Project Ploughshares staff and local group news.

Ploughshares staff

In mid-January in Oxford, UK, Ken Epps represented Project Ploughshares at the annual planning meeting of the international NGO working group that is promoting the Framework Convention on International Arms Transfers (Arms Trade Treaty).

In February Sarah Estabrooks gave two lectures on nuclear issues for courses in Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo.

Project Ploughshares held a public forum on Iraq in Waterloo on February 13 with panelists Kali Galanis, staff member of War Child Canada and member of an International Study Team which visited Iraq earlier in 2003; Peggy Mason, former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament and chair of the UN Experts Group which examined efforts to disarm Iraq; and Ron Cleminson, commissioner for the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and former Canadian military officer and Foreign Affairs official.

In New York on February 17-18, Larissa Fast participated in meetings on a global conflict prevention initiative, organized in response to the UN Secretary-General's Report on the Prevention of Armed Conflict. Since January Larissa has been on a six-person Canadian taskforce involved in plans for an international NGO conference on conflict prevention in 2005.

Sarah and Grant Birks gave a presentation on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction on February 23 at Westminster United Church in Waterloo. On February 13 Grant spoke on Iraq during a chapel service at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, in Kitchener, Ontario.

On February 22-24, in Kampala, Uganda, Ernie Regehr participated in a consultation organized by partner organization Africa Peace Forum. Researchers from the region gathered to develop a regional research and dialogue agenda on regional relationships and institutions for mutual security. The consultation was the main element of our project, Towards a Regional Security Architecture: Assessing Issues and Developing Capacity in the Horn of Africa, funded by the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa.

On March 7 in Kitchener, Grant gave a presentation at the World Day of Prayer service, reflecting on the stories of five women from Lebanon who spoke at the service.

As a member of a government-civil society working group on space security, Ernie participated in a March 5-7 meeting in Washington DC with the Eisenhower Institute on developing a broad approach to space security. On March 16-18 he participated in a roundtable of government and independent experts on disarmament and humanitarian law, organized by the Canadian Red Cross together with the International Security Research and Outreach Program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).

On March 22 Sarah was a panellist at a Toronto Pugwash/Science for Peace meeting on space weaponization issues.

On March 25 Lynne Griffiths-Fulton made a presentation on small arms at Conrad Grebel University College to undergraduate students in the Peace and Conflict Studies program.

In New York on March 27 Ernie participated in the Human Security Network consultation on its project to promote human security and humanitarian perspectives in the small arms debate. The Human Security Network (HSN) is a group of like-minded countries from all regions of the world that, at the level of Foreign Ministers, maintain dialogue on questions pertaining to human security. The Network includes Austria, Canada, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Mall, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, Thailand, and South Africa as an observer.

Ernie, Lynne, Ken, and Kristiana Powell participated in a Ploughshares-organized meeting of the small arms working group of the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee. The Toronto meeting was held on March 27-28 and included a series of workshops as well as a dialogue with Canadian government officials on small arms policy. The meeting was the first in support of the two-year Voluntary Sector Initiative policy development project on small arms, coordinated by Project Ploughshares and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

On April 3 Project Ploughshares co-sponsored with Waterloo Public Interest Research Group and the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College a performance at the College by the Freetong Players from Sierra Leone. The concert, "Rising from Our Ashes," portrayed Sierra Leone's civil war through music, theatre,and storytelling.

On April 7-8 Larissa and Ernie participated in a two-day event in Ottawa on the Responsibility to Protect, the report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS). The event was jointly hosted by Project Ploughshares and the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy. With financial support from The Simons Foundation, Ploughshares hosted the first day, which focused on norm development, with guest speakers from The Brookings Institution, DFAIT, the Canadian Red Cross, and Amnesty International, Canada.

On April 12 Ernie spoke at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newmarket on the Iraq war and war prevention.

From April 28 to May 9 Ernie and Sarah were in Geneva as members of the Government of Canada delegation to the Preparatory Committee session leading to the 2005 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, serving as advisor and NGO representative respectively. They were particularly involved in the two main Canadian initiatives: elaborating the "reporting requirement" and promoting rule changes to enhance NGO access to the process. During the conference Project Ploughshares joined UNIDIR (United Nations Institute for Development Research), and the Simons Centre for Peace and Disarmament Studies of Canada in hosting a briefing on space issues.

In Ottawa on May 14 Ernie participated in a consultation with DFAIT officials on Canada's report to the July 2003 Biennial Meeting of States on the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms at the United Nations.

On May 6 Grant and Kristiana led a session on armed conflict and the Iraq war at the Annual Futures Symposium for Grades 7-8 students in Waterloo Region at Conrad Grebel University College; on May 9 Grant gave a similar presentation to students at Niagara Christian Collegiate in Fort Erie, Ontario. On May 26 Grant attended the Peace Education Resource Fair held at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto to promote Ploughshares material and our CIDA-funded curriculum project with Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener.

In Ottawa on June 10 Ernie made a presentation to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT) on ballistic missile defence. He also made a presentation on Sudan to SCFAIT's Sub-Committee on Human Rights.

On June 11 in London, Ontario Ernie was a panellist at a forum on Canada-US relations. On June 13 he spoke at a sunrise breakfast meeting of the Cambridge Rotary Club.

In Toronto on June 11-13 Larissa attended a consultation at York University organized by the International Security Research and Outreach Program of DFAIT and the York Centre for International Security Studies on ways to promote cooperation and partnership between DFAIT and the policy research communities.

Lynne was in Nairobi, Kenya from June 12-16 to attend the final conference of the first phase of our small arms project with Africa Peace Forum on the Nairobi Declaration, a regional small arms control agreement signed in March 2000.

On June 19-20 Sarah and Ernie participated in a roundtable between NGOs and DFAIT officials to review the Ploughshares report for DFAIT on states reporting to the NPT. Sarah also attended the spring meeting of the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Larissa and Ernie were members of a June 27 roundtable in Toronto on peace theology organized by the Mennonite Central Committee Peace Theology Research Group.

In New York from July 7-11 Lynne and Ernie attended the First Biennial Meeting of States on the Implementation of the Programme of Action of the 2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons. Ernie was a member of the Canadian government delegation and Lynne represented Project Ploughshares.

Kristiana Powell will begin a one-year joint appointment with Project Ploughshares and North-South Institute on August 1, 2003. The Ottawa-based North-South Institute is a national, independent, non-governmental research institute focused on international development. In addition to specific projects for each organization, Kristiana will work on a joint research project on sub-regional security arrangements in Africa. Kristiana is a graduate of McMaster University (BASc) and University of Toronto (MA International Relations and Political Science) and has started doctoral studies in Political Science (International Relations) at the University of Toronto. Before taking on this assignment Kristiana was an intern with Project Ploughshares under the Canadian government's Youth International Internship Program.

Ploughshares Local Groups

During the first half of 2003 Poloughshares local groups focused on was in Iraq. Ploughshares Fraser Valley had a panel discussion on Iraq at the annual Arts and Peace Festival in March. Ploughshares Edmonton made a presentation at a March conference and also at the University of Alberta's annual International Week. Ploughshares Calgary provided speakers to local churches and distributed a two-page document on responding to the war for use in church bulletins. Local Ploughshares groups across Canada participated in church services, vigils and peace marches. Gloria Paul of Ploughshares Fredericton discussed the Iraq war on a local radio program, and Hazel Jardine of Ploughshares Fort Qu'Appelle was interviewed on a national CBC radio program.

Ploughshares Kawartha in Peterborough celebrated their 20th anniversary in March. Congratulations!

Project Ploughshares Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies Conrad Grebel University College Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G6