New World Peace Partners Committee in District 7070:

From Ian Lancaster, Chair District 7070 Vocational Service Committee

My Fellow District 7070 Rotarians,

July 1 sees the creation of a new entity in our District, a peace committee, something not seen in Zone 24 (Canada) with the exception of District 5550’s (the Winnipeg area) “World Peace Partners” Committee.

As I noted in an earlier article, Rotary has been at the forefront of peace – peace-building for most of the organization’s history. The establishment of our “peace” committee is another step in promoting a philosophy of working towards peace-building. This is “a process that facilitates the establishment of durable peace and tries to prevent the recurrence of violence by addressing root causes and effects of conflict through reconciliation, institution building, and political as well as economic transformation. This consists of a set of physical, social, and structural initiatives that are often an integral part of post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation” (Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado).

As the inaugural Chair of our Peace Committee, I’m reaching out to you, to help me build and develop our new committee.

I’m looking for Rotarians passionate about “peace” and educating Rotarians and the public about Rotary and its peace-building history and mandate to build peace through partnerships with our peace scholarship universities, our own internal Rotary Action Group, and other like-minded organizations.

Rotary International President Ian Riseley, in his message to us, has created a format to integrate peace-building starting with Environmental Sustainability and Peace in Vancouver, February 9 -11, 2018 partnered with the Rotary Action Group for Peace and the Rotary Action Group for Environmental Sustainability. www.environmentandpeace.com

This conference, one of six in the first half of 2018, will be convened by President Ian. These conferences will focus on how peace-building relates to each of Rotary’s five other areas of focus.

The others are:

If you are interested in furthering peace-building in District 7070 and beyond, please get in touch with me at 7070.rotar.ian@gmail.com

Peace Through Service,

Ian E. Lancaster