Canadian Voice of Women for Peace

By: Hannah Hadikin (VOW Co-Chair) It is a time in the world when citizens have lost trust in their governments. A time when none of the leaders in the whole Western world have’ Building World Peace and Not Guns’ on their agendas. A time when more money is spent on militarization than on investments in a culture of peace. A time when the unthinkable …

“Voice of Women, like Janis Alton, guide peace movement, says John Stewart Peacemaker Alton continues long Mississauga tradition In recognition of Alton’s stalwart work, she was recently awarded the Ursula Franklin Award. By: John Stewart of The Mississauga News If Helen Tucker was Mississauga’s dynamo of peace, then Janis Alton is its soft-spoken sentinel. Alton, 86, was first mesmerized by …

Make Art, Not Bombs As part of the Canada Wide Peace Caravan 2024, members of Nova Scotia Voice of Women of Peace and World BEYOND War will present workshops en route to CANSEC, the largest weapons trade show in Canada. We will meet in Ottawa with our sisters in peace activism  from WILPF, who are travelling from Vancouver and with …

Canadian Voice of Women joins in the world-wide call for an end to the persecution of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange facing a 175-year prison term in the United States if extradited by Britain. In a letter today to President Joe Biden, sent jointly with The Centre for Free Expression, VOW called on the American President to drop his government’s pursuit of Mr. Assange. …

The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace is opposed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a Western-patriarchal institution of violence. Over the course of our history, VOW has passed at least two resolutions calling for Canada to withdraw and for the alliance to be abolished. In 2019, we launched a monthly protest against NATO outside the NATO Association of …

On November 25th, Voice of Women’s 63rd Annual General Meeting transpired. This event was hybrid– taking place at Friends House in Toronto with members joining in virtually from all across Canada. We are so appreciative for all of you who were able to come together with us! The AGM business conventions were dutifully fulfilled. Sufficient numbers met the quorum requirements …

Kasha and Marla, long time VOW members, have been selected as Media to attend COP 28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates between November 30th-December 10th. Kasha and Marla have been working diligently to document the evolution of bringing peace into the talks at COP for the past 2 years. They have been working with the PEACE@COP28 coalition, a community of …

You are invited to participate in the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) which is scheduled to be held from March 11th-22nd, 2024 at United Nations Headquarters, New York. The theme of the UN CSW and will consider the priority theme of “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and …

When: Aug 8, 2023 04:30-6:00 pm PT /7:30-9:00 pm ET Come to listen to VOW and WILPF’s peace campaigner, Sarah Rohleder, and her fellow youth activists talk about their incredible trip to Hiroshima, Japan to attend the ICAN G7 Youth Summit on Nuclear Disarmament in April. Listen to what youth are doing to abolish nuclear weapons. They will also discuss …

Date: Wednesday, July 26th Time: 12:00pm to 2:00pm Location: Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto Join us for a lunchtime presentation with crew members of Veterans for Peace’s Golden Rule Peace Boat. They will sail into Toronto and give a talk to the community. 👉Please pre-register with Lyn Adamson, co-chair of VOW, so we have enough food and chairs: lyn.adamson9@gmail.com Contributions to the …

VOW’s 2023 Strawberry Social & Fundraiser was a success! We want to thank all of you who were able to attend, donate, volunteer, and support VOW in celebrating our 63rd anniversary as a feminist peace organization. We created a meaningful space to come together thanks to our wonderful board member, Janis Alton, and her generosity to hold the event on …

With financial support from generous funders including the family of Ann Gertler, Tamara represented VOW and WILPF Canada at the “International Summit for Peace in Ukraine” in Vienna from June 9-12. The day before the summit, Tamara participated in the 3-hour meeting of WILPF members at the Women’s House. The summit began with a peace concert followed by a two-day intensive …

Written in collaboration by Canadian Voice of Women for Peace & Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Canada ________________________________________________________________________________ “From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.” -Julia Ward Howe, American author and peace activist, 1819-1910 In 1870, Julia Ward Howe …

Hello! My name is Alley McDonald, and I am honoured to be the new National Coordinator of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. I am a peace practitioner with previous experiences working with feminist and peace focused organizations that represent my values, and I am grateful to be able to continue this work with VOW. I recently graduated from the Masters …

Photo Credit: Jacqueline Burgoyne  By Marney Cuff; MRT(R),MSW-POLICY, VOW Lead for the UNCSW67 _______________________________________________________________________ Earlier this year (March 6 to 17) women from across the globe came together for the first in-person Commission on the Status of Women 67 at United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan since 2019. During COVID pandemic years the CSW was held as a completely virtual event. …

We invite you to join us on Sunday January 29th, 2023 for “Youth Fighting for a Nuclear Free Future” a webinar event hosted by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) and Reverse the Trend (RTT). The event will feature Georgina Oroi, a youth campaigner for RTT Pacific, Francine Anmontha the Social media coordinator for RTT Pacific and Avinashpall Singh …

Please sign and share our parliamentary e-petition e-4217 to call on the Government of Canada to cancel its plan to purchase 88 new F-35 fighter jets for $70 billion over their life-cycle. The federal government should invest in a just transition, housing and health care not a new fleet of warplanes. Deadline is March 6.

