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MEDIA RELEASE
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| Press release | August 28, 2007 |
After nearly two years of preparation, the first Quebec Social Forum took place from August 23 to 26 at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). Over 5,000 people attended the event, more than twice the number originally hoped for.
Modelled on the World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre and organized under the theme “A new Quebec is coming,” (Un autre Québec est en marche) the Quebec Social Forum provided an opportunity for all militant, community, feminist, ecological, aboriginal and similar organizations to present a total of three hundred lectures and workshops around eight key themes. The event also had an important cultural dimension and saw several organizations staff information booths in the agora and hallways of UQÀM.
Among the participating organizations were churches, religious groups and ecumenical associations that made about twenty presentations as part of the theme entitled “Ethics, Spirituality and Religion.” Some of the topics addressed in these presentations included non violence, social commitment, peace, a new look at neoliberalism, and Islamophobia. Of particular note was a workshop offering reflections on the environment and theological values given by ROJeP (The Ecumenical Network for Justice and Peace). Founded in 2001 as a follow-up to the Year of Jubilee, ROJeP is an association of about forty Christian organizations from the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United denominations.
Jean-Luc Djigo, a staff member of ROJeP, was delighted with the result. “We invited ROJeP members to submit ideas for workshops for the Quebec Social Forum, and we were very pleased to see that our organizations chose to work together on the project in order to make joint presentations.”
Kairos Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, in collaboration with other groups, also presented a series of workshops on the subject of migratory movement and human trafficking.
Denis Prescott, ROJeP representative to the Forum Program Committee and one of the signatories of the Opening Statement, spoke on the final day of the Forum: “It was not easy convincing the organizing committee to agree to a theme dealing with ethics, spirituality and religious issues. However, living in a society such as ours that day by day is increasingly pluralistic and culturally diverse, it is impossible to avoid fundamental issues such as those arising from spiritual openness, ecumenical coexistence and the public face of religion.”
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David Fines
Communications - United Church of Canada
davidfines
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