RALLY FOR PEACE

SUNDAY MARCH 19th

CENTENIAL SQUARE

12:30 pm

Bring Signs and Banners

We, members of  Canadian peace groups, are united in our call for an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic negotiations to end the violence by the Russian military, the Ukraine security forces and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  

We utterly reject all resort to war, preparations for war, and the violence war brings to all life in this era of climate and ecological crisis. 

There is no military solution to this crisis. A peaceful resolution can only be achieved through negotiation, non-violence and common human security.  

We believe that a negotiated, comprehensive and enduring political agreement to end the conflict must be negotiated with the meaningful and equitable participation of women.  Women and children have always been the most severely affected by war.    

  We are saddened by the role that the Canadian government and NATO have played in creating the conditions for armed conflict in Ukraine.  Canada escalated the crisis by sending lethal aid to Ukraine, training Ukrainian nationalist militias and promoting NATO membership for Ukraine. These are “red lines” for Russia.   

We call on Canada to stop all arms exports and to end sanctions, which only cause harm to the people. 

We call for Canada to end Operation UNIFIER and Operation REASSURANCE. 

We support neutrality for Ukraine.   

We call for Canada to withdraw from NATO. NATO is an aggressive nuclear-armed alliance based on outdated ideas of deterrence. It requires our government to increase military spending and buy new weapons systems, which divert resources from urgently needed social and environmental healing.  

This war powered by fossil fuel and partly fought over pipelines is delaying global cooperation desperately needed to deal with the climate emergency.  

We call for Canada to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons : the people of the world cannot be held hostage any longer to these weapons of mass destruction. 

We will be on the streets across the country to call for peace on the Global Day of Action on March 19.