First-Hand Observations from COP 27, Russia and Eastern EuropeTamara Lorincz, PhD candidate and member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF-Canada)Wednesday, December 7, 20224:30 PST/7:30 ET Register Online: Action Network On Wednesday, December 7th, Tamara will share her insights as an observer delegate at the 27th Conference of the …

From November 25th (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) until December 10th (Human Rights Day) is the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence and VOW will be posting informational posts on social media throughout the 16 days. The posts will cover a variety of topics from violence against women in Canada, to violence against …

By Sarah Rohleder, VOW Peace Campaign Intern —  Over the past few weeks activists have been working to highlight the intersection of militarization and climate change that governments around the world seem eager to forget about. This link is evident in many countries across the world as they are facing the devastating effects of climate change in addition to the …

The sixty-seventh Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will take place from 6 to 17 March 2023 at the UN Headquarters in New York City, and the call for applications has officially started. Apply by December 15th 2022 to attend with VOW! 2023 is set to be the first year of in-person UNCSW Conference since before the pandemic! The …

By Anjali Rao, VOW Student Intern —  Last Saturday, October 29, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) hosted its Youth Panel and Annual General Meeting to gather members from all across the country to check in on our movement. Over Zoom, we had the pleasure of hearing from our exceptional youth panel, many VOW members, and the VOW …

At the Annual General Meeting on October 29th, VOW members received the most recent Annual Report which reviews and summarizes VOW’s mission-focused activities and administrative operations over the past year. VOW’s main activities are organized by theme: Advocacy Action, Peace Education & Outreach, and United Nations Engagement. Read all the details!

Our fall fundraising campaign continues with all donations matched if they are received before December 31st! We are immensely grateful to long-time VOW member and former Canadian Senator Nancy Ruth who has committed to match $6,000 in new donations to VOW. Can you help us meet that goal? Nancy will double your gift. We must raise $6,000 for a strong …

Did you miss the Youth Panel on Peace, Disarmament & Climate Justice that VOW hosted on October 29th? These four inspiring presentations were the opening to our 2022 Annual General Meeting. You can watch the panel on VOW’s YouTube channel now to hear how Kasha Sequoia Slavner, Sarah Rohleder, Anjali Rao and Lia Holla are sharing their knowledge, challenging the …

October is Women’s History Month! VOW went back into the archives and found this amazing 1987 article “Persistent Voices: Twenty Five Years of the Voice of Women” written by Kay MacPherson, VOW’s national coordinator. The article describes VOW’s baby tooth campaign for nuclear disarmament, War Toys collection, peace delegation to the Soviet Union and the knitting project for Vietnamese children …

Register to attend and please spread the word! On Saturday October 29th, 10am PT / 1pm ET, VOW is hosting a Youth Panel on Peace, Disarmament & Climate Justice at our upcoming Annual General Meeting, moderated by Tamara Lorincz, VOW Senior Researcher & Campaigner and featuring: Lia Holla, Executive Coordinator, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada Kasha Sequoia …

October 15th to 23rd is the #FundPeaceNotWar Canada Week of Action, where we will demand no new fighter jets, warships or drones! We need billions for housing, health care, jobs and climate, NOT for war profiteering! So far, rallies have been confirmed in: Waterloo, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, South Georgian Bay, Vancouver, Hamilton, Calgary and Winnipeg. For more information and for …

Register to attend and please spread the word! On Saturday October 29th, 10am PT / 1pm ET, VOW is hosting a Youth Panel on Peace, Disarmament & Climate Justice at our upcoming Annual General Meeting, moderated by Tamara Lorincz, VOW Senior Researcher & Campaigner and featuring: Lia Holla, Executive Coordinator, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada Kasha Sequoia …

Once again we are calling on the government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This latest appeal was penned by our new Peace Campaign Intern, Sarah Rohleder, on the occasion of the 8th International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, September 26th, which is more important than ever given the current heightened …

By Sarah Rohleder, VOW Disarmament Campaign Intern — This past International Day of Peace, we were invited to recognize the racism within our own communities that threaten peace and security, with the theme “End racism. Build peace.” For we cannot adequately handle other issues until we face the inequality permeating in our own societies. To address these issues, we must …

