Dear M. Nicholls,
On Sunday, November 17, a walk for peace was held in the Cree community of Chisasibi. Frédéric Caussan, Ancita M. Bugden and Shelly Sam Cromarty initiated the project. They talked about it at three radio stations and they invited the population of Chisasibi to join them and walk with them. For two weeks, it was snowing in town but on the day of the walk, we had a sunny and beautiful day. People met at in front of the Mitchuap and wrote on their picket signs. Then we started to walk around town. About 100 persons walked in a good ambiance. Then, we went in the auditorium and we sat with coffee and snacks to debate about the world situation and our concern for peace. People said a lot of interesting things: we talked about education for our children and our concern to teach them pacific ways to resolve conflicts, someone talked about her reaction after September 11 and her conviction that more violence is not the solution. Someone else gave us information about the dramatic situation faced by the Afghan people after the recent war where they have no food, no water and no electricity to go through their cold winter.
After the sharing, people signed a petition and some persons suggested to place it at the community centre so more persons could sign it. That’s what we did and we came up after that with 172 signatures. It was decided that we would send a copy of the petition to Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister of Canada, to Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations and to our magazine The Nation.
We joined to this letter a copy of the petition and the information we sent to them.
You can contact us for more information on this matter. Thank you.
Yours sincerely.
Frédéric Caussan
Phone : 819-855-3422
e-mail : caussanf@cancom.net
November 20, 2002
Dear Prime Minister Jean Chrétien,
We are sending you this petition to protest against the intent of the USA government to attack the Iraqi people. We know war is not the solution and that it will bring only more suffering and poverty. We are normal people living in a remote community in the North but our hearts tell us we have to do something as small it can be.
We dream of a second millennium where human lives would have more value than profit, where the United Nations would have all the power to guarantee safety, equality and development to all the Nations of the world. Education, food health and peace for all: that should be a worldwide goal for human kind to work on this century.
On Sunday, November 17, 2002 we walked around town on a sunny day and we then went to the Community Center to debate about peace and the conflict between the USA and the Iraqi government. Without pressuring anybody, we gathered 172 signatures in a small community where 60% of the population are children.
Please confirm to us by return mail receipt of this letter and the petition.
We thank you for you consideration and we hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely yours,
Ginette Moreau et
