One of two Peace Poles unveiled in Belleville on December 17th, 2011 at the behest of Rev. Anne-Marie Jones of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.
The local newspaper story can be found here at the
The Intelligencer It reads:
The universal message of peace now stands as silent visual symbols in the city.
Rev. Anne-Marie Jones of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church and Mayor Neil Ellis met beneath the Norris Whitney Bridge at Zwicks Park Saturday morning to unveil one of the two peace poles that were installed last week along the Gunpo Trail and the Riverside Trail.
"When a city plants a peace pole in its community, it is linking with people all over the world who planted similar poles in the same spirit of peace," said Jones, while reading the prayer "May Peace Prevail on Earth", the project's trademark that appears on each peace pole in the language of the country and, often, in several other languages.
A peace pole is a white, four-inch-wide-by-seven-foot-tall vinyl hand-crafted monument dedicated to peace that displays the message and prayer on each of its four or six sides.
"They serve as constant reminders for us to visualize and pray for world peace," said Jones. "A peace pole is an internationally-recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, standing vigil in silent prayer for peace on earth. It symbolizes the oneness of humanity and our common wish for a world at peace. It reminds us to think, speak and act in the spirit of peace and harmony."
The peace pole movement was started in Japan by the World Peace Prayer Society in 1955, with the objective of dedicating humankind toward peace rather than conflict. Since then, the number of peace poles has multiplied greatly.
There are now estimated to be as many as 500,000 poles world-wide, some in special places such as the Magnetic North Pole in the Canadian Arctic, but the majority being in cities, towns and villages in 180 different countries.
Jones said she was inspired by learning about the peace pole project and contacted Ellis three months ago to see if one or more poles — the four language pole costs $100 and the eight is $160 — could be planted in a park or near her church.
"The City of Belleville has had notoriety in the past few years due to negative news events of deaths and shootings and I thought the poles would be a nice answer to that," added Jones. "What can go wrong with that message (May Peace Prevail on Earth)? I don't want it to be a direct focus on what happened a couple of years ago but it did happen and I think it's a good start. For everything bad something good has to come out of it. That's the saying right?"
Mayor Ellis, who took time to surf the Internet Friday night to know more about the project, expressed enthusiasm and ideas toward the expansion of Jones' initiative.
The mayor contacted the city's parks department to schedule and arrange the "planting" of the two poles "almost as soon as I heard from Anne-Marie when she sent me an e-mail a couple of months ago," said Ellis.
"I got a hold of parks (department) because I think it is a great initiative. I did research and research on the project and found out that these are huge. It unites not only a community, it means being all united for world peace. With what our community has been through over the last two years or so, like Anne-Marie said, it does make us stronger."
Many communities in Canada have peace poles, although no detailed count is available. The Edmonton pole is located in the grounds of the provincial museum. Saskatoon has a very large pole, with a permanent gas-fired flame issuing from the top. Other Canadian cities or towns known to have peace poles include Ottawa, Montreal, St. Catherines, Sarnia, Dundee (Ontario), Fredericton, Lethbridge, Kelowna, Swift Current and Niagara.
Two years ago Calgary's peace pole was unveiled in a celebration as a gift to the citizens of Calgary — which was recently named the cultural capital of Canada — from the members of the Calgary Peace Pole Committee as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals who donated time, materials or money towards the project.
"I read that the City of Calgary invited people to use the peace pole and plaza as a place for personal reflection and/or as a gathering point for groups for peace-related events," said Ellis. "I think it's a great idea. Our second pole is located at the bottom of Foster Avenue, but maybe we could install a couple more here at Zwicks and people could walk from one to another as a way to pray or for personnel reflection. It's something we could get done in partnership with the churches and other community organizations. It's really positive."
Peace poles may be purchased or hand-crafted locally, displaying the languages that are meaningful to the city or organization. Another idea Ellis shared with Jones during Saturday's unveiling was the future use of the different languages that characterize Belleville.
"As our sister cities are Lahr in Germany, Gunpo in Korea, and Zhucheng in China, it would be great to see the Peace Pole Project message appear in German, Korean and Chinese," said Ellis. "And, of course, we would have one in French, Indian and any other languages that are related to Belleville."
jlessard@intelligencer.ca