Published by Communications and Public Affairs (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338
News Release
October 08, 2004
Lloyd Axworthy talk, Alexandre Trudeau film part of Peace Week
A talk by former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy and the showing of a documentary by former prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s son are part of the University of Guelph’s Peace Week activities Oct. 18 to 24.
Peace Week is the initiative of a group of faculty, staff and students on campus who formed a committee called Peace by Piece to help promote peace.
“We wanted to dedicate a week of events on campus that would create dialogue around the concept of peacemaking on a personal, local, national and global level,” said Peace by Piece committee member Emilie Hayes.
On Oct. 18 at noon, Lawrence Carter, a religion professor at Morehouse College who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr., will speak in the University Centre courtyard. The event is free. Over the past 50 years, Carter has worked towards promoting peace, including founding the Gandhi Institute for Reconciliation in 2000. Carter’s talk about his experiences with peacemaking will be followed by a short film about Gandhi and the Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International.
Axworthy, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee will speak on “Canadians as Peacemakers” Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in War Memorial Hall. Admission is $5 and tickets are available at the Information Desk in the University Centre. Axworthy is president of the University of Winnipeg and served as a member of Parliament for 21 years.
Alexandre Trudeau’s documentary Embedded in Baghdad will be shown Oct. 20 in Room 102 of the J.D. MacLachlan Building (between Massey Hall and the Reynolds Building) at 7 p.m. The event is free. Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began, Trudeau travelled to the country to document life with an Iraqi family and to show the impact of war on ordinary people. The film will be followed by a discussion about the realities of war and conflict on ordinary people.
A symposium exploring non-violent solutions of global, local and personal conflict runs Oct. 23 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Room 103 of the University Centre. Speakers from Project Ploughshares, the Canadian Red Cross, War Child and U of G’s faculty will lead workshops, panels and discussion groups on non-violence as a means of social change. Interested participants should submit a registration form, available from the Peace by Piece website, and $5 to the Information Desk by Oct. 20.
The week will wrap up Oct. 24 at 3 p.m. with a multi-faith celebration in Room 103 of the University Centre, followed by a peace pole dedication in Branion Plaza. “Peace poles are literally poles of wood that feature the word ‘peace’ in multiple languages to encourage people to stop and contemplate peace,” said Hayes. “We’ll have ‘peace’ written in French, English, a local aboriginal language and Braille.”
For more information, visit www.studentlife.uoguelph.ca/sao/peace.htm or e-mail Hayes at ehayes@uoguelph.ca.
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt (519) 824-4120, Ext. 53338, or Rachelle Cooper, Ext. 56982.
