More than 70 academics, students and practitioners involved in conflict resolution met in Winnipeg in June for the inaugural Canadian Peace and Conflict Studies Conference hosted by Canadian Mennonite University. Among the group’s first decisions was to create a new peace and conflict studies association for Canada.
According to a news story on the CMU website, an interim board has been put together for the new association, with Timothy Donais, associate professor for global studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, serving as interim coordinator. The board’s first meeting was scheduled for September.
The impetus for the Winnipeg conference was a meeting of academics from the field of peace and conflict studies at Saint Paul University in May 2014. The assembled group discussed the possibility of creating a new association and a steering committee was formed to organize the first conference.
Wendy Kroeker, one of the event organizers and an instructor of peace and conflict studies at CMU, says the recent conference brought together academics and practitioners to establish a “stronger voice” in the national context. “We want to stretch the boundaries of the field to be accessible, provocative and inclusive,” she says.