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TORONTO - Forty members and supporters of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), including 12 Reservists in training, constructed a makeshift shelter outside the Mexican Consulate in downtown Toronto on Tuesday, August 22, as Mexico's President-elect Vicente Fox arrived in Ontario.

The shelter, made of wood sticks and plastic sheeting, symbolized living conditions of some 20,000 indigenous Mayans displaced from their homes by paramilitary violence in Mexico s southernmost state of Chiapas.

Participants held a one-and-a-half hour prayer vigil commemorating 45 Mayan pacifist Christians massacred by paramilitary forces as they prayed and fasted for peace in the mountain village of Acteal on December 22, 1997.

"We know that as we gather here today, our brothers and sisters in Acteal are also gathered to remember their loved ones whose lives were cut short. In lighting these 45 candles, we join our prayers for peace with theirs," said training participant Krista Lord (Waterloo, ON).

Vigilers sang, prayed, and distributed 1000 leaflets to the lunch-hour crowds in the heart of Toronto's financial district. They also commissioned a delegation of four representatives to enter the building and visit Mexican consular officials on the 44th floor.

Delegates carried 45 white flowers, representing the 45 martyrs of Acteal, and a written message asking President-elect Fox to follow through on his campaign promises to bring an end to the conflict and violence in Chiapas. Consul General Mario Chacon left another meeting several blocks away to receive the CPT delegation. He assured the group that he would deliver their message directly to President-elect Fox who was scheduled to meet with human rights groups and business leaders in Toronto the following day.

During the vigil, gkisedtanamoogk, from Esgeno'petitj (Burnt Church, NB), addressed the crowd. "I call upon the people of Canada and Mexico to honor their international commitments of peace and human rights for our peoples to live without tyranny, without state-orchestrated violence and terror, and the chaos such actions have brought to our peoples, to our homelands, to our lives."

The people of Esgeno'petitj are currently experiencing severe aggression by Canadian authorities over fishing rights and sovereignty. CPT maintained a violence-reduction presence with the Esgeno'petitj First Nation during the spring lobster fishing season and has returned again for the fall season.

Participants in the Ontario Regional Reserve Corps training who organized the witness were Art Arbour (Toronto,ON), Nathan Bender (Toronto,ON), Ellis Brown (Kitchener,ON), Rebecca Johnson (Parry Sound, ON), Jim Loney (Toronto, ON), Krista Lord (Waterloo, ON), Murray Lumley (Ancaster, ON), Paul Neufeld Weaver (Worthington, MN), Jane Pritchard (Toronto, ON), Vern Reidiger (Toronto, ON), John Sherman (Dayton, OH), and George Weber (Chesley, ON).