CPTNET
Toronto ON - Fourteen CPT Reservists Complete Training in Canada
May 27, 1998

On May 17, 1998, fourteen new Reservists joined the Christian
Peacemaker Corps after completing 11 days of intensive training in
Kitchener, Ontario. This was the first CPT training held in Canada
and the second such regional CPT training.

The training was hosted by Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church.
Several other area churches and individuals provided accommodation,
meals and snacks for the trainees. Hosts and families joined the
new graduates for the presentation of certificates, CPT's "red
hats", and a closing supper.

The training built on the learning from four pre-training visits to
aboriginal communities in Ontario and also on CPT's work in Hebron,
Haiti and Chiapas. The participants organized a public witness at
the Israeli Consulate in Toronto, Ontario on May 14 to highlight
the suffering caused by Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian
homes.

Reservists from Ontario have now established a regional CPT Ontario
with regular meetings and two task forces to work on aboriginal
concerns in Ontario and on CPT's Campaign for Secure Dwellings.

Participants evaluated the training as: "Excellent input. Great
role plays and storytelling...Very intensive and stressful...Very
powerful. I feel full. We have much to process and implement." The
Ontario group will now be the third CPT Regional grouping. Other groups
are organized in Northern Indiana and Colorado.

Participants were: Nina Bailey, Waterloo ON; Benno Barg, Kitchener
ON; Jeremy Bergen, Winnipeg MB; LuAnn Brooker, Thomasburg ON;
Matthew Dick, Waterloo ON; John Finlay, Walkerton ON; Joel Klassen,
Kitchener ON; Natasha Krahn, Waterloo ON; Gina and Gerry Lepp,
Harrow ON; Scott Morton, Kitchener ON; Pieter Niemeyer, Mt. Albert
ON; Heather St. James-Perry, Niagara-on-the-Lake ON; Elinor Snell,
Waterloo ON.