microsoft Word)
and our amazing, 60 page Youth Day Report (Nov 18, 2004) (in pdf)
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