VOW and the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) Canada recently held a meeting with Senator Mobina Jaffer and met in August with Senator Marilou McPhedran. We discussed our concerns about the rise of military spending in Canada, the federal government sending weapons to Ukraine and prolonging the war, and Canada’s failure to join the Treaty on the …

VOW and other members of the Canada-Wide Peace & Justice Network have published a statement and call to action for International Peace Day 2022. You can read the statement online and find a listing of Peace Day events happening in the week around September 21st all across Canada! CEASEFIRES AND NEGOTIATIONS NOW! DISARM NOW! BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS! On United Nations …

VOW and WILPF Canada recently wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and other Members of Parliament and Senators. The letters requested meetings and advocated for Canada to end the war in Ukraine, ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, reduce military spending, prioritize diplomacy and disarmament, and promote the Women Peace and Security agenda. “We are concerned that …

Add your name to the petition to cancel the dangerous, provocative and destructive international Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval war practice and create a demilitarized Pan-Pacific Zone of Peace. VOW is one of many peace and justice organizations supporting this campaign. The petition page has lots of background and some links to videos and as well news from activists in the area.

VOW, together with individual members and organizational members of the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network, urges people across Canada to join us to protest the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and demand an end to the war in Ukraine between June 24 to June 30. We will be holding “Stop the Weapons, Stop the War, Stop NATO” rallies across Canada …

Time is running out for the Canadian government to send a delegation to the historic first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The meeting will take place in Vienna, Austria from June 21st to the 23rd. Canada has no plans to attend and has not signed or ratified the treaty but could …

On June 8th, Ottawa City Council officially voted unanimously in favour of supporting the TPNW! Ottawa joins 17 other Canadian cities as part of the ICAN Cities Appeal, including Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg, and by many other cities around the world. Nuclear weapons put all our cities at risk. Has your city signed on? Check the ICAN website to find out and if not, you could use …

Hundreds strong, protestors blocked access to all entrances to the CANSEC weapons show in Ottawa on June 1, 2022 in solidarity with everyone killed and displaced by the weapons sold there. It was impossible for anyone to attend their weapons fair without directly confronting the violence and bloodshed they are complicit in. See more photos and links to media coverage.

We are honoured to have received two original poems this spring, penned by VOW members, decades apart. One written recently by VOW Board of Directors member Ainun Afroza and another sent to us by VOW member Joy West-Eklund and written in 1958 by her late mother, Theresa Harries, who was a founding member of Calgary Voice of Women. Absence Of …

“Humanity remains one misunderstanding, one misstep, one miscalculation, one pushed button away from annihilation,” said the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres on September 26, 2021, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. We have already come close to disaster several times. We can’t always be lucky. Nuclear disarmament is an emergency. Nevertheless, following US instructions to NATO member countries, Canada …

VOW members joined World Beyond War and other activists for an anti-war and anti-NATO demonstration at Spadina Avenue & Bloor Street West. May 7th was an international day of action for peace in Ukraine, with events around the world. Co-Chair Lyn Adamson spoke at the Toronto rally on behalf of VOW. Photos below thanks to Marla Slavner and Murray Lumley.

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the weekend action to share visual messages for peace honouring of mothers and grandmothers working for peace and connecting with the anti-war roots of Mother’s Day! VOW members and peace activists took photos with their signs from east to west – some with a friend or family member and others at larger community …

Join us to honour mothers and grandmothers who continue to protect and preserve a planet entrusted to their care. Voice of Women for Peace invites peace activists across Canada and the globe to ‘choose your peace’ as we walk on May 7th and 8th. Walk with a friend or loved one or join us from home and take a photo. You …

From Nova Scotia VOW ~ “Peace Knot Bombs” is a collective textile art work made by over 50 women from across Turtle Island. Initiated in Nova Scotia, the resulting banner memoralizes victims of military violence inflicted upon communities and families due to endless and accelerating armed conflicts. In a post Covid world, we hope to display the banner and raise …

VOW has joined organizations around the world in signing on to this year’s appeal for the Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS), April 13th to May 12th. The statement begins: “This year, the world reaped the horrors of its investments in tools of war.  The violence being perpetrated on people around the world at the hands of militarized …

On April 6, 2022, a coalition of women’s, peace, labour, and civil society organizations sent an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh expressing their united rejection of proposed increases to Canada’s military spending toward NATO’s 2% of GDP target. Find the letter & full list of signatories below:

This petition initiated by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day Coalition, Échec à la Guerre and the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. Petition is sponsored by Member of Parliament Alexandre Boulerice of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie of the New Democratic Party Caucus. Petition to the Government of Canada Whereas: The accidental detonation of a single nuclear weapon would be catastrophic; Even a …