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| You are invited to view Paula's photo album: right relations march 09
I |
Forwarded to Foothills Presbytery Strong Public Witness Division Representatives
please continue to distribute through your congregations
but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.
—Maya Angelou
1) Earth Hour March 28 ... Don't forget to turn out the lights!
2) Action on the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement continues: Add your voice
Updates
4) Re-Energize Campaign News! Subsidies to the oil industry --- Obama wants to end them, so why can't Canada?
5) Colombian social activists travel Canada to speak out against free trade deal
6) MPs turn up the heat for corporate accountability reform
7) KAIROS Gathering: we’re open for applications!
8) What kind of a “new” Bretton Woods will emerge from the crisis?
9) KAIROS meets Facebook
10) KAIROS network news…
1) Earth Hour ... Don't forget to turn out the lights!
Earth Hour happens at 8:30 pm on Saturday, March 28. As part of your commitment to the KAIROS Re-Energize campaign, host a church or community "lights out" event to bring attention to our overuse of fossil fuels, and the impact of this on the climate and human rights around the world. Go to
http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/get-involved/earth-hour/ for full information, including a worship service and information on how to order our End Oil Aid action cards (free!) and our brand new collection of reflections, Our Oil Dilemma. This book of 36 stories of community and personal challenge and change is a great tool to help in continued reflection on our use of fossil fuels. It can be ordered on our website:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/publications/order-form/
Can't hold a service on Saturday evening? Turn off the lights at home ... and use the KAIROS resource in your Sunday service instead! Be sure to let Campaigns Coordinator Sara Stratton know about your church or community activities: 1-877-403-8933 x 241, or sstratton[at]kairoscanada[dot]org.
2) Action on the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement continues: Add your voice
Although the free trade deal is already signed there is still much we can do. The deal has yet to be tabled in Parliament for the expected twenty-one day debate period. It is up to us to maintain the pressure, and we thank the many people who have already written to their MP and sent us copies.
COMOSOC representatives on the February 2009 KAIROS and Amnesty International tour provided firsthand testimony about the reality of widespread human rights abuses in Colombia.
Please keep writing to your MP and ask him or her to vote against the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Ask your MP to urge the government to undergo an independent, thorough, unbiased Human Rights Impact Assessment before going any further, as recommended by the Parliamentary Committee on International Trade.
The priority should be peace with justice in Colombia: not a deal that will cause more harm than good.
To contact your MP, please see the updated KAIROS urgent action: http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/get-involved/urgent-actions/urgent-action/archive/2009/03/article/no-free-trade-with-colombia-without-a-guarantee-of-human-rights-1/?tx_ttnews[backPid]=90&cHash=ca27fa4aa5
For more background see our partner tour update at
For more information contact Rusa Jeremic, Global Economic Justice Coordinator, rjeremic@kairoscanada.org 1 877 403 8933, ext. 225 and Rachel Warden Global Partnerships Program rwarden@kairoscanada.org, 1 877 403 8933, ext 242
Campaigns by KAIROS and other church groups on bottled water continue to resonate across Canada. On March 6 the Canadian Federation of Municipalities voted in favour of a motion urging all cities and municipalities across the country to ban the use of bottled water in their facilities.
Hundreds of those communities have already signed the Development and Peace/KAIROS Water Declaration designating access to clean, fresh water a human right, public trust, and collective responsibility, and 24 municipalities have adopted policies to restrict the sale and purchase of bottled water. Your actions continue to make a difference!
Personal action matters too, and as World Water Day (March 22) approaches, our friends at the Council of Canadians invite you to sign the "tap water pledge" to show your support for public water. Visit the Council of Canadians website to sign the pledge: http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/World_Water_Day/petition/index.php
4) Re-Energize Campaign News! Subsidies to the oil industry --- Obama wants to end them, so why can't Canada?
On March 4 U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for an end to tax break subsidies for the oil and gas industry on the grounds that their business contributes to global climate change. Geithner made his remarks before the Senate Finance Committee's hearings on the White House budget proposal.
According to Reuters, Geithner said, "We don't believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don't think that's good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country."
It's time for Canada to come on board with that position as well -- do your part by signing our action card calling for Canada to end subsidies to the oil industry and redirect those monies to conservation efforts and developing new sources of renewable energy. Sign and circulate copies of our "End Oil Aid" action card; they are available free (except for the cost of shipping) from fgolich@kairoscanada.org. Let's get a real push to send these cards in to the Prime Minister's office before the summer break!
5) Colombian social activists travel Canada to speak out against free trade deal
Four leaders of Colombian social movements representing women, Indigenous peoples, workers and faith-based communities came to Canada in February to share their concerns about the impending Canada-Colombia Free Trade Deal. The four leaders were working together under the umbrella of KAIROS partner COMOSOC, the Colombian Coalition of Social Movements, representing over two million Colombians.
