Mother’s Day is a very special day but it was not always about lavish dinners and flowers; it was a call to action by Julia Ward Howe in 1870 to “Disarm! Disarm!” calling for a Mother’s Peace Day to eradicate war. It was later taken up by Anna Jarvis to have it recognized in the United States nationally in 1914. We at VOW wish to revitalize the idea of a Mother’s Peace Day and are awarding outstanding women in the areas of peace special recognition for their hard work. Read Julia Ward Howe’s full call to action below the flyer and awards info.
Register here at bit.ly/VOW-Awards.
For information on previous award winners, you can find that here.
The awards are being given to outstanding peace activists and are as follows
The Muriel Duckworth Award
2020 – Dale Dewar‘s core is a belief in non-violence – as a Quaker, a physician, and a humble volunteer. She is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine with the University of Saskatchewan . Dale served as president and later Executive Director of Physicians for Global Survival (now International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War ) 2012-2015.
While working in Northern Saskatchewan, she had four patients with an unusual diagnosis but similar employment in uranium mining. She began a search for cause or causes. In 2014, she co-authored ” From Hiroshima to Fukushima to You”, a handbook for understanding ionizing radiation and health. She is currently working on a follow-up. Dale is not afraid of challenges. Recently she choose to run in her riding for the Green Party to give her an additional platform to speak up about her learnings about ionizing radiation, nuclear physics and human health. She feels it important to continually expand and share her knowledge about nuclear power and the organizations promoting or regulating it. For decades, Dale has chosen to be a presence and a voice in remote and contentious areas on behalf of the health of people of all ages. Her dive into radiation impact study is much needed as Canada and other countries do not yet reject the use of nuclear power.
2021 – Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue is a courageous Innu woman who has worked so hard for many decades to preserve and protect Innu culture and land. Tshaukuesh is a loving mother, grandmother, committed environmental leader and peace activist. She led a nonviolent campaign against NATO’s low-level flying and bomb testing on Innu territory during the 1980s and ’90s. She along with many other Innu people bravely occupied the Canadian Forces base in Goose Bay and were imprisoned and arrested many times. Tshaukuesh is the author of the new book “Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive,” an inspiring and moving account of her struggle to stop the militarization and industrialization of Innu land. She is featured in two powerful documentaries that are available online: “Hunters and Bombers” and “Meshkanu: The Long Walk of Elizabeth Penashue.” Over the past twenty years she has led walks and canoe trips in nutshimit, “on the land,” to teach people about Innu culture and knowledge.
Tshaukuesh is the recipient of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and an honorary doctorate from Memorial University.
To buy Tshaukuesh’s new book “Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive” from an independent Indigenous book store, go to: https://goodminds.com/products/9780887558405
The Shirley Farlinger Award
2020 – Erin Hunt is the Project Manager of Mines Action Canada. She has been doing public education on the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines since 2003 and working in humanitarian disarmament in various capacities since 2006. Erin’s areas of expertise include the humanitarian impact of indiscriminate weapons, victims assistance, gender in disarmament and Canadian disarmament policy. She contributed to the work of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the Cluster Munitions Coalition, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Erin was a member of the civil society negotiating team during the 2017 process to negotiate the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons with the Nobel Laureate International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Erin is a model of engagement and inspiration to others, especially in civil society, in a field of disarmament fraught with strong resistance by many governments.
2021 – Neha Vashist, even from a young age, has passionately advocated for a variety of social issues and used her voice to amplify the voices of the vulnerable through her numerous poetry publications, the plays she has directed for her local community, her blog post publications, and the letters she has written to marginalized communities. Neha has created her own poetry page on social media: @nvwrites_, in which she has a large following of people who read her poems on various important social issues such as domestic abuse, intergenerational trauma, and gender inequality. Outside of her poetry page, Neha also publishes articles for journals such as The Wanderer. Her poetry pieces have been featured in reputable anthologies such as the National Poetry Institute of Canada, Polar Express Publishing, and the City of Edmonton Transit. They explore topics with complex intersections such as immigration, sexual harassment, disparity, and hope. Neha also wrote and directed the play, “It Takes a Woman” – a one-act play that provided a first-hand look at the repercussions of acid attacks, dowry demands, and domestic violence against women.
