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Kairos Times: February 2006 Vol 5, #2
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| Struggle is a never- ending process. Freedom is never really won-- you earn it and win it in every generation. |
–Coretta Scott King, rest in peace. |
All the news
- Join the national Lubicon Nation solidarity petition campaign
- Prime Minister Harper-- honour the Federal-Provincial Child Care Accords!
- An update from Baghdad: Old friends
- KAIROS launches policy briefing papers series
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Join the national Lubicon Nation solidarity petition campaign |
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The Friends of the Lubicon, Amnesty International, KAIROS, the Lubicon Legal Defence Fund, and Outaouais Lubicon Solidarity are launching a national Lubicon Petition Campaign to demonstrate support for a settlement of Lubicon land rights in 2006.
The petition is available for download along with a flyer you can
use to introduce the issues to potential signer—check out
our new Aboriginal rights action page:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/aboriginal/action/index.asp
More information on the long struggle of the Lubicon nation can
be found at http://www.tao.ca/~fol
You can help make the National Lubicon Petition Campaign a success by downloading and printing the petition and collecting signatures from your friends, family, co-workers and anyone else who supports a final settlement of this long-outstanding human rights issue. Completed petitions can be mailed back to us at the address on the petition.
The national Lubicon petition will be presented in the House of Commons in May, 2006, along with the demand that "the Prime Minister and the Minister of Indian Affairs … ensure that their representatives have a mandate to negotiate all outstanding issues with the Lubicon Nation in good faith and … proceed immediately with negotiations towards a full and final settlement of this issue."
Jim Prentice is the new Minister of Indian Affairs, and he is familiar with the issue of Lubicon land rights and the failure of the previous government to negotiate a resolution of this long-standing Canadian human rights issue.
In June 2005, Mr. Prentice wrote to then-Indian Affairs Minister
Andy Scott, saying:
"After 20 months in office, the Prime Minister has failed to
live up to his promise to the Lubicon people …. I call upon
you and your colleagues to begin immediate negotiations towards
a settlement of Lubicon land rights, and to conduct a comprehensive
environmental assessment of proposed oil sands development projects."
Now Mr. Prentice and Mr. Harper are in a position to act on those concerns. Settling Lubicon land rights is the Constitutional responsibility of the Canadian federal government. It’s time the government accepted its responsibility—and Lubicon rights were honoured. Please include your voice in this call for justice.
For more information, please contact Ed Bianchi, Aboriginal Rights
Program Coordinator at
ebianchi
or 613 235 9956 x221.
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Join KAIROS in urging Prime Minister Harper to honour the Federal-Provincial Child Care Accords |
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KAIROS is urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to do the best thing for all families in Canada by honouring the child care agreements between Federal and Provincial governments signed in 2005.
KAIROS stressed to Mr. Harper that the Conservative Party promise of a $1,200 a year child care tax credit will not, on its own, provide families with access to quality child care since the average cost of care is about $10,000 per year. And we warned Mr. Harper that his party’s pledge of tax credits for employers and other organizations will not produce a sufficient number of new child care spaces.
KAIROS calls upon all Canadians who are concerned about the healthy development of children and the well-being of families to call on the Prime Minister and his government to honour and extend the bilateral child care agreements negotiated last year, which are slated to provide up to 250,000 quality child care spaces.
Please contact Prime Minister Harper, (Tel. 613-996-6740,
harper.s
, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A2)as well
as the Minister of Human Resources, Diane Finley (Tel. 519-426-3400
or collect at 613-996-4974,
finley.d
),
and your MP (look
up their name and address using your postal code), and the Premier
of your province before Parliament opens on February 27! Please
urge them to honour the current child care agreements.
For more information, contact Michael Polanyi, Canadian Social
Development Program Coordinator, at 1 877 403 8933 x 237 or
mpolanyi
, or John Mihevc, Team Leader - Economy of Life,
416 463 5312 x228 or
jmihevc
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An update from Baghdad: Old friends |
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This note comes from Allan Slater, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and a friend of KAIROS. He is currently in Baghdad, where four of his CPT colleagues were kidnapped. Their whