LETTER: Give peacebuilding a chance

I’d like to follow up on Tom Urbaniak’s excellent column in the Cape Breton Post (Oct. 7) and Chronicle Herald (Oct. 10) with his proposal that Nova Scotians promote and establish places for peace that “would actively commit to convening groups from around the world…seeking de-escalation, healing and dialogue.”

What a splendid idea in these warmongering and fearful times.

He speaks of the Peace and Friendship Treaties that stand as a unique testament of relations between Indigenous and the British Crown.

The history of Birchtown as a haven for Black Loyalists who fought for Britain, and for their efforts were promised homesteading land. But as with many agreements, there can be interpretative challenges; the point is – the door to dialogue was initially opened.

Tom also mentions Rotary and the peace history of Thinker’s Lodge in Pugwash.

This year, on the United Nations International Day of Peace (Sept. 21), Rotary unveiled two peace poles – one on the grounds outside of the Wolfville post office, where for 25 years a weekly peace vigil was held, and the second at Founder’s Park in New Minas.

The July 1957 scientific conference in Pugwash (with participation of physicist Joseph Rotblat, the only member of the Manhattan Project to leave the project on grounds of conscience) was the beginning of the international Pugwash movement for nuclear disarmament and global peace, and in a way represented the start of the Canadian peace cause.

Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace (NSVoW) and the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VoW) organized peace walks out of Pugwash to Halifax and Truro. And from 2013-2017 NSVoW members organized a peace camp for youth at Thinker’s Lodge. There is talk now of re-establishing that peace camp.

Several communities in Atlantic Canada are part of the International Cities of Peace – Charlottetown in PEI; and Dieppe, Riverview, and Moncton in New Brunswick. And in 1985, the town of Wolfville identified itself as a nuclear-free zone – a significant and symbolic, but not legally binding declaration.

As of 1 Oct 2026, just over 8,600 cities around the world have signed on as Mayors for Peace cities, 113 in Canada, including Antigonish, Yarmouth, Pugwash, CBRM, Greenwood, Halifax, etc. This global initiative started after the horrific bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the hope of moving toward a peaceful world without nuclear weapons.

As Tom says, “the work of peacebuilding is crying out for hosts and champions.”

I say, “Let’s move peacebuilding forward – by continuing the conversation.”

Julie L. Cormack,

Cambridge