A group of Mennonites will hold a peaceful vigil outside MP Dan Vandal's office Tuesday afternoon.
The group, Mennonite Action Winnipeg, is asking Vandal to join other MPs from across the parties to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The group will use prayers, songs and testimonies to share their message.
Over the past several weeks, Mennonites began to organize into a new movement called Mennonite Action. Hundreds of North American Mennonites of several denominations have joined planning webinars and organizing other members of their congregations to take public action, demanding that their representatives call for a ceasefire.
“The people of Gaza, along with many in the West Bank and Israel, are reckoning with unspeakable personal trauma, rooted in decades of injustice, endless cycles of vengeful violence,” says Byron Rempel-Burkholder, a representative of Mennonite Church Canada Palestine Israel Network. “As Mennonites, and as friends and neighbours of many directly affected by this violence – Israeli, Palestine; Christian, Muslim, Jewish – we have a duty as pacifists and as Christians to join public action for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to the occupation, and a negotiated, long-term co-existence based on international law and equal human rights for all.”
The peaceful vigil is set to take place from 12-1 p.m. at 4-213 St Mary's Road.