Thursday, November 12th 2009

By Melanie Ferrier

From Nov. 13 to 15, the Hamilton Center for Teaching Peace will be hosting their eight annual Peace Education Conference titled, “Loving Teachers, Living Schools: Sharing Our Paths of Peace” on the third floor of the McMaster student centre. This year’s conference will focus on bringing greater peace into the school system, exploring gender and sexuality in the system, and on how greater social and spiritual intelligence can be incorporated into school curriculum.

The Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace (CCTP) is a national and non-profit organization dedicated to building healthier communities and encouraging world peace. The CCTP envision an education system where students are exposed to a nurturing learning environment, and hope to advance this vision through lectures, workshops, and panel discussions.

Chief among these activities will be the launch of CCTP’s National School Peace Education Program. Another important aspect of the conference will be a lecture, given by key note speaker Dr. Ian Harris, entitled, “Overcoming Violence through Education: Exploring Masculinity, Violence and Peace.”

Other events include a meet and greet at the Sky Dragon Centre on Thursday evening and a social event named, “Celebrating Each Other” at the First Unitarian Church on Friday night. “Celebrating Each Other” will feature singers Tristan Raganan, Vince Waters, and The Subterraneans. Dance groups, including The Rhythm Divine, will also be performing. The social event will be open to all members of the community.

According to Chelsea Cox, one of the coordinators of the peace education conference, the purpose of the conference is primarily for the CCTP, to bring “greater peace into our schools”, as previously mentioned, they plan to launch their school peace education program and finally, they hope to raise awareness and get working towards an action plan.

The conference is open to anyone interested in education or social justice issues. Students are seriously encouraged to participate, “it is a great opportunity [for students]. There are so many different topics that are being covered … [and] there is a lot of room for input.”

Cox added that this is also a chance for students to address issues they feel should be dealt with, “you often hear students who are upset or annoyed about [different aspects of their education]. This is an opportunity to take those feelings and concerns, explore them, and do something about them.”

Anyone interested in participating in this year’s Peace Education Conference is encouraged to visit the conference web-cite www.schoolpeaceprogram.org.

Tags: CCTP, Hamilton Centre for Teaching Peace, world peace conference