Holiday Greetings and a sneak preview of our work in 2018!

holidays-slider-1-2Warmest holiday greetings to our fantastic Ceasefire.ca community!

The Rideau Institute offices will close for the holidays at noon on Friday, 22nd December, re-opening on Tuesday, 2 January 2018. However, our indefatigable Office Manager, Sarah Bowles, will check in occasionally to make sure urgent matters do not go unattended.

There will be no new blog posts before our annual survey launch, hopefully on January 1st, 2018. We will continue to post on Facebook and Twitter, albeit at a much reduced pace.  (Zzzzzz)

2018 promises to be even busier than 2017. Here are some of our plans:

  • Issuing report cards on the Justin Trudeau government’s Foreign and Defence policies.
  • A new Rideau Institute Report on Arms Control Issues raised by the new Defence Policy. Click Cyber and Cdn Defence Policy for a preview chapter on why offensive cyber weapons are a very bad idea.
  • Relentless efforts to secure meaningful amendments to Bill C-47, the legislation on the Arms Trade Treaty, will continue. Click ATT- Report Bill C-47 for our ground breaking report on that Bill.
  • More opportunities for the Ceasefire.ca community to weigh in on nuclear disarmament and the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Click here for a link to the text and here for the extremely moving video of the speeches by Canadian Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow and ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn on the occasion of their acceptance of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
  • Relentless efforts to ensure the Trudeau government lives up to its promise to re-engage in UN peacekeeping. Click A UN Renaissance for a new publication including an article by RI President Peggy Mason

And much, much more!

It is a tremendous privilege to be able to work with our dedicated, creative Ceasefire.ca team, our keen-eyed editor Bill Robinson, our outstanding interns and all of you!  Special thanks go to our Ceasefire co-founder Steven Staples.

Our aim is always to provide both solid information and practical options for building sustainable global peace.

And we cannot do any of this without your support! If you have not already done so and are able to help with a financial contribution, please click here to go directly to our donation page or here to read our latest fundraising appeal.

All the very best for 2018.

In gratitude and peace,

 

peggy-mason-sig-10pxleftPresident of the Rideau Institute

(Ceasefire.ca is a vibrant social engagement project of the Rideau Institute.)

Tags: Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), Beatrice Fihn, Bill C-47, cyber weapons, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, ICAN, Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear disarmament, Setsuko Thurlow, Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons