Solidarity in Lebanon: June 2011

A Canadian cocktail in Montreal

When individuals from across the nation meet, the label “Canadian” reveals its colorful, multifaceted, and sometimes controversial subtext. Arriving in Our Lady of Fatima camp on the edge of Montreal, the participants of the Development and Peace Solidarity Trip to Lebanon converged to begin with three days of orientation.

There was also training related to inter-cultural communication, group dynamics, and public-awareness raising (sensibilisation in french). We soon became aware of our innate differences and the potential for mistranslation, which gave us the opportunity to explore this wonderful mélange we know as Canada:

• Melodie and Steve are from Montreal at UQAM
• Amelie and Genevieve are from Ottawa/Gatineau region and help us with translation
• Alex and Amanda are from Ontario and Manitoba, and are social workers
• Jacques is from Victoria and Angelique is from Montreal, both doing their masters at university
• Marie-Helene and Genevieve are our trusty and intrepid organizers

In a few hours we will head to the airport to begin the exciting journey to our long awaited destination of Beirut. Various methods to remediate the anguish of jet lag are being employed, but anticipation will likely keep energy levels high while we shuffle our way out of thrombosis.

Amanda and Jacques

 Our aim is to share some of what we learn throughout our journey with you.  We expect new and stimulating experiences from the people, the land, and the culture.

Check back soon, Peace!

PS – Here is the link to all our blog posts!

Day of Indigenous Solidarity June 20th

Day of Solidarity – June 20th in support of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Kairos: Suicide rates among Indigenous youth between 15 and 24 years are five to six times higher than the national average. For Inuit youth in particular, it’s 11 times higher. Suicide accounts for 25% of all deaths among Indigenous youth (Health Canada).

When confronted with such despair, it’s easy to feel hopeless and helpless. Becoming aware of the legacy of colonization is not easy. We may feel ashamed of the inequality that divides Indigenous peoples of Canada—First Nations, Inuit and Métis—from other Canadians. We are challenged to recognize how governments and corporations have failed to honour the rights to the land and self-determination of Canada’s first inhabitants. 

Yet these realities don’t have the last word. Together, whether Indigenous or newcomers, we seek to heal and renew the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people because we know that what causes harm, inequality and injustice cannot be of God.Together, we find signs of hope and we dare to dream the promise of right relationship.

In November 2010, the Government of Canada’s endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples represented a step towards right relation with Indigenous peoples in Canada. KAIROS and our member churches have long called for Canada’s endorsement of this important global human rights standard.

On June 20 KAIROS member churches, communities and Indigenous partners will join in a Day of Solidarity urging Canada to take concrete steps, in collaboration with Indigenous peoples, to implement the UN Declaration. We will bring banners to Ottawa calling for the human rights of Indigenous peoples to be respected. This is followed by National Aboriginal Day on June 21, which offers many opportunities to celebrate the contributions of Indigenous peoples to the history and present of our country.

We ask you support these events with your presence and your prayers. Hold in prayer our common hopes for a just future, together in this beautiful land. And bring those prayers to action in your faith community and home.

PRAYER

One: God of all people, Great Spirit, Holy One
All: Listen to our prayer.
One: Give your blessing this day to the First Peoples of this land. 
All: Guide the elders and give them strength;
One: Comfort and renew men and women in times of sorrow and despair,
All: Give grace and pride to children as the daughters and sons of your creation.
One: Hear our prayer as we gather today to commit to right relations. 
All: Give us a sense of justice, an awareness of new beginnings, that wrongs may be redressed, rights respected and a new covenant forged. 
One: May those who have used this land with little thought or regard learn to love and respect this gracious heritage;
All: May those who find your presence in the land be free to model its grateful use to all.
One: In common life and common dignity…
All: May all people receive from you a new humanity. Amen.

FIVE THINGS YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY CAN DO:

Build relationships. Learn whose traditional territory you live and work on, and learn about your local treaty or treaty negotiations. Get to know your local First Nations, Inuit or Métis community. Contact your Friendship Centre; attend public powwows, Treaty Days or ceremonies. Connect with your denomination’s right relationship networks.

Learn. Learn more about the Canadian history we’re not taught in school. Host a KAIROS workshop on this: contact us at workshops@kairoscanada.org.  Learn about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the reality of residential schools, even if your denomination was not involved in running the schools. Go to TRC hearings; learn more about local survivors’ groups. Learn about the Indigenous membership and perspectives of your own faith tradition.

