Youth today have a lot to say and a lot to lose, if they don’t speak up.
This year we saw the Fridays for Future Climate Strikes strikes gain global popularity spearheaded by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Canadian youth rallied at the call and participated in the Global Climate Strikes in September 2019 to try to wake up our politicians to the necessity of climate action to safeguard the future of the world.
In 2019, we honoured Allie Reugot, Sophia Mathur, and Zoe Keary-Matzner for their work in promoting the Fridays for Future School Climate Strikes for Toronto with the Kim Phuc Award for Youth Peace Leadership.
At the 2019 Annual General Meeting in November, we shook up the Board of Directors and added three new Board Members who were under 30. This was essential to ensure that there was youth representation within the steering committee of VOW.
We accept applications for volunteers year-round and were extremely happy to recently bring on board Humeira as an office administrator volunteer. If you would like to volunteer with us, you can check out our Volunteer With Us! page and please email info@vowpeace.org with your resume and cover letter explaining why you would like to be considered for the positions available.
In 2020, we prepared a delegation of 20 Canadian women, 11 of whom were under 30, to travel to the 64th Unied Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). Unfortunately, because of the emerging health crisis brought on by COVID-19 the decision was made to limit the UNCSW to a one-day event for New York-based organizations, only. This was the right decision to keep everyone safe and the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace endeavored to give its delegation access to important meetings despite the pandemic setback. This year we were able to have informative virtual meetings with the World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy, the Quaker United Nations Office and the United Nations Undersecretary General of Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu.