40+ days of Peace
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT
The 40 Days of Peace provides opportunities for people and organizations to promote greater cooperation and sustainable peaceful relations. It is time to bring to the forefront of a community respectful and kind behavior. It is an opportunity to look at systemic issues that hurt the vulnerable in our community and beyond.
This movement of nonviolence and reconciliation began after MLK’s 1968 assassination. It was to honour his legacy of nonviolence and social justice. It is a 40 Day campaign because that number for many cultures represents transformation and spiritual growth. The attention to a cause for 40 days can lead to transformation.
Please see the Charter for Compassion for further details.
RECOGNIZING THE 40+ DAYS OF PEACE
There are many events to participating in.
Some are local.
Some are events and activities proposed by the Charter for Compassion.
Other ways to be develop compassion
Below are also lists of other resources - books and articles to read, movies and documentaries to watch ongoing activities to partake in during the 40 + Days of Peace than can help us on our journey to follow Martin Luther King's footsteps.
PLEASE JOIN US!!
suggested activities for the 40+ Days of Peace
Places to go
Movies & Documentaries to watch
books to read
- McMichael Art Gallery - William Kurele Jewish Life in Canada
- Peace Garden at Vishnu Mandir
books to read
Movies & Documentaries to watch
books to read
- The light We Carry - Michelle Obama
- Fierce Self Compassion - Kristen Neff
- Together: The healing power of human connection in a sometimes lonely world - Vivek Murthy
- Apeirogon - Colum McCann
- The Chalice & The Blade - Riane Eisler
- Hope Valley - Haviva Ner David
- See No Stranger - Valarie Kaur
- Humankind - A Hopeful History - Rutger Bregma
- The Third Daughte - Talia Carner
- Born for Love - Bruce Perry (with Oprah Winfrey)
- Nurturing Resilience - Kathy Kain
- Man's Search for Meaning - Vicktor Frankl
Movies & Documentaries to watch
Movies & Documentaries to watch
Movies & Documentaries to watch
activities to do
music to Listen to
Movies & Documentaries to watch
Go to a council meeting
music to Listen to
music to Listen to
music to Listen to
S U N L I G H T U K R A I N E
A charter for compassion initiative
Imagine for a moment what your life would be like if there was no light in your home after sunset. Relentless bombing of power plants and energy infrastructure has now left untold numbers of families in Ukraine without heat or light in their homes. With winter fast approaching, many Ukrainians are now facing a fearful winter of darkness and cold. And without power to recharge cell phones, even normal contact with families and friends will be far more difficult if not impossible.
Compassionate York Region, a part of The Charter for Compassion, believes we may like to make this thoughtful and compassionate gift to those suffering in the war in Ukraine.
The Charter for Compassion has organized that through SunLight Ukraine to ship these simple solar powered lanterns to families in Ukraine. These inflatable lanterns can stay lit all night with a solar recharge, and they also have a plug that can be used to charge a cellphone. Your gift will bring these simple solar lanterns to families there, and with it the life changing gifts of light and human connection. Children can now read and do homework; families can now see each other around a dinner table; and parents can now read to their children at bedtime, and even provide a night light for them as they sleep.
The delivered cost of each unit is $25US (approximately $34 Canadian)
Click HERE to access The Charter for Compassion's donation link. You can donate an amount for a specific number of lanterns or make a general donation to this cause of sending these solar lights to Ukraine.
Happy to chat bench
The bench is located in front of the Richmond Hill Centre for Performing Arts - 10268 Yonge Street
Happy to receive this recogntion
The Region of York, the United Way of Greater Toronto and Canadian Mental Health Association thinks we have a good idea!!!
get connected with other compassionate people
MAP OF CO-CREATORS
MAP YOUR PASSION
The Charter for Compassion offers this opportunity to become visible to other compassionate people from anywhere in the world.
And there is such a great need for everybody’s engagement.
The Charter for Compassion’ is “a connector”, creating this CO CREATOR MAP.
You indicate what your areas of interest are, and you can see who else shares these interests.
Please be assured that the information you share is safe and will not be shared.
Appearing as a co-creator on this Map is an invitation to participate in perhaps the greatest adventure of all time … co-creating the world that all our hearts desire … participation in an evolution towards a more just and equitable world.
A co-creator is humble and open-minded, curious to understand and integrate others’ perspectives, and is motivated by a higher purpose, i.e.:
- knows and feels that all of life is one interconnected whole
- has inner peace and harmony, and has overcome the ego-based needs for personal recognition
- can join others in heart resonance, and doesn’t work against anybody
- is dedicated to his/her higher life purpose, serving principles such as love, heartfelt truth, peace, unity, and beauty.