The Anne Goodman Award
2020 – Julia Morton-Marr‘s early background in far away Australia was as a classroom teacher and a music and drama consultant. It was just the beginning of a long educational path which was to unfold over 60 years around the world and influence MANY! Today, we honour all of Julia’s breathtaking initiatives, especially her inception in 1993 of the International School Peace Gardens program. From 1993-2004 Julia and her team had contact with more than 8 million students around the world, more than 6,000 teachers, and almost 29,000 schools. A central aspect of this mammoth outreach was to encourage, help design, and develop complimentary curriculum – all related to peace gardens – typically on school property. Details will be on our website. It was a new approach to teaching about conflict resolution – an idea which later bubbled up within the UN as the promotion of a culture of peace – a program it adopted in 1999. The resulting changes in schools were significant! A Toronto inner city school principal described how grades improved, absenteeism decreased and the building became cleaner and a more peaceful place. Violence which had been a regular, unwelcome companion, virtually ceased to exist! Julia is a valued member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and has been recognized by many for her experience and outreach.
Julia is among nine Cdn. women included in the nomination effort by several determined Swiss women of 1000 women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize! These precious names and profiles are now gathered together in the aptly titled book: 1000 Peace Women across the Globe.. Today? Julia continues supporting, from a distance those who are using her many ideas!
2021 – Georgina Galanis is a passionate global citizen and cultural creative, a spiritual intuitive, writer and committed sacred social activist. With 20+ years dedicated to healing, education and peace initiatives transforming community, she served on various NP boards 1999 to 2021; the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace, Global Network for Sustainable Development, the Synergy Foundation. At Coalition for Global Citizenship 2030 she created the Advisory Council of Educators. As VP for Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy, and MeaningfulWorlds VP of Marketing, Fundraising and Curriculum Enrichment Advisor, she assisted in developing conferences and the Humanitarian Outreach Certificate program facilitated at Fordham University, NYC. Acting as Creative Strategist with Organization for the Arts and Whole Brain Learning she guided first steps of it’s IAMI Method implementing SEL, empathic listening, meditation in the classroom. She founded The Colors of Life creativity portal infusing art, organizational design and spiritual guidance to transitioning individuals and agencies. In 2011 she was recognised by Orphans International NYC with the Global Citizenship Award for helping humanity. As an accredited United Nations DGC NGO representative for The Good News Agency – she is part of the UN HQ hub of civil society advocates in world service for the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace. Spirited by Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, it is a community of NGO’s committed to awakening and educating on the 8 Program of Action areas on the Culture of Peace, and Res 1325-Women Peace and Security, and facilitates a yearly United Nations High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace, a day long highlight of GMCoP’s mission featuring Nobel Laureates, mission leaders and civil society voice.
The Kim Phuc Award
2020 – Nikou Salamat is an undergraduate student at the University of Ottawa, in which she majors in conflict studies and human rights. As Junior International Development Officer for the Environment and Climate Action Unit at Global Affairs Canada, Nikou supported her team in managing a portfolio of climate change adaptation and food security projects in Africa and Latin America. Once she moved on to Global Affairs’ Africa and Middle East Team, Nikou specialized in gender equality promotion. While working as Research and Advocacy Intern at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, Nikou provided substantive inputs into a training methodology for young women peacebuilders in the Democratic Republic of Congo and co-facilitated virtual training. She contributed to the organization’s various global advocacy campaigns for feminist peace and co-led the development of a global database mapping the impact of COVID-19 on Women, Peace and Security. Nikou always aims to base her contributions on an intersectional gender analysis, recognizing that various systems of oppression intersect with gender inequality and armed conflict.
2021 – Katelin Gingerich is the Executive Director of The Ripple Effect Education or TREE. In the 2019-2020 year alone, her work through TREE has reached 7 school communities, 31 classrooms, 672 students, 26 community groups, 626 participants. Katelin’s work through TREE is unique because it distinguishes itself with its fun, curriculum-integrated and evidence-based programs that invite youth to practice the skills they’re learning with experienced facilitators. This holistic approach to conflict resolution is extraordinary because it invites youth and community members to engage in peace work in practical and exciting ways. Katie envisioned and created TREE to work with children and youth as well as educators. Katie’s work with schools and camps has provided many young people with new ways of being in the world. Her support of high school students through the Peace Innovators Scholarship and Mentoring Program provides young visionaries with the assistance to pursue their dreams regarding peace. Katelin’s contributions through TREE programs are the initial drop in a life-long ripple effect of self-awareness, healthy conflict transformation, and justice.
