Peace Trainers meet with Parliamentarians Oct. 22, 2025, in Ottawa
A grassroots movement of Peace Trainers is urging Ottawa to establish a Canadian peacekeeping centre and revive Canada’s peacekeeping heritage – Peacekeeping centre
Last November, 40 people rode VIA Rail from Vancouver to Ottawa on what they called The Peace Train to meet with Parliamentarians to ask for the creation of a Canadian centre for peace and a revival of Canada’s peacekeeping heritage.
In March of this year, about a dozen Peace Trainers, as they call themselves, rode Amtrak from Montreal to New York with Green Party MP Elizabeth May to call on the Canadian government to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
This October, from Oct. 21 to 25, they were in Ottawa again to remind Parliamentarians of their request for an independent Canadian Centre for Peace.
Such a centre would replace and revive the former Pearson Peacekeeping Centre that operated from 1994-2013, when it was closed by then-prime minister Stephen Harper due to the country’s shift away from traditional United Nations peacekeeping roles toward more combat-oriented missions.
The centre promoted by the Peace Train would be dedicated to peacekeeping and global security through research, education, policy and training in conflict resolution, diplomacy and peace operations. It would serve Canadian civilians, police, military personnel and the international community.
For this year’s trek, the 12 people on the Peace Train flew to the nation’s capital. On Oct. 22, they had a breakfast meeting with ten members of Parliament or their staff and one senator.
NDP MP Gord Johns of Courtenay—Alberni, B.C. said it was good to see the Peace Trainers back in Ottawa “building on the momentum from last year.”
“We are honoured to join you in building peace and understanding,” Johns said, noting the need for peacekeeping is more necessary than ever due to conflict that has forced over 120 million people from their homes.
“These are not just stats, these are people and families,” he said, adding he supported the call to establish a Canadian centre of excellence for peace. “Canada must be stronger when it comes to peace,” he said.
For Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal MP for Vancouver—Granville, B.C., “peace is not an option, but an expectation.”
He added that the goal of such a centre should not be just to stop wars that are happening, “but to make sure they don’t happen.”
Canada, he said, “has to step up.” Otherwise, the world will be a pretty dark place.”
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who is the MP from Saanich—Gulf Islands, B.C., praised the Peace Train for its support for nuclear arms control. She thanked Peace Trainers for “keeping alive the idea that Canada has a role to play in limiting nuclear arms.”
The Green Party “will do whatever we can” to support its efforts, she added.
Zoe Royer, Liberal MP from Port Moody—Coquitlam, B.C., noted that her spouse served for 22 years with the Canadian Armed Forces, including as a peacekeeper. She praised the efforts of the Peace Train, saying that “Canada is a true peacekeeping nation.”
Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga in Ontario, thanked the Peace Trainers for “being here and keeping a peace dialogue alive.” Ernie Klassen, who represents South Surrey, B.C. as a Liberal, thanked the group for bringing the issue of peace to Parliament.
‘Multiple tipping points’
Peace Train co-organizer Keith Wyton shared the history of the Peace Train and its goal of encouraging the government to establish a centre of excellence for peace.
“Peace Train Canada unites people across the country in renewed commitment to Canada’s first principles for enduring peace, justice and common security as agreed to in the United Nations charter,” he said.
Wyton commended the Canadian government for its support of those principles, saying a tangible way to show that support would be through the creation of a Canadian centre for peace and a revival of Canada’s peacekeeping heritage.
Also presenting at the breakfast was co-organizer Bernadette Wyton. She asked whether Canada is in danger of exchanging the Golden Rule for “the glitter of a Golden Dome.”
“As we teeter on the fulcrum of multiple tipping points, it becomes increasingly clear that peace is a fundamental condition for our survival,” she said.
“It is a process of constant adjustment toward enduring balance, stability and security.”
John Longhurst
November 3, 2025