Our Way Home Reunion Event
Program 2006

Schedule Events  Program is subject to change

THURSDAY, JULY
PLACE TIME EVENT
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 8 am REGISTRATION
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 9 am SHARP to 4 pm WORKSHOP Two Roads Taken: War Resisters and Veterans Healing the Effects of War Together - Day and a half workshop for Veterans, War Resisters and family members/significant others - facilitated by National Coalition Building Institute's (NCBI) Canada. Co-led by a Vietnam Veteran and Peace Activist. The workshop will create understanding and build connections between groups.
Brilliant Cultural Center 12 noon to 1 pm LUNCH provided
Nelson, BC
 7 pm FILM EVENING "Sir! No Sir!" - Resistance within the military during the Vietnam War.
Panelists: Keith Mather and Tom Hayden

FRIDAY, JULY 7
PLACE TIME EVENT
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 9:00am to 12noon WORKSHOP (continued) Two Roads Taken: War Resisters and Veterans Healing the Effects of War - completion of NCBI facilitated event for War Resisters and Veterans
Brilliant Cultural Center 12noon to 1:30pm LUNCH provided
Brilliant Cultural Center 1 pm REGISTRATION
Brilliant Cultural Center 2:00pm to 5:00pm PANEL PRESENTATION Social Activist Leaders Responding In a Time of Crisis
Moderated by Seth Klein, BC Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Panelists: Tom Hayden, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Brewster Kneen, and Svend Robinson (Former MP)
US and Canadian Anti-War Leaders and US War Resisters will discuss their personal histories, i.e. How their lives intersected with historic events and how they responded, what they have learned from the successes and failures in the past, and their hopes of creating a more just and peaceful world in the future.
Brilliant Cultural Center 5:30pm to 7:00pm DINNER social mixer for registered guests - catered finger foods
Brilliant Cultural Center 7:30pm EVENING PROGRAM Celebrating the Path Taken with host Mark Nykanen - 4 time Emmy Award winning investigative journalist and novelist, and speaker Rabbi Michael Lerner
Performers: Country Joe McDonald, Pied Pumpkin, Ronnie Gilbert, Theatre Energy's "Three Fingered Frank" and special performance by the Doukhobor Men's Choir

SATURDAY, JULY 8
PLACE TIME EVENT
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 8:00am REGISTRATION
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 9:00am to 12noon WORKSHOPS 3 hour break out groups led by major peace activists (Details)
Brilliant Cultural Center 12noon to 1:30pm LUNCH provided.
Brilliant Cultural Center 2:00pm to 4:30pm KEYNOTE ADDRESS George McGovern: A Nation's Hope In a Time of Crisis "Standing for peace in wartime", introduced by Arun Gandhi. Hosted by Peter Prontzos, Political science instructor, Langara College, Vietnam War era US military deserter, and film actor.
Performers: Alan Rinehart, Nancy Argenta, and Yoko
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 4:30pm to 5:30pm PLENARY SESSION "A strategy to transform society in the 21st century"
Speaker: Rabbi Michael Lerner
Brilliant Cultural Center 5:30pm to 7:00pm DINNER social mixer for registered guests - catered finger foods
Brilliant Cultural Center 7:00pm to 11:00pm EVENING CONCERT Rolling Out the Resistance to War "Peace Concert" - Performers: Buffy Sainte- Marie, Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert, Khac Chi Vietnamese Ensemble and D.O.A.

SUNDAY, JULY 9
PLACE TIME EVENT
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 8 am REGISTRATION
Selkirk College
Castlegar Campus		 9:00am to 12noon WORKSHOPS 3 hour break out groups led by major peace activists (Details)
Brilliant Cultural Center 12noon to 1:30pm LUNCH provided.
Brilliant Cultural Center 2:00pm to 4:00pm FINAL PROGRAM & CLOSING CEREMONY Non-Violence and the Path of War Resistance - keynote speaker Arun Gandhi with John J. Verigen Jr, Kim Phuc, Zasep Tulku Rinpoche and special performance by the Doukhobor Choir and Holly Near.

Workshop Categories

SATURDAY, JULY 8
9:00 am to 12noon

Room Number: S221

Moderator:
  • Tony McQuail, Quaker, draft resister, and organic dairy farmer in Ontario
Panel:
  • Kyle Snyder, US military deserter Iraq War
  • Jeffrey House, Legal counsel representing current military deserters in Canada
  • Michael Klein, US draft resister Vietnam War
  • Bonnie Sherr Klein, US war resister, Vietnam era
US men and women have made their way to Canada in response to US wars in Vietnam and now in Iraq. In this workshop war resisters will discuss their personal stories of flight, assistance in both the US and Canada and lives made here over these many years.

Room Number: S113

Panel:
  • Dr. Susan Hardwick, University of Oregon, Department of Geography
  • Jim Holland, Mayor of Kaslo, BC
  • Cloe Marite, University of Victoria researcher on cooperatives in the Kootenays and daughter of Jim Holland
This workshop will focus on the shared experiences, joys, challenges, and adjustments of children of American war resisters who came to British Columbia as a safe haven. A brief overview of the broad context of American migration to British Columbia during and after the Vietnam War (illustrated by maps and other information on American-born residents of British Columbia and other parts of Canada) will lay the groundwork for a series of stories and memories to be shared by the children of Vietnam War resisters who relocated to British Columbia.

