As the winter break draws near, the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement community is anticipating the coming new year while taking a moment to reflect on 2023. The past year has seen far too many victims of violence and injustice in our world, not to mention on our own university campus. But we continue to find hope and inspiration in the ways our dynamic array of participants seek to advance peace, and have compiled a few of the many moments when their work was featured by print, radio, television, and other media outlets over the past year.
Project Ploughshares continued to advocate for global disarmament efforts and international security. In addition to many media mentions, Executive Director Cesar Jaramillo published Op Eds on the war in Ukraine in the Globe and Mail in February, and on Canadian military exports to Israel in the Hill Times in December.
Centre for Peace Advancement Research Fellow Ernie Regehr also weighed in on the need for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine in his own Hill Times Op Ed in June.
Earlier this year, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) launched a fundraiser to mobilize resources for those impacted by earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. More recently, Anabaptist World published an article highlighting how MCC is providing emergency relief to partners in Gaza amid devastation.
The Intercultural Dialogue Institute was also featured in CityNews for their efforts to support earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria—many people in their community in Waterloo region lost family members in this earthquake.
The Tamarack Institute’s Communities Building Youth Futures initiative aims to increase high school graduation and lead youth toward future careers. In June, Cabin Radio shared information about this initiative’s impact in Yellowknife; paNOW did the same in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Tamarack was also featured in a guidebook published by Catalyst 2030, a global organization dedicated to advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals—they were one of 17 case studies selected from among 1700 member organizations.
The Centre for Community Based Research (CCBR) joined the Centre for Peace Advancement as our newest Core Collaborator in July; they celebrated their 40th anniversary in September.
Also in September, The Ripple Effect Education’s Executive Director Laurel Boytim was interviewed on Promenade, a community radio program.
Majid Mirza, Founder of ESGTree, was named as one of 50 emerging leaders reinventing how Canada does business by The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine for his commitment to aligning investors with environmentally and socially responsible companies.
Aileen Agada, founder of BeBlended, was interviewed by the University of Waterloo for an article during Black History month. Agada’s startup, which connects Black women to skilled hairstylists through a personalized platform, was recognized in a Canadian Venture article highlighting Canadian cosmetic startups that are revolutionizing the beauty industry.
This Fall, Hana Hassan, Lena Thibeh, and Razan Qaoud of BWOSS were welcomed to the Grebel Peace Incubator. Their professional development program aims to empower Black, Indigenous, and Women of Colour to thrive in careers in the tech sales industry, and was featured on the Brandon Gonez Show earlier in the year.
Green Care Farms’ efforts to empower people living with dementia were featured on Global News in September. CEO and Founder Rebekah Churchyard was also interviewed this Fall by the University of Waterloo Magazine, Fresh Air with Ismaila Alfa on CBC radio, and the In the Business of Change podcast.
Sean Campbell, Executive Director of Union Co-operative, was also spotlighted in the University of Waterloo Magazine. In addition, Campbell, whose venture buys residential and commercial properties in Waterloo Region to promote affordability through community ownership, was profiled by TVO Today, City News and the Laurier News Hub.
This year, the Centre for Peace Advancement continued to be a vibrant community that advanced peace in tangible ways locally and globally. We are grateful for all our participants and for all who support them!