News

The third Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival (GMP) took place on June 15-18, at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, VA. A diverse range of scholars, Mennonite practitioners, artists, and theologians from around the world were invited to share about their work for peace and listen to each other’s stories.

As a co-op student, a Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) student, and someone involved in leadership roles at Waterloo, Afiyah has been able to make the most out of her degree. Afiyah is a double major student of PACS and Psychology, and as she completes her 4A term, she can reflect on the classroom and co-op experiences that have helped her grow.  

On March 8th, 2023 four students competed in the C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest. This contest invites people from Mennonite and Brethren in Christ colleges and universities across Canada and the United States to compete. Here at the University of Waterloo, Peace and Conflict Students as well as Grebel Residents were invited to share their voices on topics of Christian peace position on contemporary concerns and were judged on topic, content, delivery, introduction, conclusion, and creativity.

Ryan Bromley is a 3A Arts and Business student with a Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) major. Ryan was a fall 2021 Enterprise Co-op pitch winner. Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) is a co-op pathway that allows students to pursue an entrepreneurial co-op option in which students start their businesses while earning a co-op credit. Ryan’s original pitch was to create a “Peace to co-op” business that would teach university students critical personal and professional skills related to PACS. Throughout the work term, Ryan displayed incredible flexibility, drive, and vision in his journey through the term as he worked towards a dream that extends beyond the four months of the co-op.

When Abbey began her co-op position last spring, she struggled to see how her Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) education could be relevant to her work. Now that she has finished her co-op position, she can hardly fathom a position where PACS would not apply – at least in some capacity.

Rebecca Chinamasa, a second-year Master of Peace and Conflict Studies student, recently became a member of The Record's Community Editorial Board for 2020-21. Chinamasa joined the MPACS program with a background in healthcare and passion to combine the theory and practice of peace and conflict studies with healthcare services.

By Marlene Epp, Professor of History and Peace and Conflict Studies

Marlene Epp is a professor of history and peace and conflict studies at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo. She lives, works, and plays on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Attawandaron, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples.

It is somewhat ironic that the Land Back Camp underway at Victoria Park is just a short walk from the Schneider Haus on Queen Street.

The Land Back Camp is where a group of local Indigenous activists began occupying a small area of the park on National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21). They are claiming land that was a traditional meeting ground for Indigenous peoples, used for trade, ceremony, and relationship building. The land was taken away by white colonizers and settlers, but in 1784 the Haldimand Tract (10 kilometres on each side of the Grand River from end to end) was granted by the British to the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations), to support them in perpetuity.

By Michelle Jackett

Michelle Jackett is a graduate of the Peace and Conflict Studies program (BA ’11) and holds an MA in Conflict Transformation, specializing in Restorative Justice (‘13). She currently works as Coordinator of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement and teaches Restorative Justice for PACS.

Did you know caterpillars turn to goop inside their cocoons before becoming butterflies? I learned this fun fact from Rebecca Solnit in her recent article “’The impossible has already happened': what coronavirus can teach us about hope.” More than a fun fact, the caterpillar’s transformation is an analogy.