The Ursula Franklin Award
2020 – Debbie Grisdale, educated initially as a nurse followed by a masters in community health, worked in community health and international development in Canada and internationally, including five years in Latin America.
Debbie was the executive director of Physicians for Global Survival from 1994-2007. During that time she contributed to its work for peace, nuclear disarmament and war prevention. She was instrumental in the founding of several coalitions and networks such as Mines Action Canada and the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, that continue to play substantial roles in civil society’s efforts for disarmament. In collaboration with others, she played a leadership role in the Canadian campaign to ban landmines which helped achieve a mine ban treaty in 1997; in building and strengthening national and international efforts toward the abolition of nuclear weapons; and in efforts to create a culture of peace.
From 2015-2018, Debbie was on the Steering Committee of Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention (CNWC) and was its Chairperson from 2016-2018. The CNWC coordinated the successful outreach to more than 1,000 distinguished Canadians, from all walks of life, who are recipients of the Order of Canada, to secure their call for Canada to endorse and begin negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. In 2018 she was awarded the CNWC’s Annual Achievement Award for her leadership and her commitment to a world without nuclear weapons. Debbie was the Anglican Church of Canada’s representative to Project Ploughshares from 2010-2017. Currently she continues to work for peace and justice as a member of several civil society organizations. For many years she has helped organize, and often emceed, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day commemorations in Ottawa each August. Climbing a steep learning curve toward the understanding that decolonization and fostering respectful relationships with Indigenous peoples are key to equity and justice, Debbie is a founding member and co-chair of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa’s ‘All My Relations Circle’ which responding to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
2021- Jill Carr-Harris has worked on environment and land issues, poverty reduction, gender equity and for several decades. She has supported the development of women leaders for advocacy on land and gender rights and has co-organized long marches with as many as 50,000 on the road for a month at a time with the organization Ekta Parishad. This work has empowered landless, tribal and marginalized people in India.
In 2016 Jill hosted a conference for 150 women leaders from international nonviolence movements. The conference was followed by village visits and an international film festival celebrating women and nonviolence. Jill was on her way with 50 young marchers on foot from Delhi to Geneva in March 2020 with the global campaign Jai Jagat (Success to All) when the initiative had to be halted in Armenia, due to COVID.
2021 – Jill Carr-Harri
The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace launched the Peace Awards in 2014 from the inspiration of outstanding contributions for a more peace-filled world made by each of the women for whom the Awards are named.
1. The Muriel Duckworth Award for Peace Activism
Muriel Duckworth lived a life of peace activism. Muriel was a founder of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace in 1962, and the President of National VOW from 1967 to 1971; she remained an active member of VOW for the rest of her life. The main peace issue during her Presidency was VOW’s opposition to the Vietnam War. In keeping with VOW’s objective of making connections with women in countries that are deemed “the enemy”, Muriel helped arrange for two delegations of Vietnamese women to visit Canada. She organized and attended international conferences on behalf of VOW, and she researched, organized, demonstrated, and spoke out not only on peace, disarmament, and the nuclear threat, but also on racism, adult education, women’s rights and women’s voices. She was also a founding member of Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) and served as CRIAW’s President from 1979 to 1980. Later in life, she helped start, and performed with, the Nova Scotia Raging Grannies. In addition to 10 honorary degrees, she received the Order of Canada, the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case and the Pearson Medal of Peace. In 2009, Muriel was awarded a posthumous Order of Nova Scotia. Muriel Duckworth passed away in 2009, at the age of 100. It is now up to us to continue her activism. Learn more about Muriel Duckworth here.
2. The Shirley Farlinger Award for Peace Writings
Shirley Farlinger’s peace activism, like her life, was filled with passion and commitment to the abolition of war. With VOW, she travelled often to the UN, mostly to its headquarters in New York but also to Vienna and Geneva. She took these opportunities to push for various disarmament issues and wrote about her efforts. Amid this, Shirley took time out to learn more and enrolled in the fledgling European Peace University based in a beautiful castle in a colourful town not far from Vienna in 1993. She wrote witty plays on the long-overdue victories of Canadian women being rightfully declared persons and UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Central to these many gifts was her belief in the power of the pen honed by degrees in both English and Journalism. Upon her death in 2012, three bulging binders holding copies of her urgent letters to newspaper editors confirm her long-held, genuine and powerful drive to write for positive, peaceful change.
