Since the launch of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement in 2014, our staff, participants, and partners marked the United Nations International Day of Peace by celebrating innovative solutions to complex problems, advocacy to press decision-makers to work for justice, and efforts to bring communities together around the world. While the Centre encountered unanticipated challenges along the way, we never wavered in our mission to catalyze collaboration. However, in 2020 we were momentarily stopped in our tracks by an unprecedented disruption that required us to reconceptualise our work, our lives, and where we find space for peace when we are overburdened.
Along with innumerable practical issues raised by the shift to remote work, COVID-19 brought with it experiences of individual and collective trauma that we continue to carry despite adaptations to this new reality. In September 2021, universities across North America welcomed staff and students back in a limited return to in-person work and study, and many embraced a forward-looking approach to recovery that centered on hope for a better future. Some, like the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, have struck a “human centered and trauma informed” approach, reflecting on the difficulties that came to bear over the last 18 months.
At the Centre for Peace Advancement, we believe that we can recover better by being in community with one another. We can recover by reflecting on where we have been, acknowledging how we have been changed, and asking ourselves where we would like to go together. We have faced challenges in all aspects of our lives that shape the way we relate to one another and impact our experience of community. We have also prevailed during this time as we continued to work for peace and justice despite the traumatic experiences we have encountered. By acknowledging both our challenges and triumphs, we can celebrate our individual and collective resilience and find space for peace.
The theme for the 2021 United Nations International Day of Peace is “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world.” The United Nations invites us “to think creatively and collectively about how to help everyone recover better, how to build resilience, and how to transform our world into one that is more equal, more just, equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and healthier.”
In honour of the International Day of Peace, the Centre is celebrating Peace Week from September 20 – 24 with a variety of community events and publications:
On Monday, September 20, the Centre invited members of the University of Waterloo community to share their adverse experiences through the Grebel Gallery If Trauma Could Echo project. If Trauma Could Echo is a community-based project that acknowledges and grieves the untold stories of trauma collected from students, staff, and faculty at Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo. This project accompanies Yasmeen Nematt Alla's exhibit at the Grebel Gallery, Not Traumatic Enough for a Shock Blanket, and is running until December 20, 2021.
On Thursday, September 23, a small group of staff and faculty at Conrad Grebel University College will gather for the Centre’s Peace Week Circle to reflect on where we have been and what we need as a community to move forward. The group will gather in the Grebel Gallery to tour Not Traumatic Enough for a Shock Blanket led by artist, Yasmeen Nematt Alla. We will then make our way to the Grebel fire pit for reflection and conversation.
On Friday, September 24, out of the Peace Week Circle event, the Centre will share a one-page resource with campus and community partners to support groups in hosting similar dialogues.
Later in the Fall semester, the Centre will continue to celebrate moments of triumph and resilience through the inaugural Peace at Grebel Report. The Centre and Conrad Grebel University College have remained dedicated to contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 by promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies. This publication will be a celebration of what we have collectively achieved over the last year.