Work for an end to violence against Indigenous women, who face a rate of violence many times higher than in the general population. Support vigils in your community, and support the work of groups like Families of Sisters in Spirit, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Walk 4 Justice, and more.

Go global. Learn about the UN Declaration and the worldwide concerns and movement that brought it to birth after thirty years of work. Reflect on the struggles that made the Declaration necessary, and think about how to put into action here in Canada.

KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives is a faithful movement for human rights and ecological justice, uniting the local and the global.

Our founding members are: The Anglican Church of Canada, the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the United Church of Canada, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Canadian Religious Conference, the Mennonite Central Committee of Canada, and the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF).

More information: www.kairoscanada.org or info@kairoscanada.org

D and P Makes a Difference!

This week is D and P Makes a Difference week!  March 10 – March 20 is your chance to make a difference with Development and Peace.

This special week is an initiative of D & P with the Canadian Catholic Student Assocation – and there are events across the country!

• Vancouver, Corpus Christi and St. Mark’s College at UBC: THINKfast on March 26‐27
• Victoria, University of Victoria: UVic THINKfast on March 12th
• Edmonton, St. Joseph’s College: Launch of Share Lent campaign by Development and Peace on March 19‐20
• Regina, Campion College:  Bottled Water Free Day on March 10 AND 
• Regina, Campion College: THINKfast on March 13th
• Saskatoon, St. Thomas More College:  St. Patrick’s Day pub sponsored by the D and P Just Youth group on March 17th
• Winnipeg, St. Paul’s College @ University of Manitoba:  THINKfast on March 11th
• London, King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario:  Social Justice Coffee House by King’s Development and Peace Group on March 15^th
• Ottawa, Carleton University:  THINKfast & Opening Prayer with Saint Paul’s University on March 11‐12th
• Ottawa, Carleton University: Development and Peace table Bottled Water Free Zone on March 15th
• Ottawa, Université Saint‐Paul/Saint Paul University:  Opening Liturgy co‐led with Carleton University RCC followed by THINKfast on March 11th
• Toronto, University of St. Michael’s College: Bottled Water Free campaign throughout the week
• Waterloo, St. Jerome’s University: Bottle Water Free Day on March 10th
• Fredericton, St. Thomas University: Development and Peace lecture on March 21st
• Fredericton, St. Thomas University: THINKfast on March 19th
• Charlottetown UPEI: Bottled Water Free Day on March 10

For more info on these events and contacts so you can join them, check out the Catholic Students Week listing on the CCSA website.

Article in the Catholic Register March 23, 2011!

Today is the Day! Go BWF!

Today is BOTTLED WATER FREE DAY!

March 10, 2011 actions are a collaboration between Development and Peace, Polaris, the Canadian Federation of Students, CUPE, and Sierra Youth Coalition.

By creatively planning events around the need to STOP the privatization of water, you can help build a community that recognizes the right to water. Let’s continue to create and support alternatives to bottled water! 

* Check out the Bottled Water Free Day website: http://www.bottledwaterfreeday.ca/english/  Check out the map of all the events taking place across Canada!

*And this amazing website Tap That Water! Teens Against Privitization of Water: http://www.tapthatwater.org/about. They have embedded awesome videos and documentaries on the right to water, so you can watch them too!

* On facebook, the Canadian Catholic Student’s Association is doing a facebook blast – with this passage “Let justice flow like a river” Amos 5:24. Post it as your status over the next 24 hours!

* Participate in an activity sending a message to Cedar Springs, who are trying to take over our day for themselves. Click here to participate in the phone and email blitz.

Genevieve Gallant, Development and Peace

Bottled Water Free Day is March 10, 2011!

What can we do to make a splash on (or around) Bottled Water Free Day???

How about having a public event to announce that your municipality, university, school, parish or other public institution is going bottled water free?

Or planning a meeting with decision makers to help make that happen?

Or building a sculpture – a monster, a waterfall, a giant water tap – from empty water bottles and displaying it somewhere public and visible?

Or creating a big, public display of signed pledge cards and getting lots of other people to sign on?

Your school, university, college, parish, community group etc. can endorse Bottled Water Free Day

Join the Facebook Group and Page to stay informed!

