Peace walk proceeds along Victoria Street Sunday morning. Photos – 250 News

Prince George, B.C. – The first annual Prince George Walk for Peace was held Sunday and the turnout greatly exceeded the expectations of the organizers.

They were hopeful about 50 people would attend and take part in the event but by the time it started, easily double that number had shown up at the Civic Centre to display their support for a peaceful world. The President of the Multicultural Heritage Society, Shawn Bellamy, said “I’m so honoured and so proud to see so many people here today. Thank you for having faith in us that today would be about our community coming together to take part in a global event, International Peace Day.”

She explained how Tracey Matters, sister of Greg Matters, had come to her asking for help in assisting with the event. “Tracey and her mother Lorraine have been diligently pursuing justice for Greg while wanting to move forward in a positive way. Today is about healing, about ending conflict and standing together. We are all here for our own reasons, and with our own belief systems and know that as one voice we can be heard to promote peace.”

Tracey Matters told those gathered “I am so very proud of the Prince George community. It will always be home to me. International Day of Peace was established in 1981 and in 2001 the General Assembly of the United Nations established today as an annual day of non-violence and ceasefire. In encourage each and every one of you to think about what peace means to you, and I encourage you to just be a little bit more gentle with yourself today and with people around you.”

The Peace Walk headed out up 7^th Avenue to Victoria, down 3^rd to George Street, and made its way back to the cenotaph at City Hall. There, Prince George writer and columnist Peter Ewart spoke of the necessity for peace and made five brief points. “All of us are aware of the necessities in life: food, water, shelter, health care, a save environment, social and political rights. But there’s another necessity, one that without it all the other necessities and rights are endangered and threatened. And that is the necessity and right to live in peace.”

“My second point is that human beings have made great technological developments in the last several centuries, but there have also been major developments in the weapons of war: atomic bombs, missiles, chemical and biological weaponry, drones, robots and the list goes on and on. For the first time in history we as humans are faced with the fact that we have the technological capability to end life as we know it, and even the human race itself. My third point is related to the second. We as human beings are also capable of great art, great music and literature, great medical and social advances, great scientific achievements. If we can do all of that, does anyone doubt that we are also very capable of developing social structures, mechanisms, governments and civilizations that are inherently peaceful and foster peace, not war.”

“My fourth point is that we live in a world that is increasingly volatile and unstable. It’s quite possible that in this political environment more localized war, and even a general war, could break out. The problem is that like a prairie fire in a hot summer that once sparked, these wars are hard to put out and can quickly develop into major, out-of-control blazes as we know happened with the catastrophic First and Second World Wars. Which brings me to my fifth and final point.

Circle of peace surrounds cenotaph at City Hall

“The decisive factor in determining that such wars do not break out is people’s opposition to war. Opposition throughout the world stopped the proposed bombing of Syria a couple of years ago. People’s opposition played a key role in stopping nuclear war from breaking out in the 20^th century. And it will be the people’s desire for peace that will stop us from stampeding into wars in the future. We need to call on government to strive to sort out problems peacefully, whether inside our own countries with our own citizens, or externally. Brining about a peaceful world, it can be done, it must be done. To live in peace is a right, indeed it is a necessity of our times.”