ANNOUNCEMENT
- FOURTH ANNUAL CANADIAN PEACE AWARDS - 2003
SUMMARY: In
celebration of Peace Champions in
Canada
and the United Nations International Decade for a Culture of Peace and
Nonviolence for the Children of the World, the Canadian Centres for Teaching
Peace hosts the Annual Canadian Peace Awards. Awards are generally
presented in 10 major categories for Canadian achievements in building a Culture
of Peace and Non-violence, at home and abroad. The presentations also
culminate in the inductions into the Canadian Peace Hall of Fame to be housed at
the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace and on its web site at http://www.peace.ca
The Award categories include peace achievements in government, business, the
media, education, peacekeepers, peacebuilders in civil society, peace
philanthropy, youth, and multi-cultural relations, to name a few.
The Awards are in the form of an engraved, soapstone 'Inukshuk'. For
millennia, massive stone figures built in the image of a human have stood
silhouetted on the treeless Arctic horizons. Created by Inuit people,
these Inukshuks serve as guides to point out a journey or a safe passage.
The Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace believes this is a fitting Canadian
symbol of the journey to safe and caring communities and world. [See the
Award at http://www.peace.ca/inukshukaward.htm
] The Awards have been crafted by the Inuit of Nunavut and supplied
by the Nunavut Development Corporation.
Generally, the awards are presented on November 11 each year. November 11
was chosen as it is Remembrance Day in
Canada
. Each one of us has an obligation to the memory of the many men and women
who died for our peace and freedom, to today's millions of needless victims of
violence at home and abroad, and to future generations to do everything we can
to bring peace to the world and preserve the integrity of this planet.
The awards stress everyone's responsibility and potential influence in building
peace in our families, communities and world.
Our
vision is for the Canadian Peace Awards to take a prominent place among Canadian
celebrations, fitting of the importance of the topic. In these violent
and rapidly changing times, what could be more important than to celebrate the
building of a Culture of Peace at home and abroad, for current and future
generations?
For more information, contact
Robert Stewart
, Director, Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace at stewartr [at] peace.ca;
or visit our web site Awards Page at http://www.peace.ca/peaceawards.htm
Education is a cornerstone in the peacebuilding
process. As today's youth become increasingly desensitized to violence, the
roles of schools and the curriculum they represent assume great importance.
Schools have the power to shape the attitudes and skills of young people toward
peaceful human relations. Through teaching young children values of respect,
tolerance, and empathy, and by equipping them with the necessary skills to
resolve conflict in a non-violent manner, they are provided with the tools they
need, now and in the future, to foster peaceful relations at home, at school and
around the world. Education builds the foundations for good citizenship,
respect for self and others, democratic values and tolerance of opinions.
Educational research indicates that when young people are trained in civics,
mediation, ethnic tolerance and conflict resolution, the likelihood that they
will resort to violence later in life is diminished. We firmly believe that we
can not have a peaceful people without educating for peace.
Education - Classroom
Connections
Classroom Connections is a non-profit organization dedicated to instigating
positive societal change by strengthening the education and parenting of
Canada's youth. The organization was founded on the simple premise that real
societal transformation has to start with our children. Each individual child is
an opportunity for fundamental change in our world, and the two greatest forces
shaping that opportunity are parents and public education.
Recognizing these forces as keys to change, Classroom Connections began in
1997 as a local educational support organization serving 1000 schools and
parents in the province of Ontario. Initial efforts focused on providing much
needed teaching resources to schools faced with massive cutbacks, curriculum
overhaul and increased demands on teaching staff. In 1998, Classroom Connections
was registered as a non-profit corporation. In four years, the company has
provided more than 15 free support resources to teachers and parents in school
districts representing 75% of schools nation wide. To view Classroom
Connections' resources, please visit their websites at www.classroomconnections.ca
and http://www.cultivatingpeace.ca
.
Classroom Connections works with major education organizations in Canada
(such as the Canadian Education Association and the Canadian Home and School
Federation) and with a network of teachers from across the country. Through
these partnerships, they determine gaps in available resources and develop
program ideas to meet these gaps. They then work to match these program needs
with potential funders and assemble a steering committee of field experts to
advise on program development. New resources are pilot tested in schools and
reviewed by educational specialists and Curriculum Services Canada (www.curriculum.org).
School districts that have registered with Classroom Connections are alerted to
the new resource, and it is delivered to the district for distribution within
their schools.
The Canadian Peace Award for Peace Education was presented to Classroom
Connections for their ongoing efforts and achievements to seek out the resources
and provide Canadian teachers with the tools to build the attitudes, skills and
behaviours for living together in our children. They have seen the gap and
are actively filling it. Congratulations to Heather MacTaggart, all her
colleagues and funding partners for providing this much needed service.
Further Links:
Award Announcement http://www.cultivatingpeace.ca/news/award.html
Download Classroom Connections' free peace
education curricula materials http://www.cultivatingpeace.ca/cpmaterials/index.html
Heather MacTaggart, 
Founder
and Executive Director, Classroom Connections
Heather is a creative and dynamic entrepreneur with
extensive experience in the fields of sales (at P&G), marketing,
communications and promotions.
As a mother with school age children Heather saw the
challenges facing the education system and the acute need to encourage parent
involvement in the learning process.
Heather recognized a unique opportunity to combine her
extensive business and marketing skills with her personal commitment to make a
difference in the lives of children. In 1997 she founded Classroom
Connections to build responsible partnerships aimed at providing innovative
educational resources to classrooms across Canada. Heather holds a
B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Only one Canadian Peace Award was presented in 2003.
For more information about the Canadian
Peace Awards - contact Robert
Stewart, C.A., C.M.C., Director, Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace at stewartr [at] peace.ca;
(telephone - 403-461-2469; fax - 309-407-6576; mail - Box 70, Okotoks, Alberta,
Canada T1S 1A4; web site - http://www.peace.ca
)
"The world is dangerous not because of those
who do harm, but because of those who look at it without doing anything."
