Judy DaSilva, a First Nations women from Grassy Narrows, Ont., has received the Michael Sattler Peace Prize from the German Mennonite Peace Committee, reported CBC news on May 22, 2013.

"After we went overseas, my comrades began to realize that I would always be there to help them if they got wounded, their attitude changed. They knew I would come to their aid if I possibly could. From then on we had a very good relationship."

"We must understand first that nonviolence is not passivity," writes Todd May, Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of the Humanities at Clemson University, and the author of, most recently, Friendship in the Age of Economics.

Non-violent peace builders may shy away from forming relationships with veterans or those who serve in the military. Presumably, one would have little in common with those who believe in the use of military force - a point of view so directly opposite.

But associate editor Anna Groff of The Mennonite points out that this need not be so. Her story offers vignettes of numerous individuals who provide care to war veterans through the USA's Veteran Health Administration (VA) hospitals.She writes that "Each day about 18 veterans commit suicide. About one-quarter of returning veterans meet criteria for a mental health disorder. Many face unemployment, divorce, substance abuse and more."

Groff quotes Andrea Wetherald, 24, who works at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and attends Pittsburgh Mennonite Church. Wetherald says, “The best thing Mennonites can do is look through the stereotypes and see an individual — as cliché as it may sound,” she says.

See the full story here for vignettes of others who find their VA work rewarding.

The Canadian Council of Churches has sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper seeking a deeper committment to end the global arms trade.

The Council, which claims to represent 80% od Christians in Canada, is calling on the Prime Minister to "do its utmost to ensure negotiations at the UN Diplomatic Conference in July [2012]" by:

• Issuing a prime-ministerial statement emphasizing Canadian support for a strong Arms Trade Treaty and indicating that Canada will not accept treaty text that inadequately responds to the humanitarian costs of irresponsible arms transfers;
• Instructing  Minister Baird to take up the invitation to attend the high level segment during the first days of the Diplomatic Conference;
• Instructing the Canadian delegation to the Diplomatic Conference to actively engage and support other states seeking a comprehensive and effective Arms Trade Treaty.

Waterloo, Ont.,  was the setting for a gathering of Canadian church leaders to consider the challenge of just peacemaking.

The Project Ploughshares web site states, "The two standard ethical paradigms for the ethics of peace and war are pacifism and just war theory. They both intend to prevent some wars or all wars. But they don’t focus our attention on how to prevent wars; they focus on debating whether war is justified or not. Recognizing a practical stalemate between the arguments for pacifism and just war, the theory of just peacemaking seeks to define and implement practices that prevent violent conflict and create peace."

Papers from various church leaders documenting the outcome of the meeting can be found here.

The web site of the U.S. Army reveals that it has signed the first agreement for selective service in the USA in 25 years.

The story says that "... as long as there's been Americans fighting in wars, there have been those who do not object to the idea of serving their country, but do object to the idea of directly killing another human being or being involved in that act. These conscientious objectors are not cowards, said Selective Service Director Lawrence G. Romo, but are simply opposed to the idea of taking another person's life."

Stanley Green, executive director of the Mennonite Mission Network is pictured signing the agreement.with Selective Service Director Lawrence G. Romo.

Mennonites in Saskatchewan are encouraging people to deepen their relationships with Canada's indigenous people in that province.

Mennonite Church Saskatchewan's Peace and Justice Committee sponsored a roadside sign near the town of Osler inviting passers-by to attend a Truth and Reconciliation event in Saskatoon. The sign is one of two in the rural area surrounding Saskatoon.

A May 8, 2012 CBC news report describes Public Safety Minister Vic Toews as “… lashing out at provincial officials who he says are collecting unauthorized information on long-gun buyers, threatening to use legislation to make them stop.”

But Chris Wyatt, Ontario’s chief firearms officer, said the ledgers aren't new. "Ledgers existed for decades before the long-gun registry," Wyatt told the CBC. "It's in the interests of public safety to ensure that firearms aren't being sold to criminals or persons who are prohibited from having firearms."

The ledgers record identifying details about the gun sold, as well as the name and firearms licence number of the purchaser – but leaves blank a space in the column previously reserved to record the registration certificate number from the federal firearms registry.

The Canadian government has ended the long gun registry and has ordered the data collected to be destroyed. The long gun registry was introduced in parliament in 1993.

George Jonas, journalist and commentator who frequently writes on the Middle East and counter-terrorism, asks why, if most wars end in neither total victory of defeat, can we not just “skip the part where we shoot each other?”

In a May 9, 2012, National Post column, Jonas documents the following typical steps in conflict: war, armistice, peace conference, and negotiated settlement. Why not “make your last move your first move?” he asks.