PEACE BIOGRAPHY- ROBERT (BOB) STEWART, C.A., C.M.C.
Bob
is a Chartered Accountant and Certified Management Consultant by profession.
He has held many senior
management positions in business and government over the past 38 years.
His passion for peace was ignited by his involvement in the Rotary
International convention that took place in Calgary in 1996. The message that
he heard was “peace is the most worthwhile cause, and you should do
something”. Since that time, Bob has founded the Canadian Centres for
Teaching Peace and leads the Canadian Culture of Peace Program. His peace
website at www.peace.ca has been ranked
number 1 by Google with over 50,000 visitors per month, and he has been
referred to as “the foremost peace educator in Canada ". In
2000, Bob was the recipient of the YMCA Peace Award at the annual presentation
in Calgary.
Bob
recognized, as do others, that the Culture of Peace Program is on the
threshold of making a major impact pacifically, nationally and
internationally, but is currently lacking direction and capacity. He has
devoted himself to using his professional skills as a (general) manager and
information manager to help advance this 'direction and capacity' by founding
the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace.
Bob has been a member of Rotary International, an
organization with 1.2 million members world-wide, with a mission of helping to
advance peace and world understanding, since 1986, first in Yellowknife and
then in Okotoks, Alberta. As past Chair of the Rotary District 5360 Urban
Hope/Peace Plus Committee he developed Member and Club interest in Building
Peace in Our Communities and World. In February 1999, Bob was appointed a
Special Ambassador of the Rotary Peace Cities Project and he received special
acknowledgement for his peace efforts by his Rotary Club of Okotoks.
Bob was a Member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO's
National Working Group to promote the United Nations International Year for a
Culture of Peace in 2000 and has developed one of the most comprehensive,
plain language Peace and Non-violence web sites in the world as a resource for
people who wish to become more active in building peace. It may be found at www.peace.ca
. The web site has had over 1,500,000 visitors since inception, and is
currently averaging over 50,000 per month.
Bob has hosted 9 annual National Peace Education Conferences
in Canada at McMaster University, and several Provincial conferences.
His major initiative is the creation of Community Centres for Teaching
Peace and Peace Cafés across the country and around the world – you may
read more and see the Peace Café video at www.peacecafe.ca
.
Bob’s
family has been a key influence on his decision to 'make a difference with his
life' during the International Decade for Peace and Non-violence for the
Children of the World.
Peace Accomplishments Chronology:
June 1996 - attended the Rotary International Conference in
Calgary, Alberta, where over 25,000 participants listened to Nobel Peace Prize
recipients, and others, urge more individual and collective action to build
peace in our communities and world (the Rotary mission, among other things, is
to help advance peace in the world)
July 1997 - appointed (and remains) Chair of Rotary
International District 5360 Urban Hope/Peace Plus Committee
September 1997 - Formation of Canadian Centres for Teaching
Peace ("CCTP")
May 1998
- CCTP website online at http://www.peace.ca
(as of March 31, 2005 the website has had over 1,400,000 visitors, and 9,200,000
'hits'). The CCTP information website has been described as the best Peace
website in
Canada
and one of the best in the World.
