"A ceasefire is always the first step to achieve peace."
Ceasefire.ca is a project of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs, a public policy research and advocacy group based in Ottawa. Ceasefire.ca is the institute's main public outreach and advocacy arm.
The Polaris Institute created Ceasefire.ca in 2003 to prevent Canada from joining the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defence program, although the name itself dates back to the earlier campaign to stop the invasion of Iraq. Its founders are Steven Staples and Peter Coombes. Their goal, inspired by successful web-based organizations such as Moveon.org, is to provide a web-based tool for citizen action on government policies.
Since its inception, Ceasefire.ca has played crucial roles in many campaigns, including preventing Canada from joining George W. Bush's "Star Wars" missile defence program. As well, it has pushed Canadian politicians of all stripes to oppose the war in Afghanistan, allow U.S. war resisters to stay in Canada, ban deadly cluster bombs, abolish nuclear weapons, prevent the weaponization of space, and take action on other important issues.
Many well-known supporters of Ceasefire.ca have endorsed its campaigns over the years, including David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, Matthew Good, Mel Hurtig, Helen Caldicott, Tom Hayden, Mel Watkins, and Murray Dobbin.
Since its humble beginnings, Ceasefire.ca has grown to more than 15,000 users who receive regular bulletins and participate in on-line letter-writing actions. As well, more than 1,000 people have become financial donors, providing valuable resources that are used to fund research and action campaigns.
The Rideau Institute is steps away from Parliament Hill
In 2007, Ceasefire.ca travelled with Steven Staples to its new home, the Rideau Institute on International Affairs, an independent organization recently spun-off from the Polaris Institute. Other web sites created by the Rideau Institute include RightOnCanada.ca, which focuses on human rights issues.
Like Polaris, the Rideau Institute blends research with action, and is a federally registered non-profit organization. But in order to act as strong political forces in Ottawa that lobby for peace, the Rideau Institute and Ceasefire.ca are not registered charities (and therefore cannot issue tax receipts for donations until the federal government changes its charity laws).
Today, Ceasefire.ca traverses the digital divide into the real world, supporting activists working in their communities. It has launched The New Peace Lobby, a campaign to push for peace policies in Parliament through on-the-Hill lobbying, on-line activism, on-air media work, and on-the-ground organizing.
You can contact Ceasefire.ca through the Rideau Institute.
