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WE ARE CLOSER TO OUR GOAL OF A DEPARTMENT OF PEACE AND NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
4-21-2015
With virtually no funding and working only with volunteers, we have achieved the following milestones:
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Introduction of the Department of Peace Bill in Parliament, Bill C-373
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Public hearings on the Bill in 6 cities
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Endorsement of over 30 national organizations and many prominent individuals, representing over a million and a half Canadians
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Chapters and representatives in 12 cities across Canada
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Hundreds of presentations to MPs, NGOs and conferences
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Promotion of the concept of Cities of Peace
Now, we are expanding the campaign, in advance of the federal election, to reach out to all Canadians, calling for a department of peace (DoP) and to insert this idea into the national dialogue. We will vastly expand our online tools to build the groundswell to make a DoP irresistible to politicians, because Canadians from all walks of life are fervently calling for it.
To make this happen, we are seeking $25000 to put this campaign over the top and to see a DoP created, and we need your help to do so. Please go to our crowdfunding campaign, www.dana.io/buildpeacenow , to contribute to this campaign, help make this dream a reality and earn an excellent gift in gratitude, including prints, books and a chance to win a painting from a major Canadian artist.
Canada was once at the forefront of peacekeeping, global peace initiatives including nuclear disarmament, and peace diplomacy. Because of our increasing belligerence in the world and shunning of the UN, we can no longer use our good offices to help transform conflict by peaceful means. It is time to return to our tradition.
At home, there are several powerful peacebuilding initiatives created by civil society - restorative justice, alternatives to violence projects, nonviolent communication, to name a few – that require greater support from government to expand their reach. A DoP would do that.
Now we are going to bomb ISIS in Syria!
The best we can expect from this is to create more death and destruction in a situation of absolute mayhem. What has happened to Canada’s role as UN peacekeeper, a Canadian innovation? Until the mid-1990’s, Canada was the largest contributor. Now there are more than 80,000 UN peacekeepers in the world and Canada’s contribution would only fill a single school bus. Yet Canadians repeatedly state, in national surveys, that peacekeeping is Canada’s greatest contribution to the world. Our government has decided to be a belligerent on the global stage when the best initiative of a prosperous middle power like Canada is to use our good offices in peace operations, peace diplomacy and humanitarian assistance.
Please contribute to our campaign by supporting a politics of peace, not war.
We ask you to consider your future, your children and your grandchildren, and contribute to a DoP for Canada in the interest of all Canadians. Peace is possible! Peace is practical! Please go to www.dana.io/buildpeacenow and support this initiative.
In Peace,
Furquan
Furquan Gehlen, National Co-Chair
Canadian Peace Initiative (CPI) Board
http://www.departmentofpeace.ca/
Email: FJGHOME@YAHOO.COM
Phone: 604-603-8741
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