|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 
Kairos Times
|
 |
|
| “Where is the Canadian voice? We want
to hear the Canadian voice.” |
| Elfadil, El Sharief, Sudanese-born human rights activist commenting on the situation in Darfur |
Join our 2003-4 campaign, Cultivating Just Peace! Contact us for information:info or toll-free 1 877 403 8933, extension 233. New resources are now available for ordering through orders or our website. You can also leave a message at 1 877 403 8933 x246.
 | In this edition | |
 |  |
- Important notice about the Refugee Rights petition
- Urgent Action: Mine workers under threat in Colombia
- Celebrate Kyoto: Use less energy
Updates
- KAIROS rallies for peace in the Sudan
- KAIROS advocates for a just national budget
- KAIROS calls for improved regulation of the investment
industry
Take Action!
|
Important notice about the Refugee Rights petition |
|
 |
|
Many thanks to all those of you that have been promoting the Appeal for Refugee Rights petition. Today alone, KAIROS received 170 new signatures to the petition. We encourage you to keep up the good work, but also to make sure that your signatures count. We have already received signature pages that do not meet legal requirements for a House of Commons petition.
For the House of Commons to accept a petition, it must follow a two sided format. The first side of the page has the full text of the demand plus signatures. The second side of the page has a shorter version of the demand and the remaining signatures. Each two sided petition page must have twenty five signatures (this makes it easier for the signatures to be counted by the Clerk of Petitions). Please make sure that your petition pages follow this format. Signature pages that do not meet these requirements do not count and will be discarded by the Clerk of Petitions in Ottawa. Please don’t let your valuable work go to waste!! If you are unable to get enough signatures to fill your page, however, send it to us anyway and we will find more signatures to complete it.
KAIROS has printed copies of the petition, which meet the legal
requirements. To order, email
orders
. You can also find a pdf version of the petition on
our website at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/AppealForRefugeeRights_Petition.pdf.
If you choose to print the petition off the website, or to make
extra copies, please make sure that you copy it back to back as
described above.
If you have any questions about photocopying the petition, please
ask before you proceed. Contact Tanya Chute, Interim Program Coordinator
– Refugees and Migration, at
tchute
or at 1-877-403-8933 X 230.
|
Urgent Action: Mine workers under threat in Colombia |
|
|
|
KAIROS has written a letter to Colombian president Alvaro Uribe expressing grave concern about a recent attempt on the life of Francisco Ramirez, president of the mine workers union in Colombia, SINTRAMINERCOL. The letter also expresses concern about threats to other members of the union. Please use the KAIROS urgent action letter as a model to write your own letter calling for investigation of these threats and protection of the rights of mine union members.
SINTRAMINECOL is an important human rights partner of KAIROS. Francisco has been to Canada on a number of occasions, when he has met with the Canadian churches, unions and government to speak about the human rights situation of mine workers and of the communities who live near the mines in Colombia. Francisco has always been eager to talk about the impact of Canadian mining activity in Colombia, as well as the union's campaign against the liquidation and privatization of the state mining industry. Francisco is interviewed in the KAIROS video - the Hidden Story. To order this resource, email orders .
For more information, contact Rachel Warden, Program Coordinator
- Latin America Partnerships or John Lewis, Program Coordinator
– International Human Rights. Rachel can be reached at
rwarden
or at 1-877-403-8933 ext. 224. John may be reached
at
jlewis
or at 1-877-403-8933 ext. 224.
Top
of page
|
Celebrate Kyoto: Use less energy |
|
|
|
We celebrate with people around the world the fact that President Putin of Russia has signed the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol - thus allowing it to finally come into force as international law. We have all worked long and hard for this - a small but most important first step in the attempt to confront the human-induced impacts of climate change. Now it is up to all the signatory countries and their peoples to begin the essential task of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This is a great challenge for Canada - for industry, for the energy sector in particular, but also for the faith communities who have stated emphatically their commitment to doing their part to cut back on their own emissions and to educate their memberships to do likewise.
KAIROS is undertaking a project on Energy Efficiency for Religious Buildings in partnership with Natural Resources Canada to help spread the word and to assist churches wanting to access available government funding for energy audits and retrofits. Watch for further developments in the days ahead. We can all make a positive contribution to Canada's Kyoto commitment, by changing our own energy consumption, for our children and our planet and in solidarity with those most affected by climate change.
For more information, contact Joy Kennedy, Ecological Justice Coordinator,
at
jkennedy
or at 1-877-403-8933 ext 222.
Top
of page
Update
|
KAIROS rallies for peace in the Sudan |
|
|
|
On Sunday, November 7th, KAIROS, along with 45 other organizations, rallied at Queen's Park in Toronto to gather more public support for international action to end the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Along with the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Muslim Canadian Congress, Amnesty International, World Vision and others, KAIROS is urging the Canadian government to take the lead in pushing the African Union for a more robust peacekeeping force in Darfur to begin to reverse the tide of ethnic cleansing as well as urging the Security Council of the United Nations for more concerted effort to halt the conflict. At the heart of our demand is a concern to ensure increased capacity for ongoing protection of vulnerable people.
To date, over 70,000 people have been killed in Darfur and 1.8
million
displaced. While Prime Minister Martin gave an impressive speech
before the UN's General Assembly in September, words are not enough.
The people of Darfur need immediate protection and Canada has a
responsibility to make sure this happens.
For more information, contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator International
Human Rights (Ending Conflict and Impunity, Latin America and Sub-Saharan
Africa), at
jlewis
or at 1-877-403-8933 ext. 224
|
KAIROS advocates for a just national budget |
|
|
|
KAIROS Canadian Social Development Program Coordinator Michael Polanyi and Board Vice-Chair Joe Gunn presented a brief to the Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Hearings at the House of Commons on Wednesday, November 3. They called for the government to focus the 2005 Budget on justice and true security by committing to fair taxation, social investment, international debt cancellation, sustainable development and a democratization of the budget-making process. Click here to read the full brief.
KAIROS also signed on to an open letter to Federal Minister of
Social Development Ken Dryden and his provincial and territorial
counterparts calling upon them to work in good faith for an accessible,
high-quality national child care program at their meetings on November
1 and 2. The full text of this letter is available at http://www.childcareadvocacy.ca/resources/pdf/Dryden_Ministers_letter.pdf.
For more information, contact Michael Polanyi, Program Coordinator – Canadian Social Development at mpolanyi or at 1-877-403-8933 ext.
|
KAIROS calls for improved regulation of the investment industry |
|
|
|
The Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs of the Ontario Legislature has recently tabled a key report on the operations of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the government agency that regulates the investment industry.
KAIROS, after consultation with other key players in the social investment field, has written a letter to the Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet, supporting all of the recommendations of the above report. KAIROS emphasizes two key recommendations:
1. The creation of a single national body to regulate the investment industry, replacing the thirteen agencies currently operating in the provinces and territories.
Why? Such a change would make it easier for socially responsible investors to apply concerted pressure for change. The investing public, especially socially responsible investors, would find it easier to promote greater disclosure and accountability through improved administration of the rules governing securities. At the same time, the corporate community would find it less costly and burdensome to deal with a single agency
2. The separation of the policing and judging functions of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).
Why? There are many documented cases of small investors, particularly seniors, who have lost substantial sums to unscrupulous investment dealers and advisors, but who have had to resort to lengthy and expensive personal litigation to obtain justice. This suggests that the current OSC structure is inadequate to deal with securities violations and complaints of unethical behaviour. A separate tribunal for hearing cases would make it more likely that such cases would be resolved by the appropriate authorities.
For more information on this issue, visit http://regulators.itgo.com/, a comprehensive website maintained by Robert Kyle, Investor Advocate and director of the Consumers Council of Canada.
For information on KAIROS’ Corporate Responsibility Program,
contact Rory O’Brien at
robrien
or at 1-877-403-8933 X 229.
New Resources
|
Events Calendar: Announce your event on the KAIROS website! |
|
|
|
KAIROS local groups from St. John's to Victoria to Yellowknife
host all kinds of events. Tell others what's going on in your community
and find out what everyone else is up to with a brand new feature
on the KAIROS website: a cross-Canada events calendar where you
can post your event. Designed by KAIROS' System Administrator Equbay
Kiflay, the events posting software is now open for business at
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/events/listing.asp
We will soon designate "posters" who can upload information
in each of the regions, but for now, please send news of KAIROS-sponsored
events to Sara Stratton, Network and Campaign Coordinator, at
sstratton
.
Include date, time, location, and event description, together with
the name and contact information of the event convener.
Top
of page
|
|