John Bocock recently received a high honour from the University of Alberta when he was given The Alumni Centenary Award for Service to the University. The citation for the award stated that among other contributions “Bocock has been involved with Initiatives of Change for more than 50 years. The organization is committed to promoting racial harmony and reconciliation around the world.”

My initiative of change was sparked in 2011 when I engaged in a month of filmmaking and dialogue alongside a group of Palestinians, Israelis and fellow Canadians. I left the program with a question: “How can filmmaking and dialogue be better fused as a tool for peacebuilding?”

I was excited to attend the Caux conferences for the first time. The conference centre was a stunningly beautiful sight with a magnificent view of the mountains, the lake and the towns below it. I kept clicking away with my camera, not knowing that soon, the most amazing experience that can only be captured with the heart and mind was just about to begin.

Inspired and uplifted I step into the street. Uplifted because of the many conversations, the sharing of Syrian, Indonesian and Surinamese food, and especially of hope. Willem Jansen of Initiatives of Change (IofC) describes dialogue as a magic word, a medicine. I experienced how true this is during an evening on 28 April in the IofC centre in The Hague on the theme: ‘My story, your story - is there a story we can share?’

How can Initiatives of Change best contribute to healing the wounds of America’s history of racism? This legacy affects each one of us; it corrodes every aspect of our national life. The election season has revealed the depth of healing that is needed. According to a recent CNN/Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 49% of Americans believe that racism is 'a big problem.' - See more at: http://www.iofc.org/leading-love#sthash.zavESOfO.dpuf

I was born in Casablanca, Morocco. I think of myself as Canadian by nationality, French by heart, Moroccan by origin, Muslim by faith and Quebecoise in my soul.

A few days before travelling to South Africa to work on a documentary film, my friend Julien and I saw the film Beyond Forgiving with Laurent Gagnon and Joseph Vumiliya of the Initiatives of Change Quebec team...

Beverly Simms for many years, has had a vision that art could change the world. Going further, she believes that the change in each person can change the devastation of the environment in the world and in particular, water. The conviction to focus on water came at the IofC Conference Centre at Caux, Switzerland where she attended an Arts Conference and learned through personal stories of the shortages of water in parts of the world. An Aboriginal Elder said to her ‘all the sources of life, come from the water’.

This week has been a week of commemorating the incredible legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the struggle for civil rights of all people around the world. Unfortunately, this past year was marred by heightened expressions of racial and political divisiveness for many communities across the United States.

It’s a win-win situation for all concerned. Long-time IofC Canada member Peter Heyes from Sturgeon County, Alberta, is a man of vision, but he also has ways of turning that vision into action. He spends eight months a year in South East Asia. Over the years Peter-- together with partners and friends in Canada and Cambodia-- has developed a program bringing on average 20 to 25 Canadian dental workers a year who have treated thousands of poor village adults and children in that South East Asian country.