Local peace activist returns from Gaza flotilla

By Linda Horn

After 25 years of working as a social worker at Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf, David Milne has taken on a new role as peace activist.

While still working at the school, Milne was an active voice on poverty issues in Canada.  In 2005 he handed out leaflets in front of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office informing people what it was like to live on welfare.

“I was a frequent writer of letters to the editor concerning poverty issues in Canada and this community (Belleville, Ontario),” said Milne.

Milne’s latest peace project took him to Greece as part of the Freedom flotilla, a group of boats from around the world traveling from Greece to the Gaza in hopes of breaking the Israeli blockade and to bring attention to the plight of the Palestinians.

“Freedom flotilla seemed to be a very creative way to address the issue non violently,” said Milne.

The freedom flotilla did not make it to Gaza and was turned back around by the Greek government.

“I had a moment when the soldiers came on board and they took over the wheel house and began turning us around. I felt very sad but at the same time had a sense of pride we had gotten as far as we did. We made them chase and board us, which made a big splash in the media,” said Milne.

When Milne retired in 2001, he realized he wanted to do something different and started to research peace groups.

He found the group Christian Peacemaker Team and decided he liked what they were doing in Canada and around the world.

“I did a lot of reading about religion, faith, and peace. I followed readings by Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Ghandi,” said Milne.

“I have a conviction that the churches have strayed away from Jesus’s teachings about peace and justice. I thought it was important to do something that would highlight a divergence from what I feel the originally intent of what Jesus’s teachings are and bring them back to life,” said Milne.

Milne’s first trip with Christian Peacemaker teams was to Iraq in 2002 in efforts to stop the second gulf war.

“We talked to the Iraqi people and I watched how the organization (Christian Peacemaker teams) worked. I decided I liked the group and wanted to join them,” said Milne.

When he returned  to North America he went to Chicago for an intensive training course with CPT.

“It was a really hard course.  We were taught how to handle different violent situations in a non-violent manner,” said Milne.

As part of the training, they held a protest to try to speak with a Republican senator who was speaking in favour of the upcoming war and was arrested for the first time.

After his training was finished, Milne had to start fundraising in order to go on his next peace-making project.

“When you work part time with CPT you have to fund raise to fund your expenses on the projects you go on and you are expected to spend a minimum of two weeks a year with the team,” said Milne.

“I fund-raised though churches, friends and supporters,” said Milne.

“He has been invited to speak at churches and over the years he has built up a list of contacts,” said Mary Milne, David’s wife.

“People have been quite generous with helping my fundraising,” said Milne.

Once Milne fundraised the travel and living expenses. his next two trips with CPT were to Iraq.

Once in Iraq, Milne and CPT’s mission was to document stories of Iraqi citizens who had experienced home raids by coalition forces. Local mosques and human rights agencies gave the team referrals of families who had been victimized in a raid.

“When we got the stories we would take the names to the Iraqi assistance center to find out what happened to them. The center had so many names and our translator would score the lists to find the names we had,” said Milne.

“Sometimes we would find a person but often we got stonewalled or they would deny such a person existed, but we know they did.”

On Milne’s third trip to Iraq, he decided to cut his trip short because he started to fear more for his life.

“We had roadside bombs going off beside us. I became hyper aware of what was going on around me,” said Milne.

 

It was during one of his trips to Iraq that he met some Palestinians who were living in Jordan because they had been displaced from Palestine. Over the years he has heard more stories of Gaza and what the people were going though. That’s how he became interested in the Freedom flotilla project.

Milne also works on peace issues here in Canada, especially supporting aboriginal communities.

According to CPT representative Ester Kerns, other projects Milne has worked on include, The Grassy Narrows Aboriginal, a community, which she said has suffered from corporate clear-cut logging. In Sharbot Lake, Ontario, they worked on a project to oppose exploration for a uranium mine.

“Beausoleil Aborginal Community in their opposition to constructing a land fill on 75 acres of prime agricultural land over the Alliston Aquifer, a source of pristine water in Simcoe County, Ontario.  First Nations people, CPT and local community members blockaded the entry gates, and subsequently David, and a number of others were arrested.  Later, the charges were dropped for all who had been arrested, the site was decommissioned, and the ministry’s certificate of approval was dropped,” said Kern.

 

“During the times I have worked with David, I have admired and respected him for his integrity and courage in loving, biblically based work for justice and peacemaking.   He is committed to protecting basic human rights and leads by example in that regard,” said Kern.

 

Milne is not sure what his next peace project will be but knows he wants to keep working around the world.

“I am not interested in driving people to appointments or working at food banks. These are important jobs but it does not call to me. This work does,” said Milne.

David lives with in Belleville with his wife Mary. Milne says that he has had a fortunate life.

“I have a loving wife, three healthy kids, and had opportunities for an education and a good job,” said Milne.

When asked why he does this work, he replied:

“I believe I can do it and to certain extent a belief I am called to do it.”