November 1998 - sponsored the founding of the Peacebuilders
email listserver to promote communication and networking among a fellowship of
Rotarians throughout the World who have a specific interest in building peace
November 1998 - sponsored the founding of the RotaryCanada
email listserver to promote communication and networking among Rotarians in
Canada
November 1998 - appointed (and remains) Chair of Healthy
Okotoks Coalition Safe and Caring Community Committee
January 1999 - participated at the Canadian Peacebuilding Co-ordinating
Committee annual consultation, and Canadian Commission for UNESCO
consultation, promoting the UNESCO Culture of Peace Program and a National
Culture of Peace Program for Canada
February 1999 - appointed Special Ambassador of the Rotary
Peace Cities Project
March 1999 - participated at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO
("CCU") Annual General Meeting urging a transformation of CCU to
more actively promote the UNESCO Culture of Peace Program and a National
Culture of Peace Program
October 1999 - appointed Member of the Canadian Commission for
UNESCO's National Working Group to promote the United Nations International
Year for a Culture of Peace in 2000, and the U.N. Decade for a Culture of
Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World 2001 - 2010
November 1999 - lead founding workshop for a Southern Alberta
Culture of Peace Coalition in Calgary
January 2000 - sponsored the founding of the Paxafricana email
listserver to promote communication and networking among over 150 peace
workers throughout Africa
June 2000 - facilitated the foundation of the Angolan Center
for Teaching Peace
June 2000 - elected to the Executive of the Canadian Peace
Researchers and Educators Association
September 2000 - African Centres for Peace Education and
Training website online at http://www.peace.ca/africa.htm (as
of November 2001 the website has had over 1,600 visitors)
September 2000 - facilitated a Safe and Caring Schools and
Communities workshop in Calgary in conjunction with U.N. International Peace
Day festivities
September 2000 - on behalf of the Southern Alberta Culture of
Peace Coalition, facilitated the signing of a Manifesto 2000 Book (over 700
signatures) and Petition urging the support of Governments, NGOs, School
Boards, Business, Media and other organizations and individuals for the
National Culture of Peace Program
September 2000 - lead founding workshop for a Canadian Peace
Institute (to contribute to the creation of a just and peaceful world by
using action, education, training, dissemination and research to handle
conflicts non-violently and creatively) and a Canadian Peace Foundation (to
raise funds for peace generally, and for the Canadian Peace Institute
particularly)
October 2000 - participated in a two day workshop by Dr. Johan
Galtung in Conflict Transformation, and initiated development of video by Dr.
Galtung
November 2000 - founded the First Annual Canadian Peace Awards
and Canadian Peace Hall of Fame, presenting Peace Awards to prominent leaders
in peace in Canada in 12 categories (reference http://www.peace.ca/1stannualcanadian.htm )
December 2000 - recipient of the Rotary Club of Okotoks Award
in recognition of outstanding leadership and dedication to peace
December 2000 - facilitated online posting of manual
'How to Achieve World Peace' ( http://www.peace.ca/worldpeace.htm )
November 2001 - hosted the Second Annual Canadian Peace Awards
and Canadian Peace Hall of Fame, presenting Peace Awards to prominent leaders
in peace in Canada in 10 categories (reference http://www.peace.ca/secondpeaceawards.htm )
November 2001 - speech to the Calgary YMCA Peace Awards Luncheon;
December 2001 - presentation to the Youth Summit sponsored by the YMCA on
'Bringing Peace To The World';
December 2001 - created an web site for the Angolan Centers for Teaching Peace
at http://www.peace.ca/angola.htm ;
and created a PeaceAngola email listserver
June 2002 - sponsor virtual peace education workstation in Lagos, Nigeria
offices of the Pan-African Reconciliation Council
September 2002 - elected to the Board of Directors of the Rotary Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park Association
November 2002 - hosted the Third Annual Canadian Peace Awards
and Canadian Peace Hall of Fame, presenting Peace Awards to prominent leaders
in peace in Canada in 10 categories (reference http://www.peace.ca/thirdpeaceawards.htm )
November 2002 - hosted the First Annual Peace Education Conference in Canada,
at McMaster University, which led to the development of a Vision and Action
Plan for Peace Education in Canada (reference http://www.peace.ca/detailedagenda.htm
)
November 2002 - represented Canada at the Hague Appeal for Peace Global
Campaign for Peace Education strategic meetings in New York (reference http://www.peace.ca/globalcampaignforpeaceeducation.htm
)
October 2003 - hosted the First Annual Alberta Conference on Education for
Peace and the Future, at University of Calgary, which led to the development
of a Vision and Action Plan for Education for Peace and the Future in Alberta
(reference http://www.peace.ca/AlbertaAgenda2003.htm
)
October 2003 - presentation to the First Alberta Social Forum (topic: Vision
and Action Plan for Education for Peace and the Future in Alberta)
November 2003 - hosted the Second Annual Peace Education Conference in Canada,
at McMaster University (reference http://www.peace.ca/CanadianAgenda2003.htm
)
December 2003 - incorporation of the Canadian Peace
Education Foundation: for a World Fit For Children
March 2004 - republished the Rotary International publication "The Seven
Paths to Peace", available online at http://www.peace.ca/rotarysevenpathstopeace.htm
and Microsoft Word version
May 2004 - republished
Peace
in the Family of Man by Canadian Prime Minister Lester
B. Pearson, available
on the Internet in html at http://www.peace.ca/peaceinthefamilyofman.htm
, and in Microsoft Word at http://www.peace.ca/Peace_in_the_Family_of_Man.doc
.
