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Nagasaki remembered

Local groups remember the bombing of Nagasaki during event.
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Rosemary Phillips performing Saturday night at Gyro Park during the Nagasaki Day event in Grand Forks.

Local folk singer/songwriter Rosemary Phillips sang about peace at the Nagasaki Day event Sunday at Gyro Park in Grand Forks.

The event was sponsored by the Boundary Peace Initiative, Kootenay Region United Nations Association (KRUNA), and the USCC working groups. Speakers included Phillips, Southern Interior Member of Parliament Alex Atamanenko, Laura Savinkoff, Simon Shenstone, Bob Purdy, and Patrick Stephenson, who offered an Aboriginal prayer, drumming and spoke as well.

Nagasaki Day honours the victims, past and present, of the nuclear industry that is the worst destructive force to date created by humans, said Laura Savinkoff of the Boundary Peace Initiative.

The groups also sponsored Hiroshima Day on Aug. 6 at the Mir Centre for Peace in Castlegar.

J.J. Verigin, president of KRUNA and executive director of USCC, said they have been holding the commemorative events for several decades.

“It’s to remember the tragedies that happened in the hope that our governments won’t ever use those weapons again,” he said.

Verigin said that although countries have agreed on non-proliferation pacts, nuclear weapons are still around and, in fact, are being added to.

“These things could fall into the hands of groups that would not hesitate to use them to leave their marks,” said Verigin.

He added that with all the conflicts throughout the world in the Ukraine, Middle East, Gaza and more, it’s as important as ever to stand up for peace.