Teacher of Peace Award Ceremony

Start: 2021-09-19 15:00:00 UTC Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)

This is a virtual event

Pax Christi Toronto is pleased to announce that, after a pandemic delay of a year, it will again present its annual Teacher of Peace Award on Sunday, September 19, 2021 at 3 p.m. EDT. It will take place this year online. The recipient is Ms. Kehkashan Basu, a highly recognized youth leader in ecological and climate action, promotion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and in issues of disarmament and a Culture of Peace.

On receiving the Award, Kehkashan's presentation will invite the response of former Senator Douglas Roche O.C., himself a recipient of a Pax Christi Toronto Ambassador of Peace Award, and one of her colleagues in the areas of disarmament and peace.

The recipient, Ms. Kehkashan Basu, was born in the United Arab Emirates. As a teenager, she came with her family to Toronto where it was believed that her work would have greater impact. That intuition has, indeed, borne fruit as her contributions to the United Nations Organization have increased and her presence around the world has flourished.

Championing engagement by her peers, Kehkashan Basu has challenged youth and indeed, many of her elders, to focus on the common good. Recognizing at an early age, the serious damage being done to plants and all living creatures, Kehkashan Basu first articulated her commitment to care for the environment at the age of eight and at the age of twelve, took the decision to found Green Hope Foundation.

From the outset, in order to maximize her impact, her focus has been to rally youth to take concrete actions to effect meaningful change. Through her initiatives, Kehkashan Basu continues to call youth and their supporters to work together to recognize their responsibility to heal the world. In recognition of her wise, committed and steadfast moral leadership as a voice of and for youth on the international stage, Pax Christi Toronto is honoured to confer the 2021 Teacher of Peace Award on Kehkashan Basu.

Pax Christi Toronto will also use this occasion to celebrate the Blue Scarf Movement which began in Kabul, Afghanistan with young Afghan Peace Volunteers and has now spread around the world. Pax Christi Toronto, along with collaborators, has been recognizing and celebrating this Movement for several years. The aim of the Blue Scarf Movement is to build A Border-Free World Without War Under One Blue Sky.  

Ms. Basu has been a speaker at these annual events.

This year the presentation of the Teacher of Peace Award and the celebration of the Blue Scarf Movement will be in collaboration with World Beyond War.

You are invited to wear a blue scarf on September 19th as we come together to celebrate Kehkashan Basu as a Pax Christi Teacher of Peace.

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