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Kairos Times: September 2005 Vol 4, #7
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| The waters of Hurricane Katrina have revealed fault lines of race and class in our nation, washing away our national denial about the large number of Americans who live in poverty and about its disproportionate impact on people of color. We have now seen, and so has the rest of the world, the effects of public policies that sacrifice the common good to private interests and misguided priorities.. |
—Sojourners Christian magazine and community We invite Canadians to reflect on the realities of race, class and poverty here at home. |
This edition is a very full one! We’ve been busy over the summer. As always, please read what interests you and take action where possible—no-one can do it all.
Take action!
- Katrina’s immediate victims – low-income, people of colour
- Make Poverty History – October 17 Day of Action on Poverty in Canada
- Water campaign gears up for October launch; resources now available
- A call for support: Join MPs’ call for the Government of Canada to stop supporting destructive mining projects overseas!
Updates….
- Job posting; Asia/ Middle East Human Rights Program Coordinator
- Do unto others… Canada pursues free trade deal with Central America
- Hope for peace in Aceh
- KAIROS proposes values-based vision to Federal Government’s pre-budget hearings
- Death of a respected Congolese human rights activist
- Invitation to Measuring Security Measures cross- Canada film festival
New resources…
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Katrina’s immediate victims – low-income, people of colour |
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A call for prayer and solidarity:
KAIROS calls on Canadians to turn their minds and open their hearts to the many thousands who are suffering, have lost loved ones, and have been deprived of their livelihoods as a result of the continued devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
It is KAIROS’ mission to stand in solidarity with the poor and marginalized in society, and as we know from our televisions and newspapers, it is poor people and people of colour who are bearing the brunt of suffering in Louisiana today.
As Jim Wallis recently wrote on the Sojourners website, it is the poor who live in and ill-constructed buildings, who live in valleys and plains that are the first to flood, whose neighborhoods are dense and overcrowded, who do not have cars, or other means to evacuate, and who are the least likely to have home, or health, insurance.
As we prepare for a special KAIROS Anti-Poverty meeting in Ottawa, Sept 9-11th, we call for greater analysis and understanding of how it is the poor, in the North as well as in the South, who pay the highest price (often their lives) in the case of natural disasters and our often-inadequate response to them.
KAIROS draws attention of our network members and all readers to the compassion being shown by the leaders and congregations of our member churches in Canada.
For information about how you can help our U.S. brothers and sisters in need, please visit the following websites:
- American Friends’ Service Committee, http://www.afsc.org/
- Anglican Church of Canada, http://pwrdf.org/news/news-db.php?news=259;
- Christian Reformed Church in North America, http://209.200.88.167/pages/2005aug30_katrina.cfm;
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, http://www.elcic.ca/;
- Mennonite Central Committee, http://www.mcc.org/katrina.html;
- United Church of Canada, http://www.united-church.ca/response/usa/050831.shtm;
- DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE/ Caritas USA: http://www.devp.org/testA/news/communiques2005_25-e.htm.
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Make Poverty History – October 17 Day of Action on Poverty in Canada |
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Make Poverty History is gaining steam: Over 210,000 Canadians have signed on to its call for more and better aid, trade justice, debt cancellation and an end to child poverty in Canada.
October 17th is a National Day of Action to bring attention to the continued poverty and deprivation in Canada. On this day, people across Canada will hold community events, such as wrapping local churches and community centres in white banners. We will all join together in calling for an increase to the Canada Child Tax Benefit and for a national poverty reduction strategy. Visit www.makepovertyhistory.ca to sign an on-line petition, get action ideas, and find names of regional contacts.
For more information, contact Michael Polanyi, Program Coordinator:
Canadian Social Development toll -free at 1 877 403 8933 x237 or
email
mpolanyi
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Water campaign gears up for October launch; resources now available |
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On October 6, leaders from many KAIROS member churches will gather at the water-side in Ottawa to launch the ecumenical campaign Water: Life Before Profit! This national launch takes place at 10:30 AM; it will be accompanied by regional launches at lakes and rivers in many communities across the country. (Currently Winnipeg and Halifax are confirmed; contact Lorraine Dumont (lorraine.dumont@devp.org) and Jack Risk jackrisk respectively). These will be held throughout the first week in October and will be hosted by KAIROS, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE, and many other groups.
Feel free to plan an event of your own, but please let us know about your plans. The exact location for all launch events is still being confirmed, so please be sure to mark the date in your calendar, get more information on the time and location, and be present with us in body or in spirit! Full details of these events, and many other KAIROS and water-related events, will be added to our national events listing at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/events/listing.asp
Educational materials are now available—see our web order form and catalogue for more information: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/resources/orders.asp
For more information, or to send us your event details, contact
Sara Stratton, Network and Campaign Coordinator, at 1 877 403 8933
x241 or
sstratton
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A call for support: Join MPs’ call for the Government of Canada to stop supporting destructive mining projects overseas! |
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It’s time the federal government took action to ensure the Canadian mining sector is not complicit in human rights violations internationally. That’s the conclusion reached by a parliamentary subcommittee after hearing firsthand testimony from communities affected by the activities of Canadian mining companies abroad.
