[KWPeace-groups] Minutes of Fall 2018 KWPeace Potluck Meeting

[Bob Jonkman]

Hi everyone: Here are the meeting notes from our Fall 2018 Potluck
Meeting. Many thanx to Mo Markham for taking notes!

--Bob.

; Official:
http://kwpeace.ca/meeting-minutes/minutes-of-fall-2018-kwpeace-potluck-meeting/
; Date: Thursday, 4 October 2018
; Location: Peace and Justice Room, Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church, 57
Stirling Avenue North, Kitchener
{{map|url=https://osm.org/go/ZXnwZqzh--?m=}}

== Reports From Groups ==
=== Bob Jonkman ===
WR Greens, Fair Vote Waterloo, WR nonviolence

*  YES Cambridge
** Ranked ballots are being looked at for Cambridge
** looking for a location for an information session on ranked ballots
**  the question would be are you in favour implementing ranked ballots
next election in 2022
**  fairvote sees this as a step to proportional representation
**  needs have 50% turnout of Voters, regardless of how they vote on the
issue
**  and usually much lower
**  so they're working on getting the vote out
* Greens are starting the nomination process for the next election
**  in all 5 electoral districts in Waterloo Region
* WR Nonviolence
**  IDOPAN ( International days of peace and nonviolence) days this past
week
**  and they had had a discussion night, and a movie showing

=== Sandee Lovas ===
Amnesty International Group Nine, Alliance Against Poverty

* Amnesty's fundraiser went well
**  the next campaign is write for rights
**  so no need worry postage now
**  5 million letters last year
**  it will be Dec 8 at seven shores
* Alliance Against Poverty
**  the conservatives  plan to cut basic income prog etc
**  AAP will be having meetings with mpps around this issue

=== Aleksandra Petrovic ===
Social Development Centre
*  next Waterloo Meet the Candidates Oct 14th
**  First United Church, 15 William Street, Waterloo
**  roundtable discussions -- they will be transcribing notes on how
candidates responded and publicizing This
* Civic Hub update
**  KWPeace is one of the leads
** so we would be able to meet for free
**  hoping to get funding from the community foundation, and hope to
hear about this by November
**  hoping that the Hub will be at St. John The Evangelist church,
downtown Kitchener
* ''Every Voice Counts'' is a fundraising campaign so that be Social
Development Center can do more

=== Sue Klassen ===
MCC and Stirling peace and justice committee, Alternatives to Violence
program
*  MCC have a program called ''the raw carrot''
**  people on ODSP who aren't able to fit into traditional jobs make
soup together to sell
* the soup is sold at MCC store and Farmboy
*  they also worked on the Waterwalk lunches
*  the Alternatives to Violence program is in prisons and in the community
**  they  offer workshops on transforming power to healthy power
** may collaborate with Social Develoment Centre
**  they are looking for new facilitators to train

=== Mo Markham ===
Kitchener-Waterloo Climate Save, KW Animal Save etc
* Screening the new film ''Dominion'' in ten or more universities this fall
**  it shows what actually happens to animals in animal agriculture. We
offer the students pizza and snacks and $10 each for watching the film
so that on weekends people who might not otherwise come don't do that.
*  helping to get Climate Save groups in every city that we can in the
world through our save movement network of more than 500 groups in 55
countries.
*  we attended Guelph Vegfest and will be at London Vegfest as well. I
spoke, and Kitchener Waterloo climate save had a booth at a Zero Waste
event
**  spoke  about animal agriculture and and the massive amounts of waste
involved, and produced a zero-waste and animal agriculture pamphlet
* one of our members, Sophia Kudriavstev, spoke at the Rise for Climate
rally in Kitchener, and a group of us attended the rise for climate
rally in Toronto. The CBC was there
**  and completely ignored our 30 foot long Climate Vegan sign with
three feet high neon letters and all of our other signs
**  all the pictures in their article just missed our signs somehow
* We made upcycled t-shirts with climate and animal rights slogans to
sell at events to raise money

=== Jim Sannes ===
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
* Unitarians going to the parliament of world religions to talk about
animal agriculture and what it's doing to the planet
* Sailesh Rao speaking at the parliament of world religions
**  he intends for the world to be vegan by 2026
**  he co-produced ''Cowspiracy'' and ''What The Health''
* between Nov 1 and 7
**  Sailesh is coming to KW
**  looking into cosponsoring agency
**  maybe Sue Klassen?
** maybe the church colleges (Date now set for Nov 4th)

=== Laura Hamilton ===
Divest Waterloo, Waterwalk, Faith and the Common Good etc
* Waterwalk done
**  will do every year x 3 years
* raised more money than needed
* every night meal from faith communities
* 15 people core group that walked
* big feast on Six Nations
* next time look at how they might do it differently, and help different
groups come together more
*  is she is also working on getting the community kitchen going
* Divest was part of the rise for climate rally in KW, an event that
happened in cities around the world. A lot of politicians came out
* blanket exercise coming up at parkminster+ lunch
**  free by donation
** 11:30am - 12:30pm then til 2:00pm
* Divest and Faith and the Common Good: indigenous storytellers from
Manitoulin x 1 week
**  1 day new Canadians, 1 land / water defenders, downtown people,
**  likely happening in May???
**  then the indigenous group will co-create a performance / play
** It's all about relationships
* Ted and company
** 1000 people saw the play

=== Mary Groh ===
Conscience Canada (president)
* going see Raj Saini, MP
**  to ask him to support idea conscientious objectors, with their taxes
going elsewhere