If this aligns with you, please register on the Map of Co-creators.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the Compassionate York Region team at compassionateyr@gmail.com
Our First year
When we see a Compassionate Path as a whole, it is amazing what Compassionate York Region sparked and what our Compassionate Community has already done
Dates of Community Conversations/General Meetings via Zoom:
- September 23, 2021 (Launch date) with Special Guests: Marilyn Turkovich (Executive Director of the International Charter for Compassion), Suzanne Smoke, Shishir Lakhani, David West (Richmond Hill Ward 4 Councillor, now Richmond Hill Mayor)
- November 11, 2021 with Michael Braithwaite (CEO Blue Door)
- January 12, 2022 with Special Guests from Compassionate San Antonio (Karen Ball & Ann Helmke)
- March 10, 2022 - International Women's Day meeting with Special Guests from Compassionate Sacramento, California (Brenda Gustin), King Township Women of Influence Giving Circle (Maria May - Dean of Seneca College King Campus), and The Canadian Library (Leena Mistry)
- May 12, 2022 with Special Guests: Kim Fluxgold (Author & Mental Health Advocate) and Richmond Hill Ward 4 Councillor Raika Sheppard
In Person Community Gatherings:
- April 5, 2022 - Golden Rule Day Celebration at Richmond Hill Central Library with Mayor and Councillor Ward 4 attending
- June 14, 2022: Peaceful Picnic at L’Arche Daybreak
- June 8, 2022: Our team spoke as delegation at City of Richmond Hill Council Meeting. Councillor Sheppard motioned City of Richmond Hill declaring itself a #CompassionateCommunity The motion passed!!!
Achievements:
- 10 community members completed a certification course through the Charter for Compassion: “Compassionate Integrity Training 4 Teams” (October/November 2021)
- Video message recorded for the Charter for Compassion Global Gala (November 22, 2021)
- CMHA-YR $1000 Grant awarded for the Happy to Chat Bench project (June 2022)
In the Media:
- Radio interview with 105.9 The Region: https://share.transistor.fm/s/0c77fada (first 13 minutes)
- Article in Newmarket Today: https://www-newmarkettoday-ca.cdn.ampproject.org/.../loca...
- The Liberal: https://www.yorkregion.com/.../10578417--creating-a.../
Motion passed!!
Member Motion - June 8,2022
Councillor Raika Sheppard has put forth the motion for "the City of Richmond Hill hereby affirms the tenants of the Charter for Compassion and commits to restoring compassion in our society, and hereby formalizes its commitment to encouraging our City’s diversity and cultivating an informed empathy of others.
And the City of Richmond Hill hereby commits to the rejection of any practice that breeds hatred, violence, intolerance and disdain, on basis of one’s creed, race, gender or sexuality, national origin, religion, culture, colour, or constitution. "
Click HERE for the full motion
We'll report back on the council's decision
Sara Jamil Spoke
Sara Jamil spoke as a delegate. Click HERE to listen what she had to say.
The Richmond Hill Liberal editor, Sheila Wang, wrote about this motion passing and Councillor Sheppard's desire to have more compassion. ‘Treating each other better’: Richmond Hill commits to restoring compassion and rejecting hatred (yorkregion.com)
And what is Compassion?
"Love, kindness and friendliness may be ways of being compassionate, but they are not compassion itself.
At the heart of compassion is the courage to look into the causes of suffering – in particular our dark side – with a dedication to acquire the wisdom of understanding the causes and roads to the alleviation and prevention of suffering with the determination to take action."
from How Compassion Can Transform Our Politics, Economy and Society
About Us
Our Team
What is Compassionate York Region?
What is Compassionate York Region?
An amazing group of ladies are putting their hearts and souls together .
What is Compassionate York Region?
What is Compassionate York Region?
What is Compassionate York Region?
The Compassionate Community Initiative of York Region is weaving compassion into the social fabric of the community.
It foresees (4C) Creating Conversations for a Compassionate Community that invites voices across all sectors.
Our Mission
What is Compassionate York Region?
Our Mission
To build a compassionate community .
We are part of The Charter for Compassion, an international movement to promote and cultivate the principle of compassion and the Compassionate Way of Life, as articulated by the Charter for Compassion, so that compassion characterizes all human society and all relationships.
golden rule day - april 5th
a gathering at the richmond Hill Central Library
a gathering at the richmond Hill Central Library
a gathering at the richmond Hill Central Library
"May Peace Prevail on earth" ~ says all
a gathering at the richmond Hill Central Library
a gathering at the richmond Hill Central Library
Heather skoll recitates "The hill we climb"
a gathering at the richmond Hill Central Library
Heather skoll recitates "The hill we climb"
Pledge to be compassionate
As an individual
As an organization
As an organization
Read, Affirm and Share the Charter
As an organization
As an organization
As an organization
Choose a sector, sign up and ask your members to sign too!
W h a t w e are u p t o
Land Acknowledgement for Compassionate York Region
We respectfully acknowledge our presence on the traditional territories and ancestral lands and waters of the original stewards: the Huron Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples.
York Region is a colonial boundary that is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississauga’s of the Credit, and the Williams Treaty signed with many Mississauga and Chippewa Bands.
As settlers we are uninvited guests. And we are all treaty people bound by the responsibility to honour and heal our relations with each other.
This acknowledgement is one step to reconciliation, as has been outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Report Calls to Action.
An understanding of how our collective past has brought us to where we are today will help us walk together into a better future.
We pray that our Beloved Creator will help us recognize our common humanity, interconnection, and interdependence.