3. The Anne Goodman Award for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace/Peace Education
Dr. Anne Goodman (1950 – 2013) Anne was a long-time member and volunteer with Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. Anne was president and co-founder of InterChange: International Institute for Community-Based Peacebuilding, which collaborates on educational and research projects with like-minded activists around the world. She taught at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) in the department of adult education and community development; she directed a graduate certificate in community healing and peacebuilding; and she was co-director of the university’s Transformative Learning Centre. She also taught in the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University. Anne developed a ‘Culture of Peace’ workshop and facilitated many presentations for VOW members. Anne co-founded Voice of Somali Women for Peace, Reconciliation and Political Rights, developed workshops called Peace Begins at Home for a Somali mothers’ group in Toronto and was a board member with Peacebuilders International. Anne’s commitment to peacebuilding took her to Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Slovakia, Israel, Croatia and other countries. Anne’s view was that transformative learning involves experiencing a deep, structural shift in thought, feelings and actions – and building strong relationships with each other. Early in her career, she worked as a research assistant for physicist and activist Dr. Ursula Franklin. Anne believed that by working together we can create that culture of peace and expand peace education.
4. The Kim Phúc Award for Youth Peace Leadership (age ~18-30)
Kim Phúc, honorary VOW board member and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace, is the inspiring nine-year-old in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972. The photo taken by AP’s Nick Ut shows her running naked on a road after being severely burned on her back by a South Vietnamese attack. Phúc travelled from Vietnam to Cuba and finally settled in Canada in 1992. She established the first Kim Phúc Foundation in the US, with the aim of providing medical and psychological assistance to child victims of war. Later other foundations were set up, with the same name, under an umbrella organization, Kim Phúc Foundation International, to help heal the wounds suffered by innocent children and restore hope and happiness to their lives. Compassion and love helped Phúc to heal and she learned and teaches how to be “strong in the face of pain.” Toronto resident and Canadian citizen, Phúc speaks around the world inspiring people to advocate and work for peace. She is a recipient of the Queen’s Gold Jubilee Medal and 2004 “Order of Ontario.” Inspired by Phúc’s extraordinary work, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace is pleased to award a youth peace activist for her peace-building efforts.
5. The Ursula Franklin Award of Excellence
This award is intended to honour, annually, IF a suitable awardee is identified, a woman who has made an exceptional and longstanding contribution to forward the values of VOW. Ursula, an early member of VOW, was an outspoken feminist, an academic and a prominent, much honoured public intellectual who tirelessly promoted a world of justice and peace for all. Several books of her writings and speeches are available. Ursula died in 2010.
Her obituary tells us more…Ursula was born in Germany and came to Canada in 1949 as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto with a PhD in experimental physics. She enjoyed a marriage of over 60 years and an outstanding life as an academic. She joined the faculty of University of Toronto Department of Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials Science in 1967 and became a full professor in 1973. After her retirement at age 65, she found a U of T home at Massey College. She was a scientist, a feminist, a Quaker, a pacifist, an activist, and a treasured mentor to many. She was active in many areas and forums, among them Voice of Women, Science Council of Canada (the Conserver Society Report of 1977), NSERC and Ideas (the Massey Lectures in 1989). She was involved in an early class action case: it resulted in 2002 with about 60 retired women faculty receiving pay equity settlements acknowledging long-standing gender barriers and pay discrimination. She was a Companion of the Order of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Order of Ontario. She received the Pearson Peace Medal, the City of Toronto award of merit, and numerous honorary degrees from Canadian universities along with various other awards and recognitions. Learn more about Ursula Franklin here
The first recipient of this award was Setsuko Thurlow, life-long nuclear weapons abolitionist and Hibakusha – a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Japan.
Julia Ward Howe’s full call to action:
Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
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.” Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each learning after his own time, the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
Hello, I wish to nominate Dorothy Goldin-Rosenberg for next year’s Peace Activism Award.
Thank you!
What a fantastic nomination! The awards nomination will open up again next year and we will announce it in our newsletter and social media. We look forward to your nomination!
[…] “Katie” Gingerich is this year’s winner of The Kim Phúc Award for Youth Peace Leadership (age ~18-30), presented by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace on May 8, 2021. […]
She is so wonderful! VOW is so happy to recognize and show appreciation for her work!