June 20, 2006
The Rt. Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Dear Prime Minister Harper:
The Justice and Peace Unit of the Anglican Church in the Diocese of
New Westminster would like to add our voice to those who call for the
role of the Canadian military in Afghanistan to turn from military
involvement to active support for peacemaking and reconciliation.
The areas in which the Canadian military is making a positive
difference in Afghanistan seem to be in police training, rural
development, land mine clearing and repatriation of refugees. These are
practical and useful to the Afghan people. The other part of Canada’s
mission in Afghanistan, of military combat, is the destructive aspect
that will not bring peace, and will not help the people re-build their
lives.
Canada has got to move our military away from participation in
combat and move it actively to support the Afghan Government’s
initiative: "National Peace and Reconciliation Commission." The Afghan
government needs enhanced technical support to make such an initiative
meaningful.
Our Canadian military could support such a national peacemaking
initiative in helping concretely with the mechanism to make these
meetings happen. There are many groupings in Afghanistan who have
national concerns and they are being lumped in with terrorists. They
are not terrorists. They do have national and regional grievances and
want a way for these to be heard.
Canada is in the position to invest in peace in Afghanistan as part
of our contribution to peace and stability in the country. The National
Peace and Reconciliation established by the Afghan govenment is poorly
resourced and does not have the technical capacity to run peace
dialogues between various groups. Canada could help this to happen, and
do what needs to be done to create an atmosphere of trust by helping in
this way and getting out of the combat role.
This gap which exists right now in Afghanistan, in which very little
is happening to get a peace and reconciliation initiative on a national
level off the ground and working means more deaths every day. Canada
could make a real difference for peace and save lives of Canadians and
Afghans.
As Christians we believe that we cannot do violence to create peace.
Jesus showed us in his life that violence needed to stop. We teach our
children that they must solve their differences with words, and then we
take our country into military combat. There can only be lasting peace
when we do the long and hard work of peace. We are not helping the
Afghan people at this time by having our Canadian soldiers be part of
combat.
We can serve the real needs of peace with the direction of the
Afghan government, by giving the technical and logistic support and the
leadership needed to help bring people together in regional meetings
across Afghanistan for peace and reconciliation talks.
Canada needs to live into the contribution we can make to peace in
our world in Afghanistan and Darfur and other regions in the world.
There, our presence as peacemakers and peacekeepers will make a long
lasting difference to the lives of many.
"Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the
silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silence of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and duty." Archbishop Oscar A. Romaro.
Sincerely,
The Rev. Margaret Marquardt
Chair, Justice and Peace Unite
Dioceses of New Westminister
The Rev. Don Johnson
Chair, Social Justice Committe
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada
CC: The Hon. Bill Graham, MP
The Hon. Gilles Duceppe, MP
The Hon. Jack Layton, MP