Our centre and participants
The Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement is a dynamic space on the University of Waterloo campus, home to peace-oriented innovators, and established organizations from the regions vibrant peace-building field. The goal of advancing peace is the lifeblood of the Centre for Peace Advancements unique working community. The Centre for Peace Advancement stands as a bridge between campus and community, academics and practice, and faith and justice.
Our ecosystem
The University of Waterloo has been consistently ranked as Canada's most innovative university by Maclean's university rankings. UWaterloo operates the world's largest co-operative education program, and now supports a wide array of student entrepreneurship opportunities. In addition to being the home of countless cutting-edge tech companies, our surrounding community has nurtured significant social innovations in areas such as restorative justice, poverty alleviation, and refugee resettlement.
Events
June to September Ploughshares 50th Anniversary Exhibit
Come see some of the people and partners, art and archival materials that have contributed to Project Ploughshares' peace and disarmament efforts over the last 50 years.
Loops That Hold Us
From October 6 to 29 at the Grebel Gallery, explore a curated collection of 37 pieces that were hand-hooked by members of the Kitchener-Waterloo Rug Hooking Guild. Representing the artwork of Samuel Wiebe (1985–2024), these pieces were created as a dialogue about fibre arts, harm reduction, and community.
Build Peace 2026: Enabling Encounters
Every year, the Build Peace conference explores emergent challenges to peace in a digital era, and peacebuilding innovations to address these challenges. It holds an interdisciplinary space to address the most pressing topics and transformative practices in peace, conflict and innovation.
Build Peace 2026 will take place from November 13-15, in Waterloo, Canada. We warmly invite you to bring your questions, ideas and experiences as we chart the future together.
News
Catalyzing collective impact
The latest product to emerge from the Centre's unique blend of social innovation and peacebuilding endeavours is a partnership between affiliated organizations: the Tamarack Institute recently joined Local Futures to launch a new community of practice. Their exploration of multi-sector collaboration is laying the groundwork for more fruitful networks across Canada.
Local Futures has global impact at the United Nations
Local Futures staff Jon Beale and Laura Carr-Pries visited New York as Canadian delegates to the United Nations at the 2026 High Level Political Forum (HLPF). Results from Canada’s side-event and other panel discussions reveal that local efforts and initiatives are key to implementing the SDGs.
Systems thinkers from around the world converge at Oxford
In July, a team of University of Waterloo students travelled to Oxford University to compete alongside finalists from 19 countries in the 2026 Global Final of Map the System.
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