To reach peace, teach peace

If there is to be peace in our time, it is up to the educators to teach it to future generations. Of course, who will teach the educators? This is the main purpose behind the fourth annual Peace Education Conference in Canada at McMaster University, presented by the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace and the McMaster Centre for Peace Studies this November 24 to 28, 2005.

This four-day conference has been a much-needed gathering place for the last three years – for not only peace researchers, educators, and activists – but people from all backgrounds, who recognize that the responsibility to cultivate a culture of peace in society belongs to all. Participants in the past have ranged from those who live in residence at McMaster to guests flying in from places as remote and distant as Cyprus.

This year's conference is preceded by a three-day “Leadership and Peace Workshop.”

Previous years' conferences have led to the initiation of provincial and regional conferences across Canada over the last three years. Guest speakers have included: David Adams, Shall Sinha, and senator Douglas Roche – with many other speakers.

Not only are established peace researchers and established educators attending, but students from across the country attend, including McMaster students from its undergraduate peace studies program.

“Three years ago, this conference sold me on my decision to go into peace studies at McMaster,” says Rob Porter, a graduate of Honours Peace Studies and Theatre & Film Studies at McMaster. “The conference attracts the international theorists and activists that helped craft peace studies into an academic discipline, who conceived the materials we read from first year and on in peace studies – and meeting them is an amazing experience.”

The conference has been organized by the leadership of Robert Stewart, a McMaster alumnus who graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Commerce. He is now a chartered accountant in public practice and certified management consultant who has held many senior management positions in business and government over the past 31 years. Stewart developed his 'passion for peace' through his membership in the Rotary Clubs, who help in sponsoring and participating in the conference.

“I believe we could easily have over 500 participants this year,” says Stewart, who since founding the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace (CCTP) in 1997, has devoted himself to using his professional skills as a general manager and information manager to help advance peace education in Canada and internationally. “Promotion is where we need the most help right now&our conferences are really good, but they are still relatively unknown to the many who would be interested in coming.”

The Fourth Annual Conference on Peace Education in Canada will run from November 24 through 28, preceded by the Leadership and Peace Workshop from November 21 through 23.

The early-bird registration fee is self-assesed ($100 non-professional, $200 professional, $25 student) if submitted before November 14, 2005. Fees are used to pay the costs of the conference, and any surplus is contributed to the Canadian Peace Education Foundation to support future peace education efforts.

More information can be obtained on the CCTP website at http://www.peace.ca/, or by contacting Robert Porter at the McMaster Peace and Conflict Studies Society at pec.2005@pacss.ca.