Canadian Mennonite
Volume 5, number 11
June 4, 2001

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Quilt exhibit promotes Middle East peace

Photo: Issa Sweity and Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, Jewish curator of the Middle East Peace Quilt exhibit, create quilt squares.

Winnipeg, Man.-The Middle East Peace Quilt exhibit opened at the Mennonite Heritage Centre here on May 5. It includes 30 quilts made by more than 300 contributors from many countries.

At the opening, Issa Sweity, a Palestinian Mennonite, and Michael Kurek of Winnipeg's Jewish community read from the book, Children of Israel, Children of Palestine. Shahina Siddiqui of the Islamic Association of Manitoba opened her speech with the words, "I am tired of war. We are all tired of war." The evening included prayers for peace. The exhibit continues in Winnipeg until June 16.

Other communities interested in hosting the exhibit can contact Shefrin by e-mail at: simaeliz@smartt.com.-From Heritage Centre release

'Great Peace' an event to remember

Montreal, Que.-An August 4 celebration here will remember the 300th anniversary of "The Great Peace of Montreal of 1701." The treaty, signed by the French and 40 Indian nations, made peace with every First Nations group the French had contact with, and recognized their sovereignty.

The last decades of the seventeenth century had been marked by bloody conflicts between the French and the Iroquois Confederacy. In the summer of 1701, 1,300 representatives of First Nations from the Maritimes to the Great Lakes, and from James Bay to southern Illinois, met with the French at Montreal.

Month-long ceremonies culminated in the signing of The Great Peace, which effectively put an end to the Iroquois Wars.

This significant treaty deserves to be remembered. We should know that compromise, good will and the desire for peace was an integral part of the history of Canada.

-From report by Victor G. Wiebe