Canadian Peace Congress
Pacifist congress | |
Legal status | Active |
---|---|
Purpose | Advocate and public voice, educator and coalition |
Headquarters | PO Box 73593 Wychwood PO, Toronto, ON M6C 4A7 |
Region served | Canada |
Official languages | English and French |
President | Larry Wasslen |
Main organ | Peace Messenger |
Parent organization | World Peace Council |
Website | www |
The Canadian Peace Congress (
The CPCon was made up of affiliated local peace councils from across Canada as well as associate members including the Trade Union Peace Committee, the
Active councils of the CPCon were established in: British Columbia, Calgary, Edmonton, Fraser Valley, Guelph, Halifax, Hamilton, Kamsack, London, Niagara, Peterborough, Saskatoon, Sydney, Thunder Bay, Vernon, Victoria, and Windsor. These councils were active in campaigns against the Korean War, Vietnam War, the military coup in Chile, South African Apartheid, Zionism, US interventions into Nicaragua and Panama, NORAD and NATO as well as the arms race and nuclear build-up.
The CPCon was perceived as being close to the Labor-Progressive Party and its successor the Communist Party of Canada, though Endicott, himself, was not a party member. Endicott remained the CPCon's chairman until 1971 when, according to his biography, he was pressured to resign by the leadership of the Communist Party for his pro-
During the 1980s struggles for nuclear disarmament, the Congress helped found the much broader Canadian Peace Alliance in 1985 as a more inclusive and less centralized network of peace organizations, including many newly formed groups (as opposed to the CPCon which was seen as aligned with the anti-imperialist current within the broad peace movement).
After 1986 Lari Prokop led the Congress until it became inactive in the early 1990s. At its 1991 conference, the CPCon decided to disaffiliate from the World Peace Council but the organization never formally dissolved.[4] However, the Regina Peace Council continued its activity, publishing a regular newsletter and paying dues to the World Peace Council.
Although the Canada-wide Congress became inactive throughout the 1990s, by the mid-2000s an effort was made to re-establish Peace Councils in Edmonton and the BC Lower Mainland, in addition to Regina. The Canadian Peace Congress was then re-established in April 2006 at an Edmonton conference attended by 20 delegates from across Canada.
At the end of 2016, Dave McKee stepped down as President, and Miguel Figueroa became acting president of the Canadian Peace Congress early in 2017. He was elected President at its November 2018 convention held in Toronto.
By the end of 2018 there were active Peace Councils and/or affiliated peace coalitions in Surrey (Fraser Valley), Vancouver, and in the Southern Interior of B.C.; in Edmonton and Calgary, Alta.; Regina, Sask.; Winnipeg, Man.; Ottawa, Kingston, St. Catharines and Toronto, Ont.; and in Halifax, N.S.[6]
See also
References
- ^ "Canadian Peace Congress, Leaflet, [197-] | Peace and War in the 20th Century". Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
- ^ Victor Huard, "The Canadian Peace Congress and the Challenge to Postwar Consensus, 1948–1953." Peace & Change 19.1 (1994): 25-49.
- ^ "Canadian Peace Congress fonds - Search Research Collections". archives.mcmaster.ca. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
- ^ "PERC". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2009.
- ^ "Canadian Peace Congress Reconstituted"[permanent dead link], Political Affairs Magazine, May–June 2006
- ^ People's Voice, December 2018.