Canadian Peace Alliance/l'Alliance canadienne pour la paix

Canada's largest umbrella peace group

For immediate release - May 24, 2000

Community groups push their agenda

The People's Commission on Global Security: Canada's Role

The People's Commission on Global Security: Canada's Role will hold hearings and meetings across Canada in June.

The Commission is inviting individuals and community groups to share their vision for the future and to help formulate comprehensive alternative foreign and defence policies, in time for the federal election expected next year.

"The People's Commission is important and timely because of the twin problems of militarisation and globalisation," said Judith Berlyn, co-chair of the Canadian Peace Alliance. "We have seen many serious changes in the world and in Canada's foreign policy in the past decade. Problems have grown; sustainability and peace have eluded us." The deadline for submissions to the People's Commission is June 30, 2000.

The findings will be summarized in a report that presents a Canadian approach to global security and makes recommendations to government. The Commission is organised by the Canadian Peace Alliance, Canada's umbrella organization of peace related groups. Major endorsers of the Commission include the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), l'Association Québecoise des Organismes de Coopération Internationale (AQOCI), and the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).

The Canadian Peace Alliance facilitated similar hearings in 1991 under the banner of the Citizens Inquiry into Peace and Security, which redefined security in the post Cold War era. The Inquiry received over 600 briefs, and produced the report "Transformation Moment."

The Canadian Peace Alliance is active on a wide range of issues, including nuclear disarmament, missile defence, plutonium, military spending and exports, sanctions against Iraq, NATO and the bombing of Yugoslavia.

To find out how to make a submission to the People's Commission, contact the Canadian Peace Alliance at (416) 588-5555, or at cpa@web.ca. Main events are planned for Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

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For further information, contact: Judith Berlyn (514) 933-8134 or Tryna Booth, Coordinator (902) 422-6628

Submission guidelines are available.

An information package for interested media is available on request.

For more information: please follow this link.