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Peace Train: TPNW edition

painting of Via Rail train emerging from forest with peace symbol in front
Peace Train Canada painting by Norma Emerson

To the leaders of Canada’s political parties:

I write to you to echo Elizabeth May's call for Canada to endorse the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

“Although Canada does not possess nuclear weapons of our own, engaging with the TPNW is Canada’s opportunity to be a global leader in moving disarmament forward by influencing our allies with our decisions,” she writes.

“The threat of nuclear weapons being used once again is becoming more real every day.”

“We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines any longer.”

Canada has a reputation for being a country that supports peace. We must not rely on reputation only but continue on many fronts with proactive statements, policies and initiatives to declare that violence solves no problems. At both individual and state levels, peoples of the world must recognize that human flourishing requires peace, not war.

At this crucial moment in history, rather than raining destruction upon perceived enemies with bombs and death, we must throw our collective “fighting” energies into combating climate change together.

-----

A bit of background from the Peace Train blog:

A meeting will be held at the United Nations on 3 March 2025 regarding the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.

Canada is not a signatory to the Treaty, which calls for the comprehensive prohibition of nuclear weapons, and will not be sending an official delegation.

Leader of the Green Party, Elizabeth May, believes this is unfortunate since those weapons “pose an increasingly existential threat to humanity.”

The Canadian government says it is committed to abolishing nuclear weapons, she said, but still refuses to participate in meetings related to the Treaty.

“We must not sit on the sidelines any longer,” May said. “We need to put nuclear weapons back in the Pandora’s box whence they came.”

Elizabeth May is going to the meetings not as a representative of Canada, but as part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Parliamentarians for the TPNW.

She will travel to New York via train from Montreal along with a small entourage of Peace Train participants who in November travelled across Canada to ask the Canadian government to establish and fund a Centre of Excellence for Peace and Justice focused on research, education, and training in conflict resolution, diplomacy, and peace operations.

Read more about the Peace Train here:

https://peacetraincanada.blogspot.com/2025/03/elizabeth-may-thrilled-to-have-peace.html

Read Elizabeth May’s letter to the Prime Minister here:

 https://elizabethmaymp.ca/wp-content/uploads/Trudeau-Justin-TPNW.pdf

A Mennonite link

And, one more thing! Fittingly, for a historic peace church, Mennonite World Conference has endorsed the Interfaith Statement to the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

From their letter:

“As people of faith, we pray. We pray that nuclear weapons will never be used again. We pray that those whose lives were impacted by such horrific weapons receive assistance and remediation as soon as possible. We pray that all nations awaken to the folly of the logic of claiming their own security at the cost of the survival of humanity and our planet, and choose the path of nuclear abolition.

“But our prayers are not abstract ideology or wishful thinking. Our actions are our prayer, as exemplified by many courageous individuals of faith, who have stood up against nuclear weapons and spoken the truth, because they truly believed that their faith demanded such actions. And this is why we, as faith communities, are again uniting our voices today.

“As faith communities, we affirm the TPNW and celebrate this Treaty which signals the world’s moral, legal, and practical rejection of nuclear weapons. We join you in your efforts to universalize and implement the Treaty.”

https://quakers.nz/sites/default/files/images/3MSP%20interfaith%20statement%20%20%281%29.pdf

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