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Victoria Peace Centre Brochure

Box 8307 Victoria BC, V8W 3R9, CANADA, 250.592-8307
centre@vicpeace.ca www.vicpeace.ca

"Today's world calls for a new global vision... attuned to the realities of human needs."
-- Ruth Leger Sivard

Our vision is...

A new idea is taking hold in international relations, the idea of common security. Common security means that you and I are secure only when everyone is secure... from fear, from want, from injustice. Peace is assured not by the threat of nuclear weapons, but by the strength of our mutual commitments to reduce human suffering.

The Cold War is history. Yet the misguided machinery of the arms race remains firmly entrenched. If the military budgets of the world were reduced, billions and billions of dollars could be poured into the real challenges of pollution, over-population, hunger, ignorance and disease.

Our Common Cause

The challenges ahead of us are large. But they can be met if we work together. If you would like to add your local actions to a new global vision, you may join with us and millions more around the world. We are working to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons; the peaceful use of space; and the mutual, balanced and verifiable reduction of all weapons of mass destruction.

In Canada, this means expanding the nuclear free zones and securing our harbours from nuclear warships; the elimination of foreign military training and arms testing on Canadian soil and in Canadian waters; increased support for the United Nations and an independent Canadian foreign policy; halting Canadian participation in the international arms trade; and increasing commitments to justice and environmental protection.

In Greater Victoria

We are proud of the history of the modern peace movement, going back to the 1950s and the formation of a Peace Council to gather signatures for the worldwide Stockholm Appeal. In the 1960s the Voice of Women held weekly vigils protesting the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, as the threat of nuclear war became acute, the Victoria Coalition for Disarmament was formed, preparing fact sheets and leafletting the public. In April 1982, some 500 Victorians marched in the first of the annual Peace and Earth Walks.

In the fall of 1982, more than 600 people worked on the local referendums for nuclear weapons free zones with decisive support in Victoria, Oak Bay and Saanich. On January 30, 1983, the Coalition for Disarmament Referendum Committee combined to form the Greater Victoria Disarmament Group, now known as the Victoria Peace Centre.

Our door is open

Drop us an email. We'd like to hear your concerns. We are glad to answer any questions you have about our regular activities, such as the annual Earth Walk.

We hold educational meetings; publish the Peace Update (on-line and on recycled newsprint); host speakers; and work with other peace, environment and justice groups.

Our Resource Centre, is located in the United Nations Association office, and contains a large library of books, videos and audio tapes, available to everyone. We also engage in special projects and offer a variety of opportunities for volunteers.

Please join us.

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."
-- Edmund Burke

Victoria Peace Centre