An end to all kinds of wars
As we celebrated Peace Sunday at my church this week, a friend of mine got up during the time of sharing and prayer. He told us that November has been designated Domestic Violence Awareness month in Manitoba, and that in response, Mennonite Central Committee’s Voices for Non-Violence is involved in the “Purple Lights Campaign” to…
New book and film focus on conscientious objection
Conrad Stoesz, Mennonite Heritage Centre (MHC) archivist, is passionate about pursuing peace and the history of conscientious objection to war. His long-held convictions inspired him to contribute a chapter to a new book on the subject and to successfully pursue a grant for the production of a video documentary. “The experience of Canada’s conscientious objectors…
Longing for peace in Niagara
The historic District of Niagara included what is roughly the whole of the Niagara Peninsula. It began at Hamilton and stretched along Lake Ontario toward the Niagara River, bordering the United States, and it continued southwest from Fort Erie along Lake Erie past the mouth of the Grand River into Haldimand County, although the Mennonite…
On the margins
The previous article, “Landscapes of war, a people of peace,” June 25, page 12, noted the challenge of identifying “the Mennonite experience” in the War of 1812, and the fact that the war was significant as the first testing of conscientious objection in Canada. But how diverse were those experiences, and did Mennonites in 1812…
Landscapes of war, a people of peace
The War of 1812 is important to commemorate for many reasons. As the only defensive war fought on Canadian soil in the last two centuries, it was also the first testing of the historic peace churches’ position of conscientious objection in Canadian history. Arguably, it led to the birth of Canadian nationhood, and at the…
