Friends on the move
Mel Burns has been busy creating and delivering workshops for various community groups and churches—including a five-part peace education series in St. Stephen New Brunswick, a two day communication workshop in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and a two-part depolarization workshop with a bike repair coalition based in Toronto. On top of many virtual speaking engagements, Mel hosted another gathering for Quaker peace and justice groups across Canada.
She’s also hosting a monthly book club on civil resistance/nonviolent defense. Have you been wondering about nonviolent resistance in Canada? Are you unsure if it would really work in the face of invasion, occupation, or other violent force? Join in the book club! It’s OK if you missed the first meetings. We’re reading Civil resistance: what everyone needs to know by Erica Chenoweth. Find out more and register for free: https://QuakerService.ca/BookClub
Together with CFSC’s Israel-Palestine Working Group, Mel has hosted information sessions for Monthly and Half-yearly Meetings, and a threshing session for Canadian Yearly Meeting on the topic of the Apartheid-free communities pledge.
Peace education continues to be central to Mel’s work, and she would be happy to talk to anyone looking for workshop facilitation or a guest speaker on the topic. For more on the workshops she offers see https://QuakerService.ca/Peace
CFSC members and staff had their bi-annual program meetings in different parts of the country again this year. The photo is of Jennifer Preston and our Peace Committee Clerk Siân Bowen-Cole following successful meetings in Prince Edward Island.
Karen Ridd led workshops on four occasions throughout March, sharing about the topic of nonviolent resistance. The workshops, held on the campus of Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, drew around 250 people! Karen was interviewed about this by Nadia Kidwai on CBC radio and by John Longhurst for the Winnipeg Free Press.
Sandra Wiens was interviewed for This Magazine about CFSC’s work to advance a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income in Canada. Find out more about this work at https://QuakerService.ca/GLBI
Jeremy Vander Hoek and Jennifer Preston attended the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) meetings in Geneva in July.