YMCA of Central East Ontario to Honour Local Peacemaker at Peace Medal Ceremony

On Nov. 24, The YMCA of Central East Ontario is hosting a Peace Medal Ceremony, celebrating a Nogojiwanong community member who has made significant contributions toward peace-building through grassroots efforts.

Photo courtesy of The YMCA of Central East Ontario.

Mkwa Ghiizis (Crystal Hebert) will be honoured at the YMCA Balsillie Family Branch at noon. Mkwa is a 2-spirit water protector, artist and advocate living in the Nogojiwanong community since 2006.

They are the founder of Tweak Easy, a grassroots overdose prevention site. They organize advocacy rallies, vigils and marches, holding events that bring community members and organizations together in finding grassroots solutions to the opioid and homelessness crisis. They focus on low-barrier access to ceremony, medicines and support for those experiencing systemic failures, as well as those engaging in sex work or drug use from an Indigenous Harm Reduction approach.

From Nov. 12 to 19, the YMCA recognizes Peace Week. The YMCA of Central East Ontario, together with other YMCAs across Canada, are celebrating the presence of peace and reflecting on peace-building work that happens through the organization. During YMCA Peace Week they honour those at the forefront of these peace-building efforts.

The YMCA recognizes Mkwa’s work as a voice for those experiencing systemic failures within the community.

“The recipient of the YMCA Peace Medal demonstrates that peace has many dimensions. They show us the importance of building community, where people feel that they belong and are included. Most often their actions started small and grew into something bigger than themselves. That is the power of peace,” says David Allen, president and CEO of the YMCA of Central East Ontario.

To learn more about YMCA Peace Week, click here.

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UN Peacekeepers Monument Unveiled in Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in Downtown Peterborough

Roughly 250 gathered at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a new UN Peacekeepers Monument at Peterborough’s latest park on the corner of Charlotte Street and Aylmer Street on Friday morning.

(From left to right) Retd Maj Lea-Anne Quinn, MGen Lewis W. MacKenzie and Rev. Frank Patrick at the Un Peacekeepign monument at the partially-completed park on Charlotte and Aylmer Street. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Peacekeeping veterans shared brief stories during the ceremony and honoured their fallen soldiers. The national anthem and ‘God Save the Queen” was sung by Rhema Christian School students.

Recent Syrian refugees were honoured and welcomed during the event. They sang songs showing their appreciation for Canada.

The monument was created by Studio F Minus’s Brad Hindson, Mitchell Chan and Michael Simon. It was commissioned from the City in 2017 and cost roughly $100,000 to build.

The two pillars have mirrors with a blue square near the top. Hindson says the design was a metaphor and homage to the duty Peacekeepers have.

“Peacekeepers have to cross invisible borders,” he said. “The blue square turns into a dotted line and dotted lines on maps represent borders so you’re actually crossing a border as you come through.”

The monument has been with a quote from Bill Steedman, former case manager of the Peterborough Constituency Office:

“From all across Canada, they came,

From coast to coast to coast.

There was no cry for victory on their lips,

Only a prayer for peace.

They sought not to impose their way,

Only to preserve those most elusive ideals:

Peace and humanity.

Some came home broken,

Some came home not at all.

For all of those who stood their ground,

We stand for them.” - Bill Steedman

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