Coe Hill School, an elementary school located in the hamlet of Coe Hill in northern Hastings County, is the winner of the Canadian Peace Museum’s second annual Stories of Peace Award.
The Canadian Peace Museum, a Bancroft-based charity which is fundraising to open a museum by the same name, announced the winner during an award ceremony at Bancroft Village Playhouse on Tuesday afternoon (September 24).
An annual competition that concluded on September 21 (the International Day of Peace), the Stories of Peace Award asked entrants to submit videos and art that answer the question, “What Does Peace Mean to You?”
A judging panel selected Coe Hill School as the winning entrant for the school’s video featuring testimonies of children and adults and the list of the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The winning entry was an edited version of the full video that can be viewed below.
“The video includes themes of empathy, kindness, sharing, inclusion, democracy, and the importance, urgency, and the complexity of improving peace both locally and internationally,” states a media release from the Canadian Peace Museum.
As the winner of the Stories of Peace Award, Coe Hill School was presented with a cheque for $500 and a maple trophy carved and donated by Matt Peshal. The school was also presented with congratulatory scrolls from the Government of Canada signed by Hastings-Lennox and Addington MP Shelby Kramp-Neuman, and from the Government of Ontario signed by Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP Ric Bresee.
“Coe Hill School strives to create a welcoming culture that sets a very high standard for peace and well-being both inside and outside our walls,” said Coe Hill School principal Rob Lake of the school’s win. “Our passionate staff work hard to build strong and resilient humans and we are humbled to be able to serve our community and help students take their place in the world. This exercise to examine peace through this contest has reminded us that the future is in good hands.”
VIDEO: Coe Hill School’s Stories of Peace submission (long version)
#StoriesofPeace @CanPeaceMuseum (Long Version)
Posted by Coe Hill School on Friday, September 20, 2024
The judging panel also selected two runners-up: a watercolour painting by Katie Baklinski titled “Peace is Food Grown in Safety. Enough for Everyone” and a video by Brynn Duggan featuring images of peaceful protests calling for an end to violence in Gaza.
Entries for the Stories of Peace Award mainly came from Ontario, but videos also came in from as far away as Bangladesh.
The award ceremony also featured a number of speakers, including Canadian Peace Museum president Chris Houston who thanked the Town of Bancroft for supporting efforts to open the museum, including recently installing a peace pole in Bancroft’s Cenotaph Park.
Other speakers included Bancroft mayor Paul Jenkins, the Town of Bancroft’s general manager Andra Kauffeldt, and Reverend Svinda Heinrichs of St Paul’s United Church in Bancroft.
Professor Wim Laven, the editor-in-chief of the Peace Chronicle, came from Ohio to speak at the event.
“Stories of peace are essential to making sure we remind ourselves and each other on a regular basis that despite the gruesome events happening every day, it’s extremely normal for people to be helping each other,” he said.
Palestinian-Canadian poet Maya Al-Jaber gave a reading during the event and reflected on the Stories of Peace Award.
“I think when you are not born in such a violent area of the world, it’s easier to forget about suffering that happens outside your local area,” she said. “So to see so many people put in an effort and conscious awareness and try to always be aware of what is happening, when it is not related to them directly, it is very nice to see.”
During the event, a large painting by Maynooth artist David Maris called “Exploring the Dark Side of the Fight to Achieve Peace” — which the artist had entered into the competition — was on display.
Also on display was the “Exodus” project by Nicolò Filippo Rosso, an Italian photographer who for the past four years has travelled along migration routes from Venezuela to Colombia and from Central America to Mexico and the United States documenting violence and displacement in parts of Latin America caused by lack of job opportunities, limited access to education, and political corruption. The exhibit is on loan to the Canadian Peace Museum from the United Nations Refugee Agency in Canada.
Sponsored by Loaded Pierogi restaurants, the award ceremony event also featured a silent raffle for a piece of art called “Evening Glow at Eagles Nest,” which was donated by Liz RayShine, owner-operator of the Muse Cafe & Gallery in Bancroft, and an acoustic version of “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” — a song written in 1971 by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971 that describes war as futile and gruesome while criticising those who seek to glorify it — performed by local musician Liam Kelly.
This story has been updated with a correction. This is the second annual Stories of Peace Award, not the inaugural award.
