Christian Peacemaker Congress IX

Schedule Registration Form [pdf] For More Information: Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada 25 Cecil St., #307 Toronto, ON M5T 1N1, CANADA Tel: 416-423-5525 Fax: 416-423-7140 e-mail: canada@cpt.org Co-Sponsors Basilian Centre for Peace and Justice Brethren Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Interests Danforth Mennonite Church Jubilee Partners Mennonite Central Committee Canada Mennonite Church Canada Mennonite Church USA Pace Bene Nonviolence Service Peace and Conflict Studies, Conrad Grebel University College Peace Please Redemptorist Biblical Justice Rockway Mennonite Church St. Joseph's College School Toronto Action for Social Change / Homes Not Bombs, Toronto Warden Woods Mennonite Church

Tearing Down Walls...
       Restoring Communities...

September 20-23, 2007

Toronto, Ontario

Everywhere walls divide and destroy the bonds of human solidarity. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, our choice is between nonviolence or nonexistence.

Explore the power of nonviolence to tear down walls and restore communities broken by violence through worship, workshops, and prophetic public witness.

Through worship, workshops, and prophetic public witness, the Congress invites you to “get in the way” of Jesus to bring healing, transformation, and long-term competent strategy to our peacemaking.

Keynote Speakers

Jim Loney was a member of a Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) delegation that was kidnapped in Baghdad in November 2005. CPT Iraq team member Tom Fox was murdered on March 9, 2006, two weeks before Jim, Harmeet Singh Sooden and Norman Kember were rescued. Jim has been a member of CPT since 2000 and has served on CPT projects in Palestine, Esgenoopetij/Burnt Church, NB; Kenora, ON, and Iraq. He will reflect on the power of nonviolence to dismantle the walls that divide us and build a new sense of human community and solidarity.

Judy Da Silva: Judy is a community member and representative of the Grassy Narrows Environmental Committee. Grassy Narrows is a Treaty 3 Anishnaabe community located in Northwestern Ontario. Since 2002, she has participated in the community blockade of logging roads to the Grassy Narrows Traditional Territories - the longest standing indigenous logging blockade in Canadian history. Judy will describe how the blockade and campaign to stop clearcut logging is an important part of reclaiming dignity by taking a stand in response to the pollution, relocation, flooding of sacred grounds, and other abuses endured by her community.

Ricardo Esquivia: Ricardo's involvement in the human rights and peace work of the churches in Colombia is vast and impressive. A member of the Colombian Mennonite Church, Ricardo is the national coordinator of the Commission for Restoration, Life, and Peace of the Colombian Council of Evangelical Churches (CEDECOL) and founding director of SembrandoPaz (PlantingPeace), which facilitates social and church initiatives for peace and development. In addition, Ricardo played a key role in opening doors for CPT's work in Colombia and serves as a primary advisor and legal counsel for the CPT Colombia team. Ricardo will reflect on the challenges of peacebuilding in the midst of a decades-long civil war.

Workshops

• Stop Depleted Uranium • Undoing Racism • War tax Resistance • Dancing for Peace • War Tax Resisters • Catholic Worker Movement • GLBTQ Rights • War Resisters: US Soldier Iraq War Resister • Every Church a Peace Church • Simple Living in an Urban Context • CPT in Palestine • CPT in Colombia • CPT in Iraq • CPT in Kenora • and more!

Setting: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto is located in the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Huron and Mississauga people on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Beginning as a muddy British outpost in 1793, it's now Canada's largest urban centre, and one of the world's most multicultural and live-able cities.     This is the first Peacemaker Congress outside the United States and the first time in Canada, representing the exciting and continuing internationalization of CPT.

Host Church Address:
Toronto United Mennonite Church
1774 Queen E, Toronto, ON, Canada
M4L 1G7; 416-699-6631; www.tumc.ca

Public Witness

All Peacemaker Congress participants are invited to join in a public action supporting CPT's aboriginal justice work in Canada, and bearing witness to our faith in the God of peace and our commitment to the transformative power of nonviolence.

Making Connections

Besides worship, plenaries and workshops, there is programmed caucus and unprogrammed social time for you to connect with other peacemakers around shared interests.

Children and Youth

The Congress is a child-friendly event! Indicate on the registration form if you need child care for preschool and/or elementary school children during plenary sessions and workshops. Parents and others are encouraged to volunteer as assistants. Youth are encouraged to be active participants in the Congress.

Meals

Most meals are provided by volunteers from the Congress Local Planning Committee and served at the host church. To cut costs you are welcome to bring a loaf of bread, fruit and a dozen cookies to share. You are also invited to help with meal preparation and clean up. Please note dietary needs on the registration form.

Lodging

Home hospitality and no charge dormitory style church basement accommodations are available; be sure to indicate your preference on the registration form. Other hostelling accommodations options include:

• Hostelling International Toronto, 76 Church;  416-971-4440
• Global Village Backpackers; 460 King W.: 416-703-8540 or 3884

Those wanting to stay in a motel/hotel must make their own reservations. A five minute walk away is Days Inn Toronto East Beaches
1684 Queen E.; 416-694-1177

Parking

Free church lot parking and on-street permit parking is limited. We encourage you to take public transit - information will be included in your registration packet.

Register Early!

Please mail your registration form early. Discounts for registrations by August 1st. Additional information will be mailed to those who register before September 10, 2007. If you cancel before September 10, the Congress will fully refund the amount you paid for your registration fees. After September 10, the refund is 50 percent.

Tentative Schedule

THURSDAY, September 20
Afternoon............ 5pm Registration. Soup Supper
Evening................Gathering, Worship, Singing, Keynote Speaker: Jim Loney

FRIDAY, September 21
Morning ............. Gathering, Worship, Singing, Keynote Speaker: Judy Da Silva; Public Witness Briefing
Afternoon ............ Public Witness, Workshops and Caucuses
Evening ................Gathering, Open Space


SATURDAY, September 22
Morning ............. Gathering, Worship, Singing Workshops, Keynote Speaker: Ricardo Esquivia
Afternoon............ Caucuses/Open Space, Workshops
Evening...........Party: Music, Dancing, Food and Fun!


SUNDAY, September 23
Morning ............ Closing Worship, Blessing, Commissioning
Noon ...................Lunch and Departure