Canada Hopes to Attract UPEACE

CANADA is taking steps to get apiece of the United Nations action thathas been housed in Costa Rica for morethan 20 years.Last month, the Canadian governmentcommitted $3 million to study the feasibilityof bringing a University for Peace(UPEACE) campus to Toronto.The campus could be part of a massiveeffort to revitalize 2,000 acres on theshores of Lake Ontario with environmentallysustainable residences and businesses,according the Toronto WaterfrontRevitalization Corporation.“Canadians have a long history ofsupport and participation in the UnitedNations and people are fundamentallythrilled with the notion of flying theUnited Nations flag,” said MarisaPiattelli, the non-profit Corporation’s vicepresident of special project management.Piattelli said the idea for the UPEACEcampus came up after discussions withCanadian Maurice Strong, president of theUPEACE council in Costa Rica.UPEACE officials in Costa Rica confirmedthey have been invited by theToronto Waterfront Corporation to open acampus in Canada and are currentlystudying the proposal, although no officialswere available to comment further.U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annantold the Canadian Parliament in Marchthat Toronto may soon house a UPEACEcampus.In addition, the Canadian press hasreported that Prime Minister Paul Martin,up for election June 28, and Liberal memberof parliament Dennis Mills are workingto bring the campus to the city’swaterfront.Costa Rica’s UPEACE campus islocated outside Ciudad Colón, southwestof San José, on land donated by the CostaRican government.It was created in 1982 by an internationalagreement of the United Nations as“a specialized international institution forthe post-graduate studies, research anddissemination of knowledge specificallyaimed at training for peace within the systemof the United Nations University…”