Room Number: S101

Moderator:
  • Peter Prontzos, Political science instructor, Langara College, Vietnam War era US military deserter
Panel:
  • Jeff Schutts, PhD. history professor, Douglas College, War Resisters Support Campaign (Vancouver), US veteran who lives in Canada
  • John Hagan, PhD, professor and researcher, University of Toronto, North Western University, author of Northwest Passage: American Vietnam Era War Resisters in Canada
  • Michael Scales, Counselor for the Alexander Ross Society, assisting US war resisters arriving in Edmonton, Alberta during the Vietnam War
  • Bev Mill, Assisted war resisters during the Vietnam War era
  • Larry Martin, Assisted Vietnam War resisters through the Vancouver Committee to Aid American War Objectors
  • Jessica Squires, Graduate student researcher on Canadian assistance to US war resisters during Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War and currently, during the US War in Iraq, Americans and Canadians have come forward, providing both group and individual assistance to war resisters coming to Canada. Those who offered this assistance will share stories and information about this compelling and necessary support.

Room Number: S102

Non-violent regime Change: People Power Movements for Democracy

Speaker:
  • Stephen Zunes, PhD, professor of politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program, University of San Francisco
Over the past twenty-five years, scores of dictatorial regimes in a number of countries including the Philippines, Poland, Bolivia, Madagascar and Serbia have been toppled through non-violent insurrections by pro-democracy activists. This workshop explains why non-violent action by democratic civil society organizations is more powerful and more effective in advancing democratic change than war.

Room Number: Outside Court or M14

Facilitator:
  • Earl Hamilton, Bluegrass and folk musician, Vietnam War resister
Musicians and music lovers will gather for an informal session of instrumental and vocal music.

Room Number: S219

Facilitators:
  • Bessie Wapp, writer, actor, educator
  • Judy Wapp, visual artist, writer/director
  • Nicola Harwood, writer/director
Bessie Wapp, her mother Judy Wapp, and Nicola Harwood have created a new one-woman play entitled "Hello, I Must Be Going". Bessie explores her Jewish ancestry through her portrayal of four generations of women who had to flee from their homes because of war. She will be presenting excerpts of this show to workshop participants.

SUNDAY, JULY 9
9:00 am to 12noon

Room Number: S220

Moderator:
  • Keith Mather, Veterans for Peace, US military deserter

Panel:
  • Keith Mather, Veterans for Peace, US military deserter
  • Irene Mock, author, Vietnam era war resister from Nelson, B.C.
This workshop "Writing in Community" is derived from the "Veterans Writers Workshop," led by Maxine Hong Kingston, which has been active for thirteen years. It is an ever changing and healing group of writers, including veterans of wars. War widows, disabled vets, combat vets, children of Vietnam, medics, Viet Cong soldiers and US veterans have participated in these groups, listening and sharing each other's pain and healing. The workshop is an opportunity to bond in that healing.

Room Number: M14

Facilitator:
  • Roger Davies, U.S. - Vietnam War era draft resister, educator, peace activist, poet
U.S. - Vietnam War era poetry reflects the reality of those times in a compact, powerful way. We will read to one another, and reflect upon, poems from the collection From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and It's Aftermath, and from other collections. Poems participants have found or written are encouraged.

Room Number: S102

Moderator:
  • Fred Easton, Nelson lawyer, documentary filmmaker for Greenpeace in its early days
Panel:
  • Jeffrey House, legal counsel representing current US military deserters applying for refugee status
  • Bill Siksay, MP (Member of Parliament), New Democratic Party, "NDP Immigration Critic"
In this workshop we will look at the issues surrounding Canada's assistance to US war resisters. We will examine how the Canadian government and citizens responded during the Vietnam War, reviewing the national legislative and legal issues in the 1960's and 1970's. We will also explore the legal and legislative issues that current war resisters who choose to come to Canada face.

Room Number: S101

Moderator:
  • To be announced
Panel:
  • David Cline, US national president of Veterans For Peace.
  • Dr. Michael Klein, Director of Family Medicine, UBC (ret), Vietnam era draft resister
During this workshop, there will be a dialogue between a Vietnam War veteran and a war resister.

Room Number: S211

Moderator:
  • Stephen Zunes, See write-up above
Panel:
  • Bill Blaikey, MP and Dean of the Canadian House of Commons, United Church Minister
  • Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor of Tikkun Magazine, former leader of SDS, author
  • Stephen Zunes, See write-up above.
U.S. challenges to international law are circumventing non-violent resolutions to conflicts in many parts of our world. What is Canada doing differently, if anything? What countries are offering justice-oriented policies toward effective non-violent solutions to conflicts through international, binding agreements? This workshop will explore this issue and questions.

Room Number: S113

Moderator:
  • To be announce
Panel:
  • Michelle Mason, filmmaker and Canadian representative to the Friendship Village, a village in Vietnam for children who have major defects due to the use of the defoliant Agent Orange by the US military
  • Eloise Charet, Eloise and her sister ran an orphanage in Cambodia until the fall of Vietnam. The Charets were the first in Cambodia to evacuate an orphanage to Vietnam and then from there to Canada
This workshop includes a ten- minute video of Eloise Charet's interview on CBS Evening News, with news anchor, Walter Chronkite, from 1975 CBS footage.

Room Number: S219
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