By: Aki Temisevä
Today, on the International Day of Living Together in Peace, I am asking Canadians to reflect on what this means in our daily lives. Peace can feel distant in a world of crises and global conflicts that require urgent action, creating enduring peace also involves small acts of intention from every one of us. I want to reflect on this year’s theme, Building Trust through Dialogue, Inclusion and Reconciliation. To create peace in our day to day lives, we must start with dialogue.
A peaceful society is one where we can engage in respectful and healthy conversations, work across our differences and appreciate the strength in our diversity. It’s a society where we remain genuinely curious to understand each other. In recent speeches, Prime Minister Mark Carney has noted that solutions only rise when we act on our problems, calling for us to be both principled and pragmatic to effectively work together. In my own work, I’ve seen how progress is rarely linear; often building consensus isn’t a retreat—it’s a strategic choice to spur on the momentum that leads to lasting change. That is a skill we could all be flexing more often.
Living together in peace means understanding how we all benefit from the stability of peace. Our rights and freedoms, public health and safety, the opportunity to create the life we want, and the responsibility to advance Reconciliation with Indigenous communities, and build a more sustainable and equitable future, are only possible when we work together. Our collective potential is defined by our ability to sit across from each other, whether at a dinner or a boardroom table and find a way forward, especially when we disagree. This is how we bring the UN’s values into the daily lives of Canadians, turning our similarities and differences into a source of collective resilience.
At UNA-Canada, we see this in the youth who participate in our programs, learning to navigate the challenges of bringing groups of people together to create a real difference at a community level. We also see this with our corporate partners, who are committed to change beyond ESG targets, by providing the mentorship and funding necessary to develop the next generation of leaders. And as we celebrate 2026 as the UN’s International Volunteer Year, we are reminded that through service, we all play a role in strengthening our communities in times of crisis and peace.
How do we live together in peace in 2026? It will take each of us realizing that meaningful solutions are only built when we’re willing to have an ongoing dialogue and commit to listening to each other. The work of peace begins with the relationships we build today and is a commitment we need to make every day to one another.
