St. Basil’s Parish in Ottawa, for the UN international Day of Peace Sept. 21, is hosting an exhibit that depicts the bleak aftermath of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a remindier of the need for a peaceful future. 

The exhibit, an extensive collaboration between the parish’s Mission and Social Justice Committee,  Ban the Bomb Ottawa, the National Capital Region Branch of the United Nations Association in Canada and Carleton University’s Centre for Public History, will be displayed at St. Basil’s from Sept. 20 to 22. 

The exhibit shares the devastating humanitarian and environmental impacts of nuclear weapons through the example of one of the most destructive events in modern conflict.  All told, 30 posters complete with photos and explanatory texts, donated to Ottawa by Japan’s Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, will be on display alongside Carleton University’s Centre for Public History’s five additional posters, which depict Canada’s relationship with nuclear weapons both past and present.  

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Rosemary and John Williams, two long-standing members of St. Basil’s Mission and Social Justice Committee, spoke to the exhibit’s powerful nature, describing the scene that attendees can expect  and the impact it’s likely to have. 

“ These photographs were taken immediately after the bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and so they show the devastation that was seen in the aftermath,” John Williams said. 

“They not only show the physical destruction of the city, but also what it had done to the people. There are some extremely moving pictures of people and expressions through art, and pictures of what the people there saw and experienced after the bombing,” Rosemary Williams added. 

“The human side of things is really brought out, and it's touching not only the heart but the mind as well in terms of what nuclear weapons are all about.”

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The ‘Act Now for a Peaceful World’ exhibit lines up with the UN's annual International Day of Peace. Established in 1981 and first observed a year later, the commemoration is dedicated to world peace as well as the absence of war and violence.  

Last month, Pope Leo XIV closed his General Audience with a moment of remembrance on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, where hundreds of thousands were killed.  

“Those tragic events remain a universal warning against the devastation caused by war — and particularly by nuclear weapons,” he said on Aug. 6, referring also to the bombing of Nagasaki that would take place just three days later. 

The Holy Father also called for our current world, one torn by division and violence, to abandon the false security of mutual destruction by embracing justice, open dialogue and trust in human fellowship instead. It’s a message backed by the Williams family, who shared that this year’s International Day of Peace carries a significant weight with it when we look at the state of conflict across the globe

“ Most of us read the news, hear all sorts of media about the violence, conflict, war and human tragedy in our world today in so many areas. There’s a feeling of ‘What can be done? Somebody should do something.’ We would like to say together, we can do something. We don't have to stand back and feel helpless,” Rosemary Williams said. 

St. Basil’s Social Justice Committee also hopes to take action apart from the informative exhibit, circulating a petition in support of Canada ratifying the international Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, an act that the Holy See took back in 2017. 

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Posters from the exhibit will be available in Ottawa for at least a year, with St. Basil’s encouraging other groups to host similar events as well in an effort to promote peace efforts on a broader scale. Until then, the committee will continue doing its part toward promoting peace, as seen in their annual interfaith prayer service for peace each New Year’s. 

For more, see the St. Basil’s Parish website.