From November 1-7, 2018, The Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., a long-time adviser to the Global Security Institute, and GSI President Jonathan Granoff met with other leading faith and disarmament leaders at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto, attended by thousands of people of diverse faiths. Roche and Granoff participated in a panel discussion with two of Canada’s leading political figures, former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Kim Campbell and former Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire.
The panel emphasized that the Parliament must update its Global Ethic statements with ringing calls for religious action to push governments to resolve the nuclear and climate threats.
Significantly, former Prime Minister Campbell strongly stated that “Religions must advance human unity, not be distorted as stimulants for violence.”
“Religions have a duty and capacity” to infuse these values into political action, said Dallaire, who led United Nations forces in Rwanda in efforts to stem ethnic violence almost 25 years ago, which turned into genocide.
Roche added that the two paramount issues of the 21st century, nuclear weapons and climate change, are deeply moral issues and ought to be at the forefront of all religious messages
Roche, Campbell and Dallaire joined GSI President on a panel, “Countering War, Hate and Violence,” urging religions to overcome their history of violence and promote peace, tolerance, and compassion.
Three weeks after the conference, the Parliament issued a statement condemning the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Drafted by GSI President Jonathan Granoff, the statement opposes the doctrine of mutual assured destruction that has justified possession and development of new weapons over the past three generations, and contains a specific endorsement of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty signed at the United Nations last year.
Jonathan Granoff is the President of the Global Security Institute, a representative to United Nations of the World Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates, a former Adjunct Professor of International Law at Widener University School of Law, and Senior Advisor to the Committee on National Security American Bar Association International Law Section.