Videos, action activities, pledge cards and other resources can be accessed here.

Whatever you do, please tell us (and your local media)!

Genevieve Gallant: ggallant@devp.org

Siobhan Rowan: srowan@devp.org

Kelly DiDomenico: kdidomenico@devp.org

Development and Peace, along with the Polaris Institute, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Sierra Club, and CUPE is a full partner in Bottled Water Free Day.

NEW DEADLINE for Youth Solidarity Trip to Lebanon

SOLIDARITY TRIP DEADLINE EXTENDED!

With thanks to everyone for spreading the word -we at Development and Peace are extending the deadline for applications until January 15, 2011. We have enough applicants, but would like to see more representation from ALL our provinces.

Of the applications we received were mostly from the West: BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – and because it’s a special national, bilingual trip, we want to have more variety with young members from all the different regions and provinces of Canada. A group that is representative of Canada and the range of young members in our movement makes for a dynamite group: from east to west, French & English, with youth & young adults. Join us!

The NEW deadline is now January 15th, 2011.

The next Development and Peace Youth Solidarity Trip, which for the first time in Development and Peace history, will be in the Middle East, specifically to Lebanon in June 2011!

The trip will allow us to visit Development and Peace partners who work in the region and to live an incredible multicultural experience – French, English and Arabic.

The info flyer and application form for the Solidarity Trip, which includes info on the trip objectives, costs, applicant criteria, etc can be downloaded here (info flyer) and here (application form).

In early December, five French-speaking and five English-speaking young adult members will be chosen by the selection committees to join the 2 Youth Programs Staff Genevieve Gallant and Marie-Hélène Roy in preparing for the trip.

Please spread the word – so as many youth and young adults involved in Development & Peace can consider applying.

Application deadline is JANUARY 15, 2011.

Any and all questions welcome – contact Genevieve Gallant at ggallant@devp.org OR 416-922-1592 or 1-800-494-1401 ext 230.

Thank you and God bless!

Genevieve

Genevieve Gallant

Youth Programs

Development and Peace

10 St. Mary Street #420

Toronto, Ontario

M4Y 1P9

416-922-1592 or 1-800-494-1401 ext 230

ggallant@devp.org

D&P Makes A Difference!

D and P Makes a Difference week is happening now!

In collaboration with Catholic Students’ Week, students at colleges and univeristry campsuses across Canada are inspiring their Catholic community to be informed, liturgical, and active witnesses on campus to the love of God and of neighbor.   

Catholic Students’ Week ends on March 21st with Development and Peace’s Solidarity Sunday – when we join with the rest of the Canadian Church to share our resources with the poor in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Here is a list of all the Development and Peace Makes a Difference week events on campuses:

 BC

Vancouver, Corpus Christi and St. Mark’s College at UBC

March 14, 11am: Mass and Soup lunch with Development and Peace guest speaker

AB

Edmonton, St. Joseph’s College

March 21, noon – 2pm: Development and Peace Talk followed by Sunday Brunch hosted by D&P and Campus Ministry

  MB

Brandon, University of Brandon

March 14-15: 25 hour THINKfast!

 ON

London, King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario

March 21st: Solidarity Sunday Mass with Development and Peace presentation on agrofuels

 Toronto, Ryerson University

March 21, 5 pm: Mass and Haitian Dinner in solidarity with the victims of the earthquake.

St. Michael’s Cathedral collecting donations for Development and Peace

 NB

Fredericton, St. Thomas University

March 15, 10am – 1pm: Development and Peace Share Lent bake sale and card signing

March 16, 6:30pm: Development and Peace screening of Food, INC with pizza and card signing

Development and Peace THINKfast! during “D&P Makes a Difference week: March 14th – 21st

St Francis de Sales Parish

St Boniface Diocesan High School

Our Lady of the Scapular Parish

St. Patrick’s Church

St. Agnes Parish

Christ the King Parish

St Agnes Parish

Ecole J.M. Picard School

Notre Dame de Lorette

St Vincent Parish

Ste Anne-des-Chênes

City Wide St. John’s TF

St John the Divine Parish

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

St. Michael’s Parish

Immaculate Conception Parish

St Agustine & St Joseph Parish

Dauphin Ukranian UCY

and I am sure there are more out there!