=== Esther Kern ===
Christian Peacemakers Team
* CPT was represented in the "Day in the Park" event
* Esther has been doing a number of presentations on  Israel/Palestine
issues, by leading a seminar at the Skylight Festival in July, being a
resource on peacemaking at the Voices of Women for Peace in August,
speaking at a Retirement Center in Goshen,Indiana, speaking at
Valleyview Mennonite Church on Sept 30 to commemorate Orange Shirt Day,
and speaking to Grade 7 & 8 home schooled children.
* Esther is scheduled to lead two CPT Palestine delegations, one in
December and the second on in the spring of 2019.  A major concern is
the denial of entry for six CPTers in the past few months, and being
banned for 5 - 15 years.  A proposed new law will impede the work in the
West Bank, and has a penalty of ten years in prison.
* The MCEC Working Group to implement the BDS (Boycott, Divest,
Sanctions) Campaign resolution by MC Canada has started Strategic
Planning for 2019 with goals to visit Federal MPs and doing more
presentations in area churches and groups.
* Is teaching sewing classes through the Cross Cultural Learner Center
in London, to recently arrived refugees.   The women are from Palestine,
Colombia, Sudan, and Iraq.  This teaches them a skill, and helps them to
learn English.
* Activist groups in London continue to counter the actions of Pegida, a
racist, white supremacy group who bring their hateful rhetoric targeting
Muslims and immigrants, on a regular basis.

=== Dwyer Sullivan ===
Conscience Canada, Educators For Justice
* book launch at queen street commons
*  attended the world beyond war conference in Toronto, 15 groups and
150 people
* Tamara spoke about climate change and war
* blue scarf walk
**  blue scarf international symbol peace
* Working with human rights committee to try get support for BOYCOTT
DIVEST & SANCTIONS
**  sanctions re Israel

=== Tamara Lorincz ===
(sent notes) A few upcoming events to bring to your attention:
* Dr. Paul Rogers, renowned peace researcher from the University of
Bradford, will be speaking on peace on Wednesday, November 7 at 4pm at
Wilfrid Laurier University and at Conrad Grebel - more details to come.
* Michael Moore's new film "Fahrenheit 11/9" is out now:
https://www.cineplex.com/Movie/fahrenheit-119?cmpid=NPCS_Home_Showtimes_ENG
* Upcoming events at the Balsillie School:
https://www.balsillieschool.ca/events/
* Indigenous Speaker Series at University of Waterloo on Oct.3:
https://uwaterloo.ca/events/events/indigenous-speakers-series-lee-maracle-bill-coleman
*  If anyone is going to Kingston for the Peace Quest gathering, I would
love to catch a ride with you there and would be happy to contribute to
gas: http://peacequest.ca/event/gathering/
* Finally, I'm going to the women's march on the Pentagon in Washington
DC on Oct 20 & 21 if anyone would like to join me:
https://www.marchonpentagon.com/

== KW Peace Symposium ==
*  '''No Peace, No Justice'''
* The primary item on the agenda is this year’s Perspectives On Peace.
* This year we're planning to serve lunch courtesy of Kitchener Food Not
Bombs and we have special guest speaker Tamara Lorincz
*  it's happening Saturday 27 October 2018 from noon to 2:00pm in the
Rotunda at Kitchener City Hall
*  Who does what?
* Costs (Insurance, deposit)
* We all need to get word out
* Tamara is speaking
* start at noon, have space at 11, need help setting up
**  Food Not Bombs food will be there outside
* tables facing podium
* info tables for our groups
**  tables provided
* Sharon did application for in-kind grant
* non-refundable deposit $150??? need clarification

=== Who does what? ===
* Sue can get pitchers from Stirling
** 10 or so
** cups? eco paper cups
*  Laura getting
** buns?
**  vegan ?
*  Sue and Laura
** plug-in kettles
* Aleksandra
** percolator
* Jim
**  soy milk
* Laura
**  sugar and coffee and tablecloths for eating tables
* Mo
**  vegan cheese samples
* CAN SELL THINGS? Bob will check
*  Bob
** media contact
** invite politicians and new council
**  Bob municipal & Laura federal and provincial
* Sandee Lovas will MC
** let the politicians speak briefly
**  ask if want respond
* Laura doing press release
**  send a quote to her
** (couple sentences) like:
***  “Canadians outraged that money is going to military spending”
* Bob
** Event Manager re tickets
http://kwpeace.ca/eventsmanager/register-perspectives-on-peace-wheres-the-peace-justice-canadas-new-foreign-and-defence-policies/
* KW PEACE page on FB
**  BOB put ad up (Emily has access?)
* Bob will send Tamara’s bio to Sandy
* Laura will tell Sandy which politicians coming
* schedule
** 11:00am: set-up,
** 12:00 noon: soup line
** 12:15pm: Laura land acknowledgement, Sandy acknowledging the KW Peace
participants,
** 12.30pm: Speaker
** 1:15pm or so: politicians
** 1.30pm: Q&A for Tamara and politicians

== Other KW Peace Business ==
* This was the 3rd anniversary for KW Peace!!!
* Website???
** Cost of Domain Name renewal re KW peace
**  Dwyer will take us from a fund that he has. Thanks, Dwyer!
* Potluck food
**  Mo, our scribe, has taken a vow to not eat with others who are
eating meat. People have very kindly not done that in quite some time at
our potlucks, but we should perhaps let new people know that we
generally bring vegan and vegetarian dishes
**  people are free to bring what they want, but it may mean that
someone else would need to scribe.
* scents: this hasn't been an issue in the past, but some people in the
group have allergies to perfumes, so we will try to remember to ask
people not to wear perfume

Meeting notes taken by Mo Markham


-- 
Bob Jonkman <bobjonkman at kwpeace.ca>
KW Peace - Calendar and Newsletter for
Kitchener-Waterloo Peace and Social Justice Activists
https://kwpeace.ca/