Canadian Peace Museum founder and the Town of Bancroft unveiled a ‘peace pole’ in Cenotaph Park on IDP

September 20
By Bruce Head –

Published September 21, 2024

As International Day of Peace is observed on September 21, a Bancroft resident is continuing his own advocacy efforts to promote peace.

Chris Houston is the founder of the Canadian Peace Museum, a registered charity that is fundraising to open a museum of the same name in Bancroft in 2025.

On Friday (September 20), Houston joined Bancroft mayor Paul Jenkins, the town’s general manager Andra Kauffeldt, and Reverend Svinda Heinrichs of St Paul’s United Church in Bancroft to unveil a peace pole in Cenotaph Park.

The Peace Pole is a monument that displays the message “May Peace Prevail On Earth” in eight languages, including English, French, and Algonquin. At the request of the Canadian Peace Museum, the peace pole was funded by the Town of Bancroft, which earlier this year proclaimed September 21 the “Day of Peace in Bancroft.”

“The Canadian Peace Museum congratulates the Town of Bancroft in this symbolic step and thanks the council for its moral and financial support,” Houston said in a statement.

A British-Canadian citizen living in Bancroft, Houston has worked in logistics and in program management for Médecins Sans Frontières in Papua New Guinea, Canada, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Turkey, and Pakistan, and for the Red Cross in the UK, Nepal, and Lebanon. He was also the head of logistics for the World Health Organization in Yemen.

Town of Bancroft general manager Andra Kauffeldt, Reverend Svinda Heinrichs of St Paul’s United Church, Bancroft resident and Canadian Peace Museum founder Chris Houston, and Bancroft mayor Paul Jenkins unveiled a peace pole in Cenotaph Park on September 20, 2024, the day before International Day of Peace. (Photo courtesy of Chris Houston)

According to Houston, his experiences as a humanitarian work.