News

On December 10, 2015, the members of the Epp Peace Incubator program gathered to decide how they could best make use of the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement’s Peace Fund. Supported by the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union, money from the fund is distributed once each semester.

On Thursday, October 29, 2015, seventy people gathered in the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement (CPA) to join Project Ploughshares (an affiliate member of the CPA) in celebrating the launch of Ernie Regehr’s book entitled, Disarming Conflict: Why Peace Cannot Be Won on the Battlefield.

Last week the co-founder of one of our affiliated organizations, the Tamarack Community Initiative, Paul Born travelled to Orillia to speak at the Georgian College campus. He talked about the important of Social Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement, two of the MSCU Centre's core values.

It was very encouraging to hear that Orillia is heading in the right direction when it comes to these important aspects.

"The crisis in Syria and its spillover effects, such as the flow of refugees, are reminders that conflicts and their consequences are rarely contained to one geographic area of the world. Simply ignoring conflicts does not make them go away. Indeed, as the European governments are discovering it only leads to compounding humanitarian crises. However, it would be a mistake to see the current refugee crisis as solely a European issue to tackle.

In November of 2005, Shannon Moroney’s life changed drastically. A respected educator, proud homeowner, active volunteer and happy newlywed, her world was shattered when a police officer informed her that her then-husband Jason had confessed to the violent sexual assault and kidnapping of two women in her home.  In the years to follow, Moroney processed her own victimization while discovering what it meant to be a partner to a person who had offended sexually. 

How is it possible that an arms deal that is tainting the Canadian peacebuilding identity and has had twelve articles by Steven Chase on the cover of our national newspaper in the past year is relatively unknown by Canadian citizens?

In the theme of innovation in the Waterloo region we, at the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement, are happy to announce that our Director, Paul Heidebrecht was featured in a local magazine this morning. Found in the Waterloo Region Record, Paul co-authored and collaborated with two other social innovators from the University of Waterloo community: Karla Boluk and Tania Del Matto. 

Waterloo is a thriving hotbed of innovation. With tech start-ups emerging daily, there is much focus on business, technology, and entrepreneurship. Adding to this concentration of ideas and change, the MSCU Center for Peace Advancement (CPA) is joining Waterloo’s innovation ecosystem with the launch of the Frank and Helen Epp Peace Incubator.