Democracy In Action

Democracy In Action | 5 Zoom Town Halls for each riding and its voters | No Party Platforms | Let's elect those who will represent us not toe the party line WE the citizens have an obligation … and A RIGHT to be informed of what OUR representative ‘politicians’ are up to, and are first CONSULTING with the VOTER not toeing the party line

. . in a healthy democracy (where having elections is only the means not the end) voter participation means taking back ownership of the decisions being made

Issues will always be present . . . elections are about sending the right people to parliament

At this event, politics is not a bad word we encourage you to engage and talk and ask questions in order to get to know your candidates

You may be surprised that the party you normally vote for might not have a candidate you would want as an MP.

The right person will properly represent your issues .. because they will listen, respect the community concerns, and try to find ways to get things done

We need MP’s who will stand up for their community’s best interests

Join in the future for yourself and your family!

that is why our virtual town halls may not follow the generic or traditional format

stay tuned…

definition of democracy is:
government by the people, rule of the majority … a government in which
the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly
or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving
periodically held free elections

Chat In The Park with @WRNonviolence

Let’s get together to chat and re-connect.

Bring your own drinks & snacks (not to share).

Weather / restrictions permitting.

When: 1:00pm to 4:00pm, Saturday 18 September 2021
Where: Near the Picnic Shelter in Victoria Park, Kitchener, Ontario Map

OpenStreetMap showing the Picnic Shelter at Victoria Park — Picnic Shelter, Victoria Park, Kitchener

KW Peace Meeting Spring 2021: Online, 21 April at 7:00pm

Potluck dinner Hello KW Peace friends

Thanks to everyone who let us know what date would best suit for an online chat.

Wednesday 21 April 2021
7:00-8:30 pm
https://wrnonviolence.org/meeting

Add this event to your calendar iCal

This is a web conference using Free Software called BigBlueButton. Click on the meeting link and enter your name for the meeting (how others in the room will see you)

In the next window select that you want to use a microphone.

In the meeting:

You can make the welcome banner go away by clicking the — in its top right corner
You can turn the chat room (the left parts of your screen) on / off by clicking the < in the top left
You can share your video by clicking the camera icon in the bottom centre
For other tips and tricks Bob Jonkman will be there to help us all 😊

In the past KW Peace would hold occasional pot luck meetings – just a time for folks to share what their group’s been up to, to chat about projects, successes, difficulties, share resources etc.

The format of our online meeting will be to (re)introduce ourselves, talk about the group(s) you work with, and whatever else we want to chat about.

If you have thoughts or questions please let us know.

Looking forward to virtually meeting

Matt

WR Nonviolence

Online KW Peace Get-Together?

Hello Friends of KW Peace

It’s been a year since our last KW Peace meeting and things have changed!

Let’s get together and chat about how things are going with our groups. Are there challenges we can overcome together?

If you’re interested, fill in this poll to find out what dates work best for us.

When we confirm a date we’ll send an email with a link to the meeting room.

Thanks

Matt Albrecht <matthewalbrecht@wrnonviolence.org>
WRNonviolence.org

Poll

No New Fighter Jets Rallies in Waterloo Region, Fri. 2 Oct. 2020- #NoNewFighterJets #ClimatePeace

No Fighter Jets

Friday, 2 October 2020 is the International Day of Nonviolence. There will be rallies across Canada to protest Canada’s $19 Billion purchase of new fighter jets.

Here are the rallies taking place in Waterloo Region:

Kitchener

When: 12 Noon to 1:00pm on Friday, 2 October 2020
Where: Outside MP Raj Saini‘s office
Location: 1209 Frederick Street, Kitchener, Ontario Map 1
Contact: Mary Groh <marygroh05@gmail.com>, Conscience Canada and KW Peace.

Waterloo

When: 12 Noon to 1:00pm on Friday, 2 October 2020
Where: Outside MP Bardish Chagger‘s office
Location: 100 Regina Street, Waterloo, Ontario Map 2
Contact: Tamara Lorincz <tlorincz@dal.ca>, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and KW Peace.

Cambridge

When: 3:30pm to 4:30pm on Friday, 2 October 2020
Where: Outside MP Bryan May‘s office
Location: 534 Hespeler Road, Cambridge, Ontario Map 3
Contact: Tamara Lorincz <tlorincz@dal.ca>, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and KW Peace.

Join us to say #NoNewFighterJets. We can’t #decarbonize with carbon-intensive combat aircraft. #GreenJobs not war jobs.

Join us on October 2nd, 2020

for our second pan-Canadian Protest to redirect $19 billion from fighter jets to programs and supports that Canadians desperately need. Weapons can’t keep us safe from the threats that we face.

