As the snow continues to pile in anticipation for winter break, the 2025 Fall Term is close to its end. At the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement this term was filled with a plethora of events, new learning opportunities, and an ongoing dedication to peace.
At the beginning of the term, the Centre hosted the annual community calendar of peace-focused events known as Peace Week. This year's Peace Week was especially memorable with over 30 different events all committed to the message of peace expressed through a diversity of issues and mediums. Events included a Pow Wow, film screenings, lectures, art exhibits, and more. One fun Peace Week event came from Mind and Education Games Research Centre. MEGA, a Grebel Peace Incubator participant, hosted an event featuring unique games from all over the world. The Centre’s Director and Coordinator also went head-to-head in a competitive game, involving stacking coloured cups in a particular order depicted on a card.
The Grebel Gallery changed over this semester, as Tending Tomorrow Picturing Today finished its time in the gallery and made space for Drafts 6: Mapping Diasporic Identities. Mapping Diasporic Identities brings together 6 artists from different areas in the world to tell their stories and experiences from living in the diaspora. Launch night brought over 50 people to experience the art from the artists' perspectives, and a few days later the exhibit was a stop in the Kitchener Waterloo Art Galleries Bike Tour. The exhibit will be here until February 28, so make sure to check it out before then!
In addition to affiliating with the Centre for Peace Advancement, The Ripple Effect Education (TREE) has partnered in recent years with the Region of Waterloo’s Combatting Hate Action Table (CHAT) initiative. TREE worked with the Centre and the Region to help launch the “We All Belong Here” campaign at Grebel in late October. The event allowed people to board a Grand River Transit bus wrapped in anti-hate messages, as well as take part in a community art piece about what peace means to them. People also started writing “We belong here” in their native languages and additional languages they know such as Hindi, Polish, Chinese, Te Reo Maori, and Filipino.
The wave of good energy doesn’t stop at TREE, as Peace for All Canada has had several exciting updates this term. For example, Peace for All partnered with the Law Society of Ontario to bring forward the Community Legal Information Project (CLIP). CLIP aims to bring legal information and knowledge to those who may not be able to access it comfortably. This term, CLIP has visited multiple areas of worship, such as mosques and gurdwaras, as well as unhoused shelters to ensure that legal information is easily accessible to everyone in the Kitchener-Waterloo region.
FindSuri has seen an abundance of positive updates and news this semester as well. In particular, Dima Aldera, the founder of FindSuri, was recently featured in the Waterloo Region Record, and CBC Radio reflecting on the progress and success of FindSuri. In December Dima helped host a Coffee Break celebrating one year of Syrian liberation from the al-Assad regime. This featured Syrian cultural items such as a tarboosh traditional hat, mosaic boxes, embroidered clothing, and delicious treats such as Maamoul date cookies and Warbat Kashta custard pastries.
Rumaysa Syed, this term’s Centre for Peace Advancement Program Assistant, was able to experience many of these activities. “My time with the Centre was both informative and delightful. Having the opportunity to meet many different start-ups with their own vision of peace was truly inspiring. Being able to engage in multiple different events, such as the gallery launch and Peace Week events, was a highlight of the term for me. This term has not only given me skills to use in future endeavours but lasting memories, and a new connection to the wider Waterloo community.”
Overall, the Fall 2025 term was filled with progress and enthusiasm. The Centre’s participants continue to share a common commitment to peacebuilding, innovation, and encouraging a better tomorrow.