November
2004 – hosted the first annual Peace and Leadership Workshop at
McMaster
University
in conjunction with the Third Annual Peace Education Conference in
Canada
.
November 2004 – hosted the first annual Canadian National Culture of
Peace Symposium which gave birth to the Canadian Culture of Peace Program (“CCOPP”,
reference http://www.peace.ca/canadiancultureofpeaceprogram.htm
). Robert is currently the Interim Executive Director of CCOPP.
January 2005 – Developed CCOPP Network/Stakeholder Web (reference http://www.peace.ca/CCOPPorganization2004.htm
)
February 2005 – Guest Speaker at the Rotary District Peace Education
Conference in
Recife
,
Brazil
. Click here for the English
version or the Portuguese
Version of the trip report in Microsoft Word format.
April 2005 – nominated for
the 2005 John Humphrey Freedom Award - Nomination
letter
and
Various speeches to Rotary Clubs and other organizations across
Canada on Peacebuilding for a Culture of Peace and promoting the mainstreaming
of Peacebuilding activities
Development of a Peacebuilding resource library of books and
videos available to the public
Various articles on Peacebuilding activities available on the
CCTP website at http://www.peace.ca
Ongoing Objectives:
- read our Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace
Vision - we hope it resonates with you
- The Canadian Peace Institute proposal remains a major
objective. Bob's personal goals for CPI over the next 12 months is to help
facilitate a conference on Peace Education in Canada (current status, what is
needed, how we get there), preceded by 2 or 3 one day workshops across Canada on
important elements (eg. macropeace model, peace leadership, peace fundraising
and/or mainstreaming of peace). At this stage, it was the consensus of our
working group that the role for CPI was to provide a venue for peace
educators to communicate, network, build leadership and capacity, exchange
information and curricula, etc. I think this will help contribute to an
important issue - building unity among peace promoters (who are also peace
educators). Read more on this at A Conference in 2002 to advance CPI
- A lot of Bob's time still is required for building the Canadian Centres for
Teaching Peace web site at http://www.peace.ca
. An area to build upon is putting peace curricula online for all to use.
He would also like to look into putting peace videos online (and possibly peace
songs and art).
- The "War on Terrorism" began September 11 and has taken some
time to react to. A "silver lining" can be seen to the clouds:
never have issues of war, peace, root causes, American hegemony and corrective
action been discussed so much; and hopefully United Nations mandates and tools
will be strengthened. I (and I am sure everyone) have learned a lot, and
am convinced more than ever of the need for peace education integrated into all
aspects of life.
- Continuing groundwork has gone on to try to establish
the Virtual Peace Education Center in Lagos. I am convinced of the
importance of helping establish Virtual Peace Centers in key locales that can
not currently get the benefit of the Internet for building a Culture of Peace.
PARC Lagos would be the 'prototype'.
- Preparations are always underway for the next Annual
Canadian Peace Awards sponsored by the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace on
November 11 of each year ( http://www.peace.ca/peaceawards.htm )
- Workshops are offered in Leadership and Peace -
particularly topical in this period of leadership crisis in government,
business, education, etc.
to view Bob's picture and his professional Curriculum
Vitae, visit http://www.peace.ca/message.htm