Remembrance Day was busy...

I met a couple of friends downtown by City Hall and we began the day by checking in and having conversations with the nice folks at Occupy Calgary in Olympic Plaza. We then gathered at 12 noon for our Women in Black vigil that happens every 2nd and 4th Friday of each month by the Statues of the Five Famous Women.

... then a few of us left the vigil circle to join the Occupy Calgary Remembrance Meditation held in the beautiful, but cold Olympic Plaza amphitheatre.

Our final Remembrance service was at the other end of downtown. We took a quick C-Train ride to the Calgary Community Peace Pole for the innovative Remembrance Day sponsored by the Project Ploughshares organization. The highlight of this followed candlelighting, wreath laying and chanting. I am sorry I didn't get a photo of the circle dance formed around the Peace Pole. It was one of the most moving experiences I have had the fortune to be part of.

Founded in 1976, Project Ploughshares is the peace centre of The Canadian Council of Churches, mandated to work with churches, government, and civil society, in Canada and abroad, to advance policies and actions that prevent war and armed violence and build peace. Project Ploughshares carries out its mandate by undertaking resarch, policy development, and public engagement to: -prohibit the use, possession, and manufacture of nuclear weapons; -prevent the weaponization of space; -control the supply and reduce the demand for weapons; -reduce the resort to military force; and -build sustainable peace.

(hugs all round)
later man, jan