Fighter Jets Can’t Fight

Climate Change
Unemployment
Homelessness
Inequality
Covid-19
Poverty
Racism
Sexism

#NoNewFighterJets #ClimatePeace
https://vowpeace.org/nofighterjets/

Spiritual Heritage Education Network: 11th Annual Conference — @SpiritualEd

Envision the Future of Education: Teaching Unity in Diversity

Welcome to the SHEN - Spiritual Heritage Education Network Spirtual Heritage Education Network’s (SHEN) 11^th Annual Conference! Envision the Future of Education: Teaching Unity in Diversity

This conference examines the what, why, and how of contemplative education — a model of education that helps develop a spirit of unity in diversity. What is contemplative education? What can we learn from other disciplines that are using it? How can educators use it in their classrooms?

SHEN has a draft proposal that requires your contribution. The proposal is a culmination of years of convening and writing. It brings together the research and ideas of prior SHEN presenters and conference participants. The proposal will be shared with education stakeholders to generate greater knowledge about these ideas so that they can be integrated in educational curricula worldwide.

Join us

Join us at this year’s conference where you will:

Learn what contemplative education is and the important role that it plays in depolarizing our world
Be heard and have your ideas considered for incorporating into the proposal
Build a lasting network with like-minded people from around the globe
Gain exposure as a contributing changemaker and open doors for professional opportunities
Be an associate of the proposal’s journey to policy change

Contemplative education can change lives! We would love for you to journey with us and contribute to needed change! We need you to tell us what works with the proposal, and how we can strengthen it. This is a working conference comprised of four online sessions. While we will miss seeing you in person, we are thrilled that this online forum allows people from across the globe to join!

Session details:

Saturday, September 26 (10:00am – 12:30pm, EDT)

Introduction to the Spiritual Heritage Education Network (SHEN)
Sharing of SHEN’s work over the past 20 years’ contemplative education
The proposal to re-envision and redesign education

Sunday, October 4 (10:00am – 12:30pm, EDT)

What is holistic science?
The convergence of metaphysics, scripture, and modern science

Saturday, October 10 (10:00am – 12:30pm, EDT)

Why contemplative education?
What does it help us see and learn that we can’t from traditional education models?
How do we get there?
Examples of contemplative education from the past and present. How does it inform our work?

Sunday, October 18 (10:00am – 12:30pm, EDT)

Overview of conference working sessions to date and next steps for the proposal
Integrating contemplative education in educational models worldwide and implications for public policy

Register on Zoom

Agenda for each session:

10:00am — 10:10am: Introductions
10:10am — 11:00am: Presentation and comment/reflection on key theme
11:00am — 11:15am: Break
11:15am — 12:30pm: Curated discussions

Warm regards,
Shiv Talwar

http://spiritualeducation.org

Register on Zoom

#KWVegfest Is Going Virtual! Saturday and Sunday, 4 and 5 July 2020

Join the 3rd annual KW Vegfest!

This will be an Online Event, taking place on on Saturday July 4, 2020 and Sunday, July 5, 2020.

We will be sharing Sanctuary tours, cooking + zero-waste demos, speakers, a health panel and holding giveaways!

Stay tuned to the event page for more details!

The event is sponsored by Kitchener Waterloo Climate Save and the City of Kitchener, and powered by a group of hard-working volunteers. 🌎❤️🌏.

Online:

Website: https://kwvegfest.ca/
Twitter: #KWVegfest
Facebook: KW Vegfest 2020
Instagram: @kwvegfest
E-mail: kwvegfest@gmail.com

War is Not Essential – KW Rally 1pm on Thu, 11 June 2020 – #StopArmingSaudi

What: War is Not Essential – Kitchener-Waterloo
When: Thursday, 11 June 2020 from 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Where: In front of office of the Hon. Bardish Chagger, MP for Waterloo
Location: 100 Regina Street South, Waterloo, Ontario Map
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1322887947904895/

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has lifted the moratorium on issuing arms exports for weapons destined for Saudi Arabia, and Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) continue to be manufactured in London, Ontario under the label of an essential service.

Saudi Arabia has used these LAVs to suppress peaceful protests and there is mounting evidence that Canadian-made LAVs are being deployed in the war in Yemen. Canadian arms exports just don’t line up with Canada’s legal commitment under the Arms Trade Treaty or a feminist foreign policy. Ending arms exports doesn’t have to mean the loss of good jobs. As we confront the twin crises of COVID-19 and climate change, the call for conversion of arms industries to socially useful production must be loud and clear.

Join us on June 11th for a day of action to #StopArmingSaudi.

If you are in or near Kitchener-Waterloo, you can join a physically-distant protest outside MP for Waterloo Bardish Chagger’s constituency office (360-100 Regina St. South, Waterloo). Please respect public health directives, maintain physical distancing and wear masks.

No matter where you are, you can join us for a simultaneous virtual protest to show your solidarity and hear from speakers on the ground and at the forefront of the movement to #StopArmingSaudi.

Join us for the virtual protest on Zoom

TAKE ACTION

If you can’t join the virtual protest, take part in the day of action on social media:

Share your opposition and call on Canada to #StopArmingSaudi. Tag General Dynamics Land Systems, Justin Trudeau and François-Philippe Champagne, along with your own Member of Parliament (find them at https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en/addresses) to ask them to take action now.

Take action now:

Sign Oxfam Canada’s petition: https://www.oxfam.ca/armsdeal

Sign Amnesty Canada’s English petition: https://takeaction.amnesty.ca/page/35358/action/1

Sign Amnesty Canada’s French petition: https://agir.amnistie.ca/page/17954/petition/1

This day of action is jointly organized by: KW Peace, Labour Against the Arms Trade, People for Peace London, Council of Canadians London Chapter, Amnesty International Canada, Amnistie Internationale Canada, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Canadian Voices of Women for Peace, Peace Brigades International Canada, Oxfam Canada, World Beyond War and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

KW Solidarity March for #BlackLivesMatter: 5pm on Wed, 3 June 2020 at Victoria Park, Kitchener

What: KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter
When: Wednesday, 3 June 2020 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm
Where: Victoria Park, Kitchener, Ontario
Location: Joseph St. and Gaukel St. Map
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/584661392432523

Community leaders Selam Debs, Carla Beharry, Aaron Francis, ACB KW & with the support of Black Lives Matter – Waterloo Region bring to you KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter.

We as the KW community will peacefully march in solidarity for the lives lost to police brutality, institutionalized racism and hatred. People of all races and backgrounds will come together to show our solidarity against anti-blackness and injustice.

Selam Debs, Carla Beharry, ACB KW & with the support of Black Lives Matter – Waterloo Region bring to you KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3RD 5PM- MEET in front of Victoria Park, Kitchener (Gaukel & Joseph- one block from Victoria ion station)

Please read all below COVID-19 precautions and guidelines that must be followed to participate in this march

ALL social distancing measures will be in place – MASKS ARE MANDATORY. Please bring your own sanitizer, signs and masks.

We will march for Ahmaud Arbery, Breanna Taylor, George Floyd, Regis Korchinski-Paquet & all those before who’s names we know and those names we do not know of.

This is a peaceful march and protest to raise awareness of the lives lost in violence, to show our solidarity for the families and communities most impacted, to express that as the KW community WE are NOT just “not racist”- WE are active ANTI-RACISTS and to stand with the grieving Black folks right here in KW and the surrounding areas. We are saying unapologetically BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Because SILENCE = VIOLENCE. LET’S BRING THIS COMMUNITY TOGETHER AS WE SAY LOUDLY & PEACEFULLY “WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH GEORGE. BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

We will meet in front of Victoria Park at 5pm on Wednesday.
*Victoria Park, Kitchener (Gaukel & Joseph- one block from Victoria ion station)

SAFTEY INFORMATION:
-If you are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, please stay home and tune in through the FB live streamed from Black Lives Matter – Waterloo Region with Carla Beharry
-You MUST wear a mask. Please wear one that covers your nose and mouth
-Maintain social distancing of 2 meters from each other throughout the march
-March in groups of 5 or less
Maintain a distance of 6 feet between each group
-Plan ahead for essential needs, care and supplies

We will also be sharing the March on Facebook live facilitated by Carla Beharry from the Black Lives Matter – Waterloo Region page

We will have more information soon

KEEP VISITING KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter FOR UP TO DATE DETAILS

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT PLEASE:

-DONATE MASKS, WATER, GARBAGE BAGS
-FIRST AID VOLUNTEERS
-VOLUNTEERS- AS MANY HANDS AS POSSIBLE
-LEGAL SUPPORT
-create signs (ie. Black Lives Matter, I stand in solidarity with George, Silence= Violence, KW in Solidarity with Black lives, Enough is Enough etc)
-Support local Black initiatives – We will have a list available soon

KEEP VISITING KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter FOR UP TO DATE DETAILS

DM Selam Debs OR Carla Beharry WITH ANY QUESTIONS.

PLEASE show kindness and respect with your questions as we are in a state of grieving right now. Only extend questions specific to how you can support.

You can also find updates on our IG’s @selamdebs & @carla.beharry

MORE details to come.