Newsletters, articles and events for Kitchener-Waterloo's Peace and Social Justice activists
Author: KWPeace
KWPeace is a website to link the many Peace and Social Justice organizations in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and the Waterloo Region townships. KWPeace tries to provide a comprehensive calendar of events.
“Stop criminalizing homelessness” “Reallocate the police budget into life-giving services” “Shelters are full: over 400 sleep rough” “We want a compassionate community” “Does this solve homelessness?”
Bring a donation (only tents, sleeping bags, or cash).
Donations will be given to a nonprofit, working with unhoused people.
On Friday November 26, Waterloo Regional Bylaw, together with police, bulldozed the shelters of unhoused people living at Charles & Stirling.
November 29 Is United Nations Day Of Solidarity With The Palestinian People
On Saturday, 27 November 2021 come to Waterloo Square at 11:00am to call on the Canadian government to send a Special Envoy to Palestine-Israel to investigate the treatment of Palestinian children subjected to Israeli military arrest and detention.
Palestinian children growing up in the Occupied Palestinian Territories live under Israeli military occupation. Their day-to-day reality includes home and school demolitions, water rationing, the loss of family land, checkpoints and military gates, night raids, detentions, and imprisonment. It’s time for Canada to stand up for Palestinian children’s rights.
In 2018 a group of Canadian Members of Parliament went to Palestine to see the situation of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule. One of the recommendations of the group upon their return was that the Government of Canada sends a Special Envoy to investigate the situation of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule. Today we are renewing that call.
As part of a network dedicated to pursuing human rights in the Middle East, we are inviting you to help us renew that call and ask the Special Envoy to specifically look into the treatment of Palestinian children being arrested, harassed, and often tortured.
Please join us at Waterloo Square in Uptown Waterloo for this Public Witness Event to learn more about the practice the Israeli soldiers arresting and putting Palestinian children in Israeli detention.
Amnesty International — Write For RightsDear Group Nine Human Rights Supporters,
For many years now Group Nine Amnesty International (Kitchener-Waterloo) has actively participated in Write for Rights on Human Rights Day December 10. We have joined with Amnesty International’s seven million supporters around the world in a letter-writing blitz calling on governments to respect the rights of selected individuals at risk. We have had many successes over the years including the release of political prisoners, the ending of torture in specific cases and in bringing human rights offenders to justice.
This year while human rights abuses continue worldwide, COVID-19 again makes an in-person event impossible.
In spite of that constraint, last year together we took over 300 actions in our “Ten Days for Human Rights” at-home campaign.
This year, we hope you join us again to produce a mountain of letters and sign online actions to let governments know that we are still watching, and send messages of support and encouragement to those who are in the front lines of the struggle for human rights.
Here is the Group Nine Write for Rights 2021 letter writing plan:
Ten Days for Human Rights!!!
There are two ways in which you can participate in the letter and card actions:
by sending individual actions yourself (by post and/or online) at your cost,
by collecting all your letters and cards for us to send by bulk mail at our cost. We will also have some in-person outdoor photo opportunities for sharing messages of support on social media and a small group indoor socially distanced card- making gathering (more on that separately).
Each day from Dec 1 to 10, Group 9 will send you an email giving background information on one case, a sample letter, a link for an online action, and a suggestion for a supportive action (usually a card) that you can take. We will repeat this each day for 10 days to cover all the cases.
Option 1 – If you are sending individual actions:
Each day, participants will complete and mail the letter and card – as well as getting their “bubbles” to do the same. Please keep a record of the number of cards, letters and online actions sent for each case (including cc’s).
On December 11th, we will send out an email to everyone asking each of you to send in the number and type of actions you and your bubble have completed for each case.
Option 2 – If you would prefer to have your letters and cards included in a Group Nine bulk mailing:
Collect your letters and cards during the ten days so that you can make one delivery. Please do not use an envelope for each letter or card. Rather, fold your letter once and write the name of the recipient and country on the outside. Do the same on the outside of the card. Put them all in one large envelope or wrap with a rubber band and include a slip with your name so that we can keep a record. Mary and David will provide a drop-off box at their front door in Waterloo from Dec 10 to Dec 15. They will quarantine the letters, organize them by recipient and then mail them in bulk.
If you would like to make a contribution towards postage costs for the bulk mailing, please send an e-transfer to groupnine9@gmail.com
We know that this is much more lonely work than coming out to Seven Shores Café to write letters together and socialize over coffee and delicious treats, but we hope that you will involve your “bubble” in creating a mountain of cards and letters for Ten Days for Human Rights!!!
We’ll keep you posted about our possible in-person events via separate emails.
Your first case letter will arrive on December 1.
Thank you for your support for human rights!
David and Margaret for Group 9
Group Nine is the local chapter of Amnesty International Canada in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. We normally meet at 7:30 pm on the first Tuesday of every month in *Room 4224 (The Fretz Seminar Room) at Conrad Grebel College*, University of Waterloo (140 Westmount Road North, Waterloo N2L 3G6). Please confirm by email or on our Facebook page..
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.
No Fighter JetsFriday, 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
-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
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
On Saturday, 27 November 2021 come to Waterloo Square at 11:00am to call on the Canadian government to send a Special Envoy to Palestine-Israel to investigate the treatment of Palestinian children subjected to Israeli military arrest and detention.
Hello KW Peace friends
Spirtual Heritage Education Network’s (SHEN)
