"Everything you see in textbooks are not the best and accurate depictions of history," event organizer Roberto Walcott commented. "So we're trying a different approach with the public forum. It's great to have two sides to the story."

The four representatives voiced their concern over the misinterpretations of Canada's history, and its reputation as a peacekeeping nation.

"In school we were told that Canada was this diverse place, and that America was the melting pot," explained Matthew Behrens, the representative for Homes Not Bombs. "We were taught to believe that it was like a fact. But what about the natives that Canada had to kill to become Canada? What happened to those 'disappeared persons'?" 

"All of Canada's history has been on genocide and bloodshed. It's a myth that we're peacekeepers," Toronto Coalition to Stop the War representative James Clark elaborated. 

Melissa Shaw, the vice-president of the Historical Studies Club, asks of Canada's bloody history: "Is it just going to be war crimes depending on which side you're on?"
Behren's elaborated on this point, noting that although genocide is featured in our past, it's still happening today. However, Behren notes that this violence is taking the form of "wars on terrorism" or "building new governments overseas," which Clark maintains, are euphemisms on the murders happening all around the world by Canada.

"We knowingly killed thousands of Iraqi's, and the Canadian government spent over billions to support this," Clark argues. "There are companies just in Burlington that make the bullets and ship them overseas. These are the same bullets killing our soldiers, these are the same bullets killing peacemakers like Tom Fox."

However, as Clark notes, there is an apathy towards the war because of the propaganda and censoring of information by the Canadian government surrounding the war in Iraq. Additionally, he mentions that Canadian war sentiment only involved the government feeling bad about its malpractices, and gaining self-gratification in doing that, while not actively trying to stop the malpractice.

"We have this saying at the coalition about Canadian war sentiment," Clark muses, "and it's that 'you can feel bad if it makes you feel better'." Clark argues that the government is inactive in promoting this "peacekeeping" belief, by keeping information such as trial and evidence information restricted to the public.
Behrens elaborated by offering numerous strategies, such as the Homes not Bombs coalition.

"Our jobs [in the coalition] is to act as catalysts and act as seeds that are planted in the community, and because our seeds are the truth, it's going to grow," Behrens maintains. "It doesn't matter how many seeds, or people, you have. Reaching a moral climate is what's most important for getting the word out there and starting a change."

Another strategy University of Toronto Professor, Gada Mahrouse, mentions, is the group called Protective Shields, which employs the use of the physical status of internationals in conflict zones as a political tool to stop violence. However, in light of the recent criticism surrounding this strategy, particularly the criticism of the Christian Peacemakers Team who had four of its members kidnapped for four months overseas, Mahrouse notes that there are other severe problems to this method.

"There's a paradox to this strategy," Mahrouse began," and it's that we're using a strategy that depends on racist systems it seeks to oppose." Mahrouse explains that the success rates for stopping the violence is high for a white person, whereas another person with a different racial background isn't.

"Is it just white people stopping the [violence]?" Shaw remarks. "Anyone should be able to stop the [violence]," she adds.

Behrens goes on to further mention the unfair statuses between the white and the culturally diverse people in these groups.

"It's really sickening that it has to be a white person before someone takes notice," Behrens said, shaking his head in disgust. "Why is it that it's only when someone like me, someone who's white, gets involved, that things start moving?"

"Solidarity is a lot more important than differences," Seema Saadi, of the Coalition for Peace and Justice, interjects. "And even though those differences are there, we're all united with one vision, and that's peace."

"We should never have been in Afghanistan in the first place. People shouldn't have to be acting as human shields," Saadi argues. "That's the reality of the world, and it shouldn't be like that."

All four representatives cited collective activism and informing the public of the truth, especially at the student level, as great tools for resisting against the pro-war authorities.

"Just informing people and allowing them, especially students, to make that choice [to become active] is really important," Saadi commented. "We are in solidarity with each other, and we need to work together, as a collective, so we don't feel so powerless."

Information on the coalitions present can be found by visiting the Events section of Department of Historical Studies website on the University of Toronto webpage at www.utm.utoronto.ca