The Canadian government’s position is that the human rights situation is improving in Colombia and that the free trade deal will help improve it further. The delegation travelled to Ottawa to set the record straight. In a testament to the importance of their visit, they met with a wide variety of politicians, including Minister for Latin American Peter Kent and Minister for International Trade Stockwell Day, as well as the media. They explained that the human rights crisis is ongoing, widespread and systematic.
In order to strengthen solidarity links between Canadian and Colombian social movements in the struggle for peace with justice in Colombia, the delegates left Ottawa and turned their focus to making connections with Canadian activists and social sectors in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Fredericton, Hamilton, and Vancouver. They found overwhelming support for their position and a growing number of Canadians opposed to the deal.
Read more about their message on our website:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/what-we-say/times-archive/news/archive/2009/03/article/colombian-social-activists-travel-canada-to-speak-out-against-free-trade-deal/?tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=5a42d89792
6) MPs turn up the heat for corporate accountability reform
Pressure is mounting on the federal government to take action and start holding Canadian companies accountable for human rights abuses committed in their overseas operations.
On February 9, Liberal MP John Mackay (Scarborough—Guildwood) brought forward a private member’s bill that contains some of the key policy reforms recommended during the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) held in 2006. Bill C-300, The Corporate Accountability of Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries Act, began second reading in the House of Commons during the first week of March.
On February 11, on a motion from NDP MP Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre), the House foreign affairs committee renewed its request for a formal government response to the CSR roundtables. After two years, the government still has not responded to the final report of the roundtables advisory group, which represented a groundbreaking consensus between industry and civil society representatives on how to promote greater accountability and responsible practices within the Canadian extractive sector.
Full text of Bill C-300 at first reading:
For more information, please contact Ian Thomson, Program Coordinator – Corporate Social Responsibility, ithomson@kairoscanada.org, or by phone at 613-235-9956, ext 222.
7) KAIROS Gathering June 17-20: applications are rolling in
On June 17-20, 2009, the KAIROS community will gather at the University of Waterloo to dream, pray, and work towards a new and better future for our world. Together we will bring inspiration and strength to a growing ecumenical social justice movement in Canada.
The End of the World as we know it – Thank God! will acknowledge that the way in which we are presently living is unsustainable. Change needs to happen. The world as we know it must end – so that something new can come to life.
As a faith community, we embrace this concept of apocalyptic hope and radical possibility. Thank God! Together, with God’s help, we can create something new and envision how to live on this earth in a more sustainable way.
We hope that you will be able to join us in Waterloo for these days of education, inspiration and action! Click here to apply to the Gathering through our open participation. Spaces are limited, so apply today! Please note - If you have been approached to be part of a delegation to the Gathering please do not use this link. You will be contacted to register by another way.
For more information on the theme and Frequently Asked Questions regarding the event please visit http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/get-involved/gathering/.
For more information please contact Sheilagh McGlynn, CIDA Program Associate at 1-877-403-8933 ext. 246.
8) What kind of a “new” Bretton Woods will emerge from the crisis?
Politicians are talking about convening a conference to redesign the global financial system like the one held at Bretton Woods New Hampshire in 1944 that established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The most recent KAIROS Briefing Paper #16 explains how the plans by the Group of 20 industrialized and “emerging” countries differ substantially from the vision under discussion within the United Nations and among civil society organizations.
To access a PDF copy of What Kind of a “New” Bretton Woods will Emerge from the Crisis? go to
Have a look at our resource catalogue for other titles in this series:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/publications/online-resources/
For more information contact John Dillon, Program Coordinator Global Economic Justice, jdillon@kairoscanada.org or 1 877 403 8933 x231
9) KAIROS meets Facebook
Help us feel the love! If you're on Facebook, consider becoming a KAIROS fan. Just search facebook.com for KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. Look under “pages” in the search results. (There are a few Kairoses out there; join them all if you like but please make sure we're one.)
Our newly-launched Facebook page will also be your invitation to a range of exciting events, including the upcoming in-the-dark extravaganza of Earth Hour 2009 on March 28. We've also posted our June KAIROS Gathering as a Facebook event.
10) Network and partner news
Grenfell KAIROS talks about its Re-energize campaign response-- a new farmer’s market:
A Nova Scotia anti-poverty activist offers an assessment of her government’s commitment to end poverty:
The World Association of Christian Communicators offers some thoughts on the media and International Women’s Day:
Have a look at a joint Cree, Chipewyan and Forest Ethics ad on the tar sands that ran in Washington, DC:
http://www.forestethics.org/downloads/tarsandsad.pdf
Citizens for Public Justice: report to the UN’s human rights review of Canada:
http://www.cpj.ca/files/docs/Brief-to-the-UPR.pdf
You’ve been reading Kairos Times, the free monthly e-newsletter for KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. We welcome your interest and support.
Please check our website for actions, research, updates, and ways to get involved:
