We are deeply grateful, humbled, and inspired by the connections made at our 2026 Peace Awards Gala. This event holds profound meaning: it is a moment to celebrate exceptional women and gender-diverse peacebuilders across Canada, to raise crucial funds for VOW’s ongoing peace work, and to recognize, and to hear from, extraordinary feminist voices, including the privilege of welcoming honorary VOW members Janis Alton, Setsuko Thurlow, and Judy Rebick, and Michele Landsberg as our keynote speaker. Most importantly, the Peace Awards is an important time to connect and build community.
We invite you to keep scrolling through this post to view photos, watch videos, and read more about the evening as you explore and relive this inspiring event.
Watch the full recording of the event here. Please note that there is a scheduled break in the recording from approximately 11 to 30 minutes, after which the event resumes. This recording features acceptance speeches from Areessa Afzal, Muzna Dureid, Reva Joshee, and Florence Stratton, as well as a keynote address by Michele Landsberg. Please scroll down to hear the acceptance speech from Susan Hartley.
Awardee of The Anne Goodman Award for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace/ Peace Education
with son Avi Lewis
At the Gala, we reflected on how, in times of great divide, fear, and harm, coming together is an act of resistance. Celebrating together highlights the importance of relationship and solidarity. We are all in this for the care of each other and the planet.
We are immensely thankful to our amazing caterers, Blazing Kitchen, to all our phenomenal volunteers and VOW Peace Awards Subcommittee whose efforts made the evening possible, and our esteemed guests. Your contributions—from the pre-ceremony reception to the dinner, silent auction items to generous donations—helped us raise vital funds to continue our work, a mission of peace we have proudly carried forward since 1960.
We regret that we had technical issues at the event, and were unable to show the acceptance speech of Susan Hartley, awardee of the Shirley Farlinger Award for Peace Writings. We invite you to listen to her recorded acceptance speech below!
