Witold’s Report from Auschwitz November, 2020
“Who entered had died. Who left, had been born again” (p.234)
Witold Pilecki was a giant of a person. A member of the Polish underground, he voluntarily had himself captured in 1940 and sent to Auschwitz, where he spent over 2 ½ years as a prisoner, working for the resistance to […]
Silencing Dissent & the End of Empire August, 2020
By Sally Campbell
As a Canadian who lived in the US during Vietnam War, and participated in the massive anti-war movement that brought an end to the War, I have long been stymied about what happened to the once-so-vibrant and powerful Peace Movement. How did the US move […]
Dear Mr. Prime Minister: 12th of June, 2020
Re: Covid-19, Climate Crisis, and a Just Recovery
I am glad to hear you received my recent letter, and I understand our government has requested public input into shaping a recovery from Covid-19, open for submissions until Friday, June 19th.
These are strange times, and strange times call for bold […]
6th of January, 2021
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
(cc: MP Gord Johns)
Dear Sir:
Re: UN Treaty for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (The “Ban Treaty”)
Further to my letter to you of August 3rd , 2020, I am happy to report that the above-noted Treaty has now been ratified by the requisite 50 states and will officially come into force […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Cc: M.P. Gord Johns
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:
3rd of August, 2020
Re: U.N. Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Further to my letters to you of May 11th and June 12th re NATO and a “Just Recovery” from Covid, let me say I truly appreciate your government’s handling of the Covid crisis, and believe that […]
DISRUPTING THE WAR SYSTEM April, 2020
“We can’t win a war directed against the very planet we live on. We need to put down our weapons of war and plunder, negotiate an honorable surrender, and sign a lasting peace treaty with the planet”. Gar Smith says so much in these few words. And, as this assignment […]
Leaving World War II Behind: Create an Alternative Approach December, 2020
I like the idea of using imagination to reflect on the build-up to WWII and to consider how that war might have been avoided, had different paths been chosen. The writer Cormac McCarthy says (loosely translated) that it’s not the mess we’re in now that’s […]
Ain’t Gonna Study War No More – Conscientious Objectors & War Resisters
October, 2020
My husband Michael is a war resister who came to Canada in 1969. He refused to join the US military and all that entailed. He was one of about 100,000 (over normal immigration patterns) who came to Canada from the US during that […]
Caught in the Middle: A War Story October, 2020
Her father never knew of her birth. She was born in early 1943, shortly after he was killed by the Russians on the eastern front. Her mother lived in a small village in what was called the
“Polish Corridor”, a German-speaking village since the Middle Ages, part of […]
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:
cc. MP Gord Johns 11th of May, 2020
Re: Canada’s membership in NATO
First, I want to thank you for our government’s clear and compassionate leadership during this COVID crisis. As well, I know I am not alone in appreciating your proactivity in allocating significant funds to the cleanup of fossil fuel-damaged sites, […]