Welcome to the Spring edition
of the JustPeace Newsletter – connecting educators in seeking the Gospel vision of justice and peace.

In February, the JustPeace Collective reviewed the first three editions of the newsletter and asked the question, "Is the purpose of the newsletter primarily to provide information on justice and peace issues or is it about building a network of educators and providing a forum for exchange of ideas and tools for promoting a movement of justice and peace among youth?

We noted that it is difficult for a periodical newsletter to keep up with the tide of information available and that most educators are quite adept at doing this themselves. What is more helpful is 'how-to' articles specific to formation, organizing and inspiring both teachers and students as agents of social change.

So we decided to shift our focus away from providing information towards networking on ideas and tools for justice and peace education, beginning with this edition. Enjoy.

 

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Catching Fire for Social Justice

By Robert Holmes

It was the early 80s when my thinking about education began to change. I was teaching a grade 12 social justice course at St. Charles College in Sudbury. I was on fire for the course but my students weren’t. Although they were becoming knowledgeable about the issues – the injustices and their causes – they remained indifferent and were unwilling to become involved. I wanted them to become engaged, but how?

Read More

 

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Change is Necessary:

Reflections on an Immersion Experience in Nicaragua

By Brenda Holtkamp

In January of this year, 25 students and staff from Caledon's Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School in Caledon travelled to Nicaragua for a two week immersion experience.

The following is a reflection by one of the students upon her return:

"Nicaragua changed everything for me. I used to take things for granted, I used to complain and I was the most important person in my life. Coming back, I'm angry. I'm confused. I appreciate all that I have, but I'm angry that I have it, knowing there are others much more deserving. It's taken time for me to forgive myself for the years of ungratefulness, selfishness and greed. I've changed. I've lost friends, but I'm okay. I feel new.Out of place, but inspired. I am the better version of who I was before. I am powerful. I have knowledge. And I have friends and family in Nicaragua whose stories remind me of what is really important. People are Important. Love is important. Change is necessary." Read More

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Introducing the St. Mary God Squad

by Catherine Cavanagh

It was Holy Week and members of a student social justice group in Brockville called the God Squad brought their cameras to school. This year they wanted to encourage their peers at St. Mary Catholic High School to participate in Mines Action Canada's Lend-a-Leg Campaign to show solidarity with victims of cluster bombs. Like Jesus on the way to the cross, innocent cluster bomb victims suffer and die because of decisions made by political leaders, generals and arms dealers. Read More

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The Curse of Coal
By James Loney

It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen.

Six diesel-roaring earth movers advancing through a sal-tree jungle, their long hydraulic arms scooping away everything within reach.

The secret homes of mongoose, badger and rabbit. Primeval walking trails. Leaf and fern and rock boulder.

A monstrous industrial machine disappearing a forest world into fifteen-foot high dump trucks.

Directly in its path, just five hundred metres away, lay a thatched-roof village surrounded by rice paddies and mango groves. Read More

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Uniting Teachers for Social Justice

By Dwyer Sullivan

It can be a lonely road sometimes for a high school social justice teacher. The constant resistance to change and the enormity of the problems we face can easily lead to feelings of hopelessness and being overwhelmed. After 40 years of social justice teaching and organizing, I've learned the only way I can sustain this work is by building community and acting in solidarity with like-minded colleagues.

This article describes three instances where teachers have come together to promote social justice. Read More

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The Peacemaker Wall

By Tim O’Connor

 

Have you ever heard of Barbara Lee, Brian Willson, Bonnie Dickenson or Barry Bondhus?

A few years ago, I couldn't have told you anything about them. Today, they each occupy their own personal brick on my classroom wall.

You could say it's a bit of a twist on the word wall (one of the latest educational fads). Each day, I begin my classes by asking students if they have ever heard of the day's peacemaker. Inevitably they haven't, and so I tell them the story. At the end of the day, I take a card with the peacemaker's name on it and put it on a brick on my classroom wall.

Today, more than 250 bricks are "occupied" on my classroom wall—something I could never have imagined when I started. Read More

Previous Editions

Summer 2011

Fall 2011

Winter 2012