YNPS 2019
The first Youth Nuclear Peace Summit was held October 9–11, 2019 at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.
The summit brought together 110 students from 20 schools across Canada, the United States, and Japan. Over three days, participants engaged in intensive discussions and workshops exploring the consequences of nuclear weapons proliferation, including its human, environmental, economic, political, and legal impacts.
One of the the highlights of the Summit was the drafting and ratification of a Youth Nuclear Peace Treaty by the students, which was planned to be presented at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2020.
In the Media
With credit to students from Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School who created the 2019 summit page.
How It Started.
In early 2017, three friends sat down to talk about the state of the world. With tensions escalating between the United States and North Korea, the nuclear threat felt closer and more real than it had in decades.
Rather than feel helpless, they decided to act. Each of them shared a deep belief in the power of young people to drive change, and so they asked a simple question: what if we brought youth together to engage with this issue on their own terms?
It took two years of planning, relationship-building, and quiet determination. In October 2019, the first Youth Nuclear Peace Summit took place. The response from students, teachers, and supporters exceeded every expectation.
At the Summit.
YNPS is always student-led. Teams from seven MB schools trained through three full-day preparatory sessions (starting the year before in 2018), researched a topic each, and then facilitated the discussions themselves in October.
Students worked in small mixed groups called learning villages, six to a village. Each school's team was deliberately broken up across different villages, so that nobody spent three days talking only to the people they arrived with.
Indigenous perspectives ran through the programme rather than sitting in one session. Students were also given room to work through what peaceful conflict resolution actually asks of a person, which is harder than it sounds and was meant to be.
The outcome of the first summit was the Youth Nuclear Peace Treaty. The students drafted the articles, debated them, and ratified the document themselves, with law students from the University of Manitoba assisting on the language.
The Organising Committee.
(L-R) Linda Mlodzinski, Linda Connor, Maureen Brouwer (Co-Chair), Larry Paetkau, Estelle Lamoureux (Co-Chair), Glen Brouwer (Treasurer), Brenda Newman, David Newman.
Not in picture: Joy Winchell.
Our Supporters.
Individual Donors
Albert El Tassi
Leanne McDonald
Physicians for Global Survival
Sue Fonseca
Joy Winchell
And two anonymous donors who asked not to be named.
Endorsers
Robson Hall, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Partners
Rotary District 5550 World Peace Partners
Manitoba Education and Training
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Soka Gakkai International Association of Canada
Wapikoni
Student Reflections.
Believe in a world without nuclear weapons?
Want to support the voices of youth advocating for nuclear disarmament? Please consider making a donation to the Youth Nuclear Peace Summit!
Donations are processed through our registered charity partner, the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties via Canada Helps. You'll also receive a charitable tax receipt!
*Please mark your gift for the ‘Youth Nuclear Peace Summit’