Peace Poles at Peace Park celebration this Saturday, Ontario – CANADA

July 28, 2023

Peace Park celebration this Saturday adding 11 more Peace Poles representing cultures within Timmins.

Eleven more cultures will be represented in the Peace Pole display in the International Peace Park in Schumacher.

The unveiling of the new Peace Poles will take place this Saturday beginning at 11:30 a.m.

The peace park was created to help the Schumacher Lions Club rejuvenate the former McIntyre Park and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Schumacher Arts Culture Heritage Association (SACHA).

“Timmins is growing and changing,” said Lions Club president Danny Ansara. “Now there are people from all over the world here.”

He said that the club is always looking for more volunteers to help out with their work in the community, and work like the Peace Park has highlighted the importance of it.

“When there’s something that needs to be done, we do it, and nobody can do all this on their own,” he said.

In addition to the new Peace Poles, flags of the countries represented have been added to the display.

The first 21 Peace Poles were put up in the Peace Park in 2021.

Each Peace Pole is decorated by a local volunteer artist and has “May Peace Prevail on Earth” written in various traditional languages that are spoken in the Timmins area.

“That was the original idea that the founder of the Peace Pole movement came up with,” said Karina Douglas-Takeyesu who was involved in the Japanese Peace Pole’s creation.

The Peace Pole Project was started by Masahisa Goi in Japan in 1955, with the first Peace Pole being erected outside of Japan in 1983.

Since then, over 200,000 Peace Poles have been put up in peace parks all over the world.

Timmins Local Immigration Partnership co-ordinator Ifeoma Kasimanwuna said there is still community interest in adding to the display.

RON GRECH/The Daily Press SunMedia