In June 2005, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade unanimously adopted a report from its Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Development focusing on this issue. The Subcommittee states in its report that it is "concerned that Canada does not yet have laws to ensure that the activities of Canadian mining companies in developing countries conform to human rights standards, including the rights of workers and of indigenous peoples."
The report argues that "more must be done to ensure that Canadian companies conduct their activities in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and in conformity with international human rights standards." Among other things, the report urges the Canadian government to:
- Make Canadian government support conditional on companies meeting "clearly defined corporate social responsibility and human rights standards."
- "Establish clear legal norms in Canada to ensure that Canadian companies and residents are held accountable when there is evidence of environmental and/or human rights violations associated with the activities of Canadian mining companies."
- "Work with like-minded countries to integrate and mainstream international human rights standards in the work of international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank."
The Standing Committee has asked the government to deliver a response to the report by mid-October.
KAIROS applauds the Standing Committee for its landmark work on this important issue. While the Committee’s recommendations are welcome, they will do no good if they are not adopted by the Canadian government. This is a great opportunity that now requires the next step: pressuring the government to take the report seriously and do something about it!
Show your solidarity with mining-affected communities by voicing your support for the Committee’s important recommendations before the official Government response is released on October 19.
For action ideas, including copies of letters to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Industry and Natural Resources, visit: www.kairoscanada.org/e/urgent/uaMining0508.asp
Click here for a copy of the Standing Committee’s full report and recommendations
For more information contact Ian Thomson, Program Coordinator,
Corporate Social Responsibility, toll -free at 1 877 403 8933 x229
or
ithomson
Updates.....
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Job posting; Asia/ Middle East Human Rights Program Coordinator |
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Help us spread the word about this job opening. Please see the detailed job description at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/support/jobHumanRights.asp
The closing date is October 14. Please note that e-mail applications will NOT be accepted. For more information please contact Therese Dineen, Executive Assistant, at 1 877 403 8933 x243 or tdineen
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Do Unto Others… Canada pursues free trade deal with Central America |
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Despite massive opposition in Central America and a hotly contested debate in the US Congress, the US free trade deal with Central America (CAFTA) was recently passed by a narrow margin of 217-215 votes. Now that CAFTA has been ratified by most of the signatories, the Canadian government has turned its attention to completing its own free trade negotiations with the Central America countries, know as the Canada-CA4 Free Trade Agreement. Recent press reports from Central America indicate that negotiators will convene in September for a new round of talks.
The NAFTA debate has highlighted how free trade deals amongst unequal partners is fundamentally skewed in favour of the stronger trading partner. Yet, for all of the government’s rhetoric on how Canada is being treated by the US, it appears to be replicating the very same model with Central America.
Indeed, in this context, it is Canada who is pushing a deal that will probably result in huge gains for business at the expense of sustainable development, environmental protections and community rights. And, as the weaker partner, it is Central America that is being forced to play by unjust rules.
Surprisingly, Canada continues to insist upon negotiating this and other bilateral free trade deals in secret despite a widespread call for greater transparency and public participation. To learn more, check out a recent op-ed published by the Ottawa Citizen at: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/economic/trade/analysis.asp#background
For more information, contact Rusa Jeremic, Program Coordinator:
Global Economic Justice toll -free at 1 877 403 8933 x225 or
email
rjeremic
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Hope for Peace in Aceh |
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After enduring years of violent conflict and gross human rights violations, the people of Aceh now have a chance for peace. On August 15, 2005, the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a peace accord agreeing to a cessation of hostilities, demilitarization and demobilization, greater political autonomy in the region and representation in Jakarta, and a fairer distribution of revenues from the region’s natural resources.
KAIROS and its partners in Aceh hope that this latest accord will herald a new age of peace, justice and democracy for the Acehnese and facilitate the reconstruction of the tsunami-stricken province. (Click here to read an Acehnese civil society press release on the peace agreement.)
However, KAIROS partners emphasise that there is a need to remain vigilant and to press for compliance with the terms and conditions of the peace agreement in order to prevent a breakdown similar to the one that ended the last truce in 2003, only six months after it was signed.
For further information on Indonesia and Aceh, see the Guardian Weekly’s Indonesia special report section: http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,2763,1549950,00.html
For more information, contact Dale Hildebrand, Human Rights
and Peace-building Team Leader at 416 463 5312 x235 or
dhildebrand
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KAIROS proposes values-based vision to Federal Government’s pre-budget hearings |
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Where we put our financial resources says a lot about our values. In fall submissions to the Federal Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Hearings and the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission, KAIROS will challenge the narrow focus of these hearings on increasing productivity and economic growth, and will call for the Federal government to initiate a broad-based public dialogue to define more meaningful societal values and objectives. The submissions make specific policy recommendations based on Christian values of inclusion, basic rights and needs before desires, compassion and responsibility, and the stewardship of nature. They also call for the democratization of future governmental hearings.
