Ploughshares Calgary has been active on issues of peace, justice and disarmament since 1982 and has made contributions to advocacy efforts on a local and national level. Initiatives of Ploughshares Calgary and individual members of the organization have won a total of 10 peace medals from the YMCA of Calgary.
1980
Raised awareness of American cruise missile testing in northern Alberta.
1983
Instrumental in establishing a Peace and Conflict studies group at the University of Calgary. This group hosted lectures, debates, panels and films at the university for 10 years.
1987
Successfully lobbied, through the Calgary Disarmament Coalition, for Calgary to become a nuclear-weapon-free zone, an important symbolic victory.
1987
Appeared before a Senate committee holding hearings on Canada’s involvement in NORAD. Protested Canadian involvement in President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative through a letter-writing campaign and an academic position paper. Canada eventually opted out of the plan.
1987-1996
Through an offshoot off Ploughshares Calgary, Educators for the Environment, Peace and Social Justice, held peace conferences for hundreds of Calgary children annually for six years.
1990
Provided an alternative viewpoint to world media during a nuclear planning meeting of NATO defense ministers in Kananaskis by providing pro-peace messages to world media at the event. Ploughshares was quoted in European media coverage of the meeting.
1991-1998
Provided education to churches and school groups and mounted a letter-writing campaign on the topic. Civil society groups like Ploughshares around the world were instrumental in bringing about the Mine Ban Treaty in 1998, which has now been signed by 162 countries.
1999-2003
Provided a forum for young people to engage with peace issues through the Youth Action for Peace Forum. A large mural depicting their vision of peace was displayed at the UN Summit on Racism in Durban in 2001.
1999-2009
Provided anti-bullying education to over 40,000 students and teachers through the Puppets for Peace program.
2005
Successfully lobbied for the Calgary Mayor’s Office to join Mayors for Peace, a group of 6,800 mayors around the world striving for a nuclear-free world. Ploughshares also hosted Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima, the leader of the group, on an official trip to Calgary.
2013-2015
Raised funds for a Sierra Leone peace centre through annual Calgary Peace Run.
2012-2020
Hosted the annual Floating Lantern Peace Ceremony at Olympic Plaza in commemoration of the hundreds of thousands who lost their lives in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The ceremony was held in solidarity with events in many other cities around the world.
2020-Now
We adapted to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and we have shifted our meetings online! We revived our Educators for Peace and Justice group.