Following is an up-dated summary of forthcoming peace actions for Hiroshima andNagasaki Day commemorations. Please make corrections and up-dates. The list isnot complete and some cities may still be missing. Please send corrections andevent information up-dates to Anton Wagner, Toronto Hiroshima Day Coalition,awagner@yorku.ca 416-863 1209; fax: 416-863 9973; The suggestion has been madethat groups across-Canada organizing commemorations issue a joint call askingParliament to take a lead on negotiating an international nuclear weaponsabolition convention and to re-establish Canada?s former international role inpeacebuilding by establishing a Department of Peace. Peace actions that we areaware of so far include:
August 2:
Press conference by Halifax Peace Coalition. Contact: Tamara Lorincztlorincz@dal.ca
Saturday, August 4:
Vancouver: David Laskey from Veterans Against Nuclear Arms has arranged to haveMayor Sam Sullivan declare August 6 as Hiroshima Day in the City of Vancouverand for the Mayor to read his Proclamation on Saturday August 4th at theopening ceremonies of the Powell Street Festival, an annual event thatcelebrates the Japanese Canadian contribution to Canadian life. Contact:laskey8824@shaw.ca
VSA9, Vancouver Save Article 9, a group organizing to stop the Japanesegovernment from changing Article 9 of the Japanese constitution that prohibitswarmaking, hold an A-bomb and Humanity exhibition August 4 and 5 in conjunctionwith the Powell Street Festival. Contact: Eiichiro Ochiai eo1921@telus.ne
Sunday, August 5:
Montreal: Hiroshima is Montreal?s twin city and in 1998 donated a Peace Bell tothe Montreal Botanical Garden as a symbol of peace and eternal friendshipbetween the two cities. An annual peace ceremony has been organized by theJapanese Pavillion of the Botanical Garden with the support of the City ofMontreal since then. Often the mayor or a representive and the Consul Generalof Japan are present. The ceremony is held in the evening, August 5, at 7 pm tocorrespond with the commemorative ceremony taking place in the Peace Park inHiroshima, on August 6. The Peace Bell in the Japanese Garden will ring 62times throughout the day of August 6. Everyone is invited to come to the August5 Japanese Garden commemoration starting at 7 pm to remind us of the importanceof world peace. Contact: General information, Montreal Botanical Garden,514-872 1400 or Karine Jalbert, Communications Coordinator, 514-872 1453,karinejalbert@ville.montreal.qc.ca
Midland-Penetang, Ontario: Peaceworks commemorates Hiroshima Day at the PenetangPeace Garden on Rotary Trail. Potluck picnic at 5.30; commemorative ceremony at7.00pm with a presentation by James Bacque, ?A Modest Proposal: Eliminate WarBy Privatizing It,? music and the Orillia Raging Grannies. Learn to make anorigami crane. Contact: Elizabeth O'Connor peace_works@hotmail.com
Monday, August 6:
Halifax: The third annual Peace Day takes place from 3 to 4:30 pm in the WorldPeace Pavilion at the Dartmouth Waterfront Park near Alderney Landing. (In theevent of rain the event will be inside the terminal building of the passengerferry from Halifax to Dartmouth). The program includes a youth performance ofthe play ?One Thousand Cranes,? speakers including MP Alexa McDonough, and theRaging Grannies. Organized by Physicians for Global Survival, Voice of Womenfor Peace and the Halifax Peace Coalition. Contact: Tamara Lorincztlorincz@dal.ca or http://www.halifaxpeacecoalition.ca/
Fredericton commemorates Hiroshima Day with Lantern Night: A Vigil AgainstNuclear Weapons, at 8:30 pm at the Peace Pole, near the Walking Bridge, southside Fredericton. (In the event of rain, the event will be held at ConserverHouse, 180 St. John St.) The program includes speakers from the local chaptersof Project Ploughshares, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms and the FrederictonPeace Coalition, and poetry and music. Contact: info@frederictonpeace.org orvisit http://www.frederictonpeace.org/
Ottawa: A commemoration of the 61st Year Since the Nuclear Destruction ofHiroshima and Nagasaki will be held at 7 pm at the Friends Meeting House.Includes a power point presentation ?Sixty years of Struggles by Canadians toBan Nuclear Weapons,? a general discussion of initiatives being taken today forthis purpose and what individuals can do towards banning the bonb, communitysinging and a walk to the pond by the Canal to float handmade lanterns.Sponsored by the Ottawa Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers) in collaborationwith Physicians for Global Survival and the Ottawa branches of ProjectPloughshares and Religions for Peace. Contact: Murray Thomson,mothom@sympatico.ca Debbie Grisdale, pgs@web.ca Jordan Bishop,jordanbishop@sympatico.ca
Toronto: The Toronto Hiroshima Day Coalition organizes the annual Hiroshima DayCommemoration at the Toronto City Hall Peace Garden from 6:30 to 9 pm withVeterans Against Nuclear Arms. This year?s commemoration, entitled ?Paths toHope? to emphasize concrete steps that can be taken to achieve the eliminationof nuclear weapons, is MC?ed by Phyllis Creighton from Science for Peace.Councillor Raymond Cho will read Mayor David Miller's Toronto Hiroshima DayProclamation. Prayers for peace from Father Damian MacPherson, President of theToronto Area Interfaith Council, Imam Abdul Hai Patel from the Council of Imamsof Canada, and representatives from the Toronto Buddhist Church and the BahaiCommunity will be presented. Physicians for Global Survival will present theToronto launch of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow will read peace poems by Kurihara Sadako.The City of Hiroshima Peace Proclamation will be read as well as the 50thanniversary Pugwash Conference statement. Following speakers from VeteransAgainst Nuclear Arms, the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and the federalDepartment of Peace initiative, MP Peggy Nash will speak on the federalgovernment and peacebuilding. The Yakudo Traditional Japanese Drummers and theRaging Grannies will perform. A lantern ceremony will conclude the event.Sponsored by the Hiroshima Day Coalition, the Japanese Canadian CulturalCentre, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, Physicians for Global Survival, Voice ofWomen, and the Older Women?s Network. Contact: Anton Wagner, awagner@yorku.caand http://www.myspace.com/hiroshimaday
Winnipeg: Project Peacemakers, the Winnipeg chapter of Project Ploughshares, andthe Peace Alliance Winnipeg are organizing this years event which includesmaking lanterns, a lantern ceremony at twilight, music and speakers fromProject Peacemakers and the Japanese-Canadian community. Contact: ProjectPeacemakers, 204-775 8178, info@projectpeacemakers.org
Saskatoon: Veterans Against Nuclear Arms organizes a screening of thefull-length documentary Veterans Against Nuclear War filmed in Canada and inHiroshima and Nagasaki at the Broadway Theatre at 7 pm. The event is alsosponsored by the Saskatoon Peace Coalition and Project Ploughshares. Contact:Betsy and John Bury, burybjd@sasktel.net
Grand Forks, BC: The Boundary Peace Initiative in the B.C. Southern Interior ishosting a Hiroshima Day Commemoration at 1 pm in Gyro Park (next to theBoundary Museum) with presentations on Uranium Mining and Exploration impactsalong with a fundraiser for our group. The Boundary/Kootenay/Okanagan isthreatened with mining of the known deposits of uranium in our areas. Ouryouth will do chalk silhouettes throughout the downtown on August 5th (it?seasier than the water soluble paint that caused issues with City Council a fewyears ago). We are a member of the B.C. Southern Interior Peace Coalition, the Canadian Peace Alliance, Abolition 2000, Lawyers Against the War, Uranium FreeB.C., Uranium Free Kootenay Boundary and an affiliate of the Fellowship ofReconciliation as well as working with other local, national andinternational groups. Contact: Laura Savinkoff, l4peace@telus.net
Salt Spring Island, BC: Continuing an over 25-year tradition of markingHiroshima Day, this year?s event takes place in the peace park across fromArtspring, 10am-2pm (lanternmaking); 7:30 pm (gathering) Contact: Jan Slakovjs@saltspring.com
Thursday, August 9:
Hamilton: The annual Hiroshima-Nagasaki Memorial Observance takes place at 7 PMin the Hamilton City Hall Council Chamber. The Guest Speaker will be Prof.Graeme MacQueen, Founder, Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University,speaking on ?The Crisis of Civilization and the Need for Imagination.?Presented by the Hamilton chapter of Project Ploughshares and co-sponsored byAmnesty International Group One, the Hamilton Mundialization Committee, UnitedNations Association in Canada, Ghandi Peace Festival, Physicians for GlobalSurvival, Interfaith Council for Refugees and Human Rights, McMaster UniversityCentre for Peace Studies, Hamilton Culture of Peace Network, Operation Lifelineand Food Not Bombs. Contact: Leonor Sorger, lsorger@hamiltondiocese.com
Powell River, BC: Powell River is organizing a traditional Hiroshima-NagasakiCommemoration at Willingdon Beach at 7 pm with songs, a Peace Lantern Ceremonyand a speech by our Mayor who joined Mayors for Peace in 2004 and has beenasked to endorse the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. TheICAN campaign will be launched in Powell River at the same time and petitionscirculated for signatures until the end of September. Contact: Dr. Sylvia Keetsylviak@prcn.org
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