A Million for Peace: The Story of the Peacemaking Fund of The United Church of Canada

Simon Dalby is an assistant professor of geography at Carleton
University in Ottawa.

In the mid-1980s many people across Canada who were concerned about
peace, social transformation, and human survival in a nuclear armed
world, were active in both the peace movement and the United Church. Out
of these common commitments grew the realization that both practical
action at the community level and theological reflection were needed in
response to the dangers of the times. In the United Church this led to
the establishment of the Peacemaking Fund, which disbursed close to a
million dollars to facilitate community actions for peace around the
country.

This highly readable book outlines the diverse uses to which the money
was put by numerous people. Farlinger, a peace activist and church
member, tells of theatre actions for peace; of four teenagers who took a
tour called “Students Against Global Extermination” into 350 schools
from coast to coast; of local pilgrimages for peace; of projects to
discuss the theology of peace in local congregations; of support for
chapters of the “Raging Grannies”; of work against uranium mining;
of electioneering and peace campaigns; and of the practical organizing
by many women for peaceful change. Furthermore, there are brief
discussions of the theological aspects of the peace issue. The final
chapter, reflecting on the dramatic changes in the world in the last
decade, suggests that there are some grounds for optimism in the ending
of the Cold War and of apartheid in South Africa, and that peace
movements have been important in changing political attitudes toward
violence and nuclear weapons. Although it details events that took place
in the 1980s, the book’s themes are of continuing importance.