Media Release

For Immediate Release

February 5, 2009

Saint Mary’s continues peace efforts in Northern Ireland

Students promoting peace. Left to right from bottom of stairs: Sarah Horne, Kimberley Dares, Jenna-Leigh Wilson, Caitlin Dix, Kalina McCaul, Jennifer McNeil, Becky Murray, Fadi Al Qassar, Jessica McEachern, Adam Harris, Giuseppe Scichilone, Kathryn Bliss, Keith McMillan and Bridget Brownlow.

Fourteen students from Saint Mary’s will soon travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland to promote peace in the former war-torn country.

From February 12 to 23 students from the University’s Conflict Resolution Society will travel to Belfast in order to work with young citizens and teachers to address issues surrounding peace and the importance of conflict resolution.

This is the fourth year in a row that students from Saint Mary’s will visit Catholic, Protestant and Integrated schools throughout Belfast and participate in the facilitation of conflict resolution workshops. While there, the students will also be interviewed about their work by the BBC and the Belfast Telegraph.

According to Bridget Brownlow, Conflict Resolution Advisor at Saint Mary’s, the students will work alongside Catholic and Protestant students and promote hope for a more peaceful world in which we can all learn in a safe environment.

“This initiative presents an opportunity to share our experiences living and growing up in Canada, as well as an opportunity to share our conflict resolution skills with many of the children in Belfast and its surrounding areas,” said Brownlow, who will be joining students on this unique venture abroad. “This trip for the students is an ideal occasion for them to assist a new generation of Irish people with the development of conflict resolution skills and knowledge.”

Dr. Hetty van Gurp, President of Peaceful Schools International, applauds the

University’s commitment to making this trip to Northern Ireland an annual event. Saint

Mary’s is the first university both nationally and internationally to have met the criteria for

membership in Peaceful Schools International, by virtue of its internal Conflict Resolution

Program — a benefit for faculty, staff and students alike.

“This trip has become an annual event for SMU and, based on my observations, it seems to have a profound impact on both the SMU students who participate and the pupils in Belfast schools they visit,” said van Gurp. “Last year’s presentations and workshops led by SMU students for the children and youth in schools in the troubled area of Belfast left a lasting impression on them.”

Pádraig Ó Siadhail, Coordinator of the D’Arcy McGee Chair of Irish Studies at Saint

Mary’s, agrees. He said the project has benefited students educationally and experientially.

“The project was not just about imparting newly acquired conflict resolution skills to Irish

school children, but also about listening to the Irish children and learning from them,” said Ó Siadhail. “As such, the ultimate value of the students’ time abroad was that it began a process of opening dialogue, building trust, sharing experiences and nurturing relationships.”

This year’s initiative has been developed in consultation and partnership with Peaceful

Schools International, the Charitable Irish Society of Halifax, An Cumann, the Irish Association of Nova Scotia; and the departments of Irish Studies, Religious Studies, Political Science, and International Development Studies; the Conflict Resolution Office; and the offices of the Dean of Arts, Vice President Academic and Research and Vice President Administration; as well as the International Activities Office at Saint Mary’s.

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For more information:

Blake Patterson
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: blake.patterson@smu.ca
www.smu.ca