Nonviolence Resource Centre

The Nonviolence Resource Centre is approximately  one  year  old - so  we'd 
like  to report on our year and look ahead.  To this point our training 
sessions have been the most prominent part of our work.  We are trying to
reach a balance with emphasis on our literature and video program   resources.
We count on you to get the news out - we do not have a promotion budget.

The most active people in the Centre now are Jay Martell, Nowick Gray,  Jack
Ross, Bruce and Mary Farley.  We need more people, but Argenta is a  very 
small  village,  remote  from  population centres.  So, we would like to
involve interested people who live at a distance, in a definite way.     

We plan to have an annual meeting, to which anyone interested in nonviolence -
both action and education - is  invited.  This will be held in March or April,
in or near Argenta.  More on this later.

We also hope to involve more people as trainers and monitors.  Trainers are
individuals who are experienced or interested in helping with nonviolence
training, and who agree to our guidelines.  We hope to create a network of
trainers.  This network will be able to share insights, make referrals to one
another, and increase access of local groups to trainer services.

Monitors are persons who agree to monitor their own communities for   the
needs for nonviolence training or education, and to tell us about them or to
tell them about us.  Some people have already done this informally.  What we
are hoping to accomplish now is to increase the effectiveness   of our work
with the cooperation of people throughout British Columbia.  Certainly the
need is great and seems likely to continue.

Part of our work this year has been networking with groups and  organisations.
We have had displays or made presentations at meetings of  the B.C.
Environmental Network, Canadian Peace Alliance, B.C. Green Party and at Earth
Day events.  We have been part of discussions on the potential  development of
a Canadian nonviolent quick response network.  We are assisting in the work of
the B.C. Quaker Committee on Native Concerns as they prepare a Quaker
nonviolence response capability.

This fall, training sessions in Winlaw and Nelson were held as watershed
groups prepared for direct action.  Jack Ross conducted four days of
discussion and training with Friends of the North in Edmonton.  Meetings were
also held in Calgary in preparation for civil disobedience training there. 
Preparations are underway for more work in Alberta and NWT where pulp and
paper mill expansion is proceeding very rapidly, at great risk of  excess
timber cutting and chemical pollution.  Although we've tried to focus on work
in B.C., the need seems great in AIberta and we've been in a position to
respond. 

Could you be an NRC Monitor?
If you can be alert to needs in your community for nonviolence education and
training, there's a role for you!  Please send us your name and address, and
be ready to communicate with the NRC about how we can meet these needs.

For further information and a copy of the literature list, write to:
"Nonviolence Resource Center, Argenta, British Columbia, VOG 1BO Canada.