For
a PDF copy of the submission to the Standing Committee please click
here. 
For more information, contact Michael Polanyi, Coordinator,
Canadian Social Development Program, 1 877 403 8933 x237 or
mpolanyi
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Death of a respected Congolese human rights activist |
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While Sudan continues to suffer a massive human rights and humanitarian crisis in Darfur and a fragile North-South peace process, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is perhaps the world's leading forgotten or hidden human rights and humanitarian disaster.
Still smoldering after a devastating 1998-2003 conflict in which 3 to 5 million died, mostly due to disease and malnutrition, the DRC has few visible camps of displaced persons for the world's media. The Congo is an all-but-failed state, where the electoral process from the transitional unity government is stalled. People in the eastern part of the country have endured mass rape, use of child soldiers, militarized commerce by the international mining industry, and a culture of impunity that lets those in power literally get away with murder.
In this tragic context, KAIROS staff and colleagues in Canada and
around the world were shocked and saddened by the assassination
of a leading human rights defender, Pascal Kabungulu Kibembi in
his home, in front of his family on August 1st. Mr. Kabangulu was
the Executive Director of Bukavu-based Héritiers de la
justice, a long-time partner of the Primate's World Relief and
Development Fund (PWRDF).
Héritiers de la Justice staff have reported grave human rights
abuses by armed groups and have been critical of DRC government
inaction. KAIROS has written Foreign Affairs Minister Pettigrew
urging an independent investigation with copies to relevant diplomatic
stakeholders in Canada and the DRC. The letter is posted on the
KAIROS website:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/letters/ltrPettigrew050811.asp
Rob Shropshire, former PWRDF Africa Program Coordinator who knew Pascal Kabungulu reflects on his encounters with Pascal and offers a tribute to the slain human rights activist he calls a hero: http://www.pwrdf.org/news/news-db.php?news=257
Please offer your prayers in support of Pascal Kabangulu's family, Héritiers de la Justice staff, and the often daunting, dangerous work of human rights defenders around the world.
For more information, contact Jim Davis, Program Coordinator,
Africa Partnerships Program, 416 463 5312 x238 or
jdavis
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Invitation to Measuring Security Measures cross-Canada film festival |
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Measuring Security Measures is a cross-Canada series of events that raises two key questions:
- Are recent security laws and policies in Canada undermining civil liberties?
- Has mainstream media in Canada adequately framed and analyzed this issue?
From St. John's to Vancouver, the National Film Board, CitizenShift and überculture, with the participation of refugee and immigrant advocacy groups, have organized two exciting weeks of film screenings and panel discussions in over ten Canadian cities. These symposiums will be held from October 17-30, 2005, and are meant to provide an open and accessible forum for debate on the issues of immigration, media, law and national security in our country.
Check out http://citizen.nfb.ca//msm/ for locations (more are being added!)
You might remember that the KAIROS education campaign focus for 2003-2005 focused on the lack of appeal for refused asylum seekers in a political climate hostile to refugees. KAIROS continues to advocate on security issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers. In September, we sent a letter to the Prime Minister calling for abolition of the flawed security certificate process (soon to be posted to the website) and contributed to two different submissions to UN bodies addressing the issue of increased use of detention to restrict the movement and liberty of asylum seekers and other migrants.
This series is a great educational opportunity for anyone interested in “security” issues and their impact on Canadian policy and civil liberties. NFB has said that if a KAIROS or community group wants to have a table at this event, they are welcome and should contact Patricia Kearns at p.kearns or 514 283 9478.
For more information on our Refugees and Migrants program, contact
Tanya Chute Molina, 1 877 403 8933 x252 or
tchute
New resources…
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KAIROS Poverty AND English/ French Trade –Bulletins available; new resources on water ready to go. |
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KAIROS now has a bi-monthly e-update on Canadian poverty issues from a faith perspective! These short updates will flag new reports, highlight national action campaigns, and outline policy developments on key poverty-related issues such as income security, affordable housing, food security, and employment. We welcome your suggestions for content. To sign up for the list, send an email to Michael Polanyi, Coordinator, Canadian Social Development Program, mpolanyi .
A new Trade E-bulletin is now available—see http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/economic/trade/ebulletin/current.asp
To sign up for your personal e-mail copy of this quarterly bulletin,
write to Rusa Jeremic, Global Economic Justice Program Coordinator,
at
rjeremic
And the Trade E-bulletin is now available in French! Again, please contact Rusa to subscribe.
In other resource news, a wide range of resources on water is now
available in both French and English. Check out our order form and
catalogue for a complete list:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/resources/orders.asp
For any of the water materials, including a sample kit that includes
one copy of each educational brochure and the Water: A Sacred Gift
education for action guide, use the form or contact Fahira Golich,
Network and Donor Relations Assistant, at 1 877 403 8933 x221
or
fgolich
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