The On to Ottawa 2024 'Peace Caravan'
Canadians protest against the CANSEC conference in 2023, the conference which trekkers from the ‘peace caravan’ will join a protest against in 2024. Source: World Beyond War
Written by: Barbara Waldern
Another On to Ottawa trek is planned from May 12 to May 28 this year, initiated by Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the Canadian Voices of Women for Peace (CVOW). Ending in Ottawa, the trekkers will meet the crowd at CANSEC arms trade fair to oppose the arms trade and complete their mission by rallying at Parliament Hill.
Multiple organizations and the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network are cooperating to lead this caravan.
The original On to Ottawa treks
On to Ottawa protests trekking from Vancouver to Ottawa is a people’s tradition established during WWI and repeated during the Great Depression. First, migrant farmers of Ontario walked to Ottawa with demands and, in 1919, other men did so for bread and jobs.
Unemployment Relief Camps were created across Canada in 1932 by PM R. B. Bennett; there, men could get a bunk bed, medical care and basic food plus 20 cents a day, for doing physical labour 44 hours a week. Men complained of the camp conditions and exploitation.
Following a fundraising picnic of 20,000 supporters, 1,000 workers walked off the job, jumped on box cars, stopping in Kamloops, Calgary and Edmonton, their numbers growing to 1,500.
Police truncheons stopped them on June 14, 1932. Bennett invited eight trek leaders to a meeting in Ottawa on June 22, but it failed. Back in Regina, the traveling protesters were blocked by the RCMP. A third demonstration of 2,000 people took place in Market Sq. on July 1, though only 300 trekkers remained. This time, the RCMP used guns, tear gas and charging horses.
Subsequent social movement treks to Ottawa
In 1970, some Canadians travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa to demand the legalization of abortion.
The Native People’s Caravan went from Vancouver to Ottawa in 1974. Protesting broken treaties, its 200 participants carried demands for education, health care and housing. It stopped along the Trans-Canada Highway to hold local rallies, resulting in more frequent meetings with Ottawa. The Idle No More movement sparked another caravan. The Walk 4 Justice campaign lead by Gladys Radek and Bernie Skundahl walked to Ottawa in 2008, forcing the government to set up the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
A Canada-wide student trek from Vancouver failed to launch, but several regional marches to Ottawa made it during the introduction to austerity measures during the 1980s. Action Network Canada organized a caravan to oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement in the early 1990s.
The motorcycle ride to Ottawa in 2005 sought redress for the Chinese Head Tax and discrimination against early immigrants from China. Gim Foon Wong proposed this ride at the Redress Rally in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
The peace and environment trek of 2024
This year’s convoy is a response to current events and the biases of Canadian foreign affairs regarding Canadian government’s stubborn commitments to the NATO war on Russia using Ukraine, colonialism against Haiti, Zionist Israel, NATO, the arms trade and increased military spending, which causes death and destruction for which it is accountable. Additionally, people are opposed to Canada’s failure to accept the ICJ ruling on Gaza and act to both prevent genocide and maintain funding for UNRWA. The situation is demanding more from the peace movement.
WILPF’s and CVOW’s letter of invitation to On to Ottawa Peace Caravan 2024 explains:
“This is a call to action to bring Canadians together to talk about the interconnectedness of these mounting issues that have caused the failure of the Canadian government to address our growing social problems.
The goal of the On to Ottawa Peace Caravan is to build a broad-based, country-wide movement to demand that the Canadian government:
Stop spending billions of dollars on the military and development of fossil fuels that massively contribute to the runaway climate crisis.
Use taxpayers’ money to address urgent social needs such as housing, health, childcare, education, immigrants and refugees.
Act on the Truth and Reconciliation’s 94 Calls to Action and the 2SMMIWG 231 Calls for Justice.
Join calls supporting ceasefires, UNRWA and support for the International Court of Justice
Initiate diplomatic and nonviolence dialogues to end world conflicts. “
Leaving both the Pacific (West) and Atlantic (East) coasts of Canada on Mother’s Day, May 12, the trek heads for a teach-in and rally in Ottawa on May 28. Participants will join the protest against the CANSEC arms trade show the next day.
WILPF’s National Co-President, Ellen Woodsworth, proposed this project. She participated in the 1970 caravan for women’s rights. Woodsworth says:
“I came up with the idea after feeling in so much pain at the genocide taking place in Palestine and wrote a piece about the anguish and the next day decided to organize the Peace Caravan. See the letter. I think that the peace movement needs to grow and call for Canada to be a nation for peace and stop spending 19 per cent of the Federal budget on war. Stopping our involvement in war would reduce the terrible impact on climate change. We should spend the people’s taxes on peace, social justice, housing, education, health care addressing the calls to action in the TRC and 2SMMIWG reports and to support immigrants and refugees at home and around the world. Our WILPF banner says "Demilitarize, Decarbonize, Decolonize"; three braids in one pressing lifesaving call to action.”
Significance
The On to Ottawa Peace Caravan of 2024 signals awareness of the necessity to build the peace movement at this point in history. The Caravan is one of many responses to world crisis. Militarization is a factor causing the economic and climate crises.
The Caravan is an excellent way to build on existing peace work by mobilizing activists and inspiring more participants and carrying the knowledge of these world developments and their consequences. It can be an additional tool to building awareness and drawing attention to the issues and facts surrounding them.
The Caravan also functions to build unity in the peace movement. It proposes face-to-face meetings and rallies at 13 cities from coast to coast. The in-person presence can break ice, develop rapport and solidarity, clarify and strengthen peace messages, show the public there is a vital peace movement and unite many around a few calls with a common base of knowledge.
The On to Ottawa 2024 trek will be a positive force and a boost for the peace movement. To learn more, contact wilpfcanada@gmail.com.
Editor’s note: The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.
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Barbara Waldern is a peace activist residing in Metro Vancouver, BC, who, holding a Masters in social science, has worked in international educational support services.
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