Publishing the Ottawa Peace & Environment News (PEN) is one of PERC's main programs. Through it, we support community groups and individuals in the National Capital Region.
Starting in the early 1980's a few volunteers began putting together the Ottawa Peace Calendar – which helped local activists find each other and coordinate their efforts, PERC was born from this organizing and has grown from there. Over the years, the Ottawa Peace Calendar grew into the Peace & Environment News (PEN), one of the region’s longest running independent community newspapers.
The PEN exists to address the following needs:
- Accessible alternative local media that addresses Peace and Environment issues.
- Alternative publications to be made available to the public.
- An outlet for local community groups with budgets too small for mass media to communicate with the public.
- To involve the public in finding grassroots solutions to environmental and social problems.
The PEN strives to achieve the following goals:
- To create an informed public on Peace, Environmental and Social Justice Issues
- Support community involvement in these issues.
- To amplify the messages of local groups by sharing their information with the public.
- Support local groups with print articles, free ads for meetings and events.
Past Editions
The PEN has a long history, with Volume 1, Number 1 coming out in November of 1985. The title has changed from the Ottawa Peace Resource Calendar, to the Ottawa Peace Calendar, to the Peace & Environment News, but the commitment to reporting local issues in a grassroots and accessible way has stayed the same. Our older editions are now available online in our PEN Archives.
The PEN Newsletter
After decades of publishing in print, in Spring of 2023 the PEN became available as a digital newsletter that can be delivered right to your inbox!
You can subscribe here to receive the newsletter at the start of each month, where you can read about how members of your community are working to support peace and the environment in Ottawa.