What We Do
Peace Quest Cape Breton (PQCB), is dedicated to building and promoting a culture of peace and justice, cooperation and compassion in our communities, region, nation, and world.
About Us
Twenty years ago, in the traumatic wake of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, a small group of anti-war Cape Bretoners formed Peace Quest Cape Breton (PQCB), dedicated to building and promoting a culture of peace and justice, cooperation and compassion in our communities, region, nation, and world.
Through our first twenty years of activism and engagement, PQCB has campaigned for the abolition of nuclear weapons and of all war, arguing that the vast sums freed by disarmament can help humanity win the real struggles it faces: against the destruction of the climate by capitalism and militarism; against the ongoing colonial theft of land and resources around the world, including in Canada; and against the grotesque inequities of wealth and well-being within all nations and between the Global North and South.
Locally, PQCB campaigned successfully for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) to join Mayors for Peace (M4P), a global coalition of cities and towns, based in Hiroshima, working for a nuclear-weapon-free world. Every Hiroshima Day (August 6), CBRM and PQCB commemorate in words and silence, sorrow and protest, the unimaginable horrors of the atomic bombings of Japan, vowing to end the era of nuclear terror and imperialism begun in 1945. And since 2017, our focus has been to champion the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the ‘Ban Treaty’ which Canada has so far, shamefully, refused to sign.
PQCB is a member of the International Peace Bureau and works with many anti-nuclear and anti-war groups and activists across Canada and beyond. As we enter our third decade of campaigning, we appeal to all residents of Cape Breton to help refresh and invigorate our continuing Quest to fight non-violently for life against death on our beautiful Mother Earth.
What We’ve Achieved
Since 2002, holding varied events to commemorate Hiroshima Day (August 6)
In 2002-2003 leading local efforts, including major demonstrations, to prevent Canadian involvement in any US-led invasion of Iraq
In 2013, after a 7-year campaign, persuading the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) to join Mayors for Peace, the Hiroshima-based coalition of councils working for a nuclear-weapon-free world.
Since 2014, working to publicize the international Humanitarian Initiative aimed at the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Since 2017, working to promote, and encourage the Government of Canada to sign, the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (the ‘Ban Treaty’).
Throughout the centenary of the First World War (2014-2019), holding numerous talks and events to tell the human truth, and counter the nationalist and militarist lies, of that terrible conflict.
Throughout its history, hosting and co-sponsored talks and discussions at Cape Breton University aimed at raising student awareness of issues of war, peace and social, economic, and environmental justice.
In November 2017, Peace Quest Cape Breton was formally welcomed as a member of the
International Peace Bureau (IPB), the world’s oldest peace alliance, founded in 1892 and
continuing as a vibrant network of ant-war activists across the globe.