CBC reporter Mary Wiens featured  Harvey Skinner, dean of York’s Faculty of Health, in one of a series of reports on the non-violence movement in the Middle East, that aired on CBC Radio's "Metro Morning" March 31.  Below is a text summary from CBC News online. An audio file of the full report is available on the CBC News website:

Non-violent revolutions don't happen overnight. It is only in the last stage – as we saw in Egypt, or in the peaceful overthrow of many governments in Eastern Europe – that they seem spontaneous – maybe even inevitable.

One place where the revolution is still very much in the making is along the fault lines between Israelis and Palestinians, where many individuals and groups, in their own way, are committed to non-violence in many different forms.

It includes a very quiet initiative by a group of Canadians. CISEPO, founded by Mount Sinai's Dr. Arnie Noyek, is now headed by Dr. Harvey Skinner, dean of health at York University. Call them the Quiet Canadians.

The Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO) doesn't hold rallies, or put up posters. Instead the group holds academic meetings and publishes papers in academic journals, like The Lancet. They've built cooperation between these very different groups through projects with universal appeal, like an infant heath screening program.

"A lot of cooperation occurs," says Skinner. "But it occurs very quietly. If we can, as Canadians, create an umbrella for (Israeli and Palestinian) colleagues to meet and then do this again and again, it's doing a little a lot. If you sit across a table, you find out we have more in common, especially those of us who are in health, and it can build over time, respect, trust, co-operation. And we keep doing this again and again."

"We're building what we call a network of co-operation. Doing it quietly. Not front page in the media. Nothing's bleeding here, right? You get a terrorist attack in the region, instantly you get press. We hold a meeting like this – quite remarkable. Not even that much interest in the press."

The audio file of the full report runs 6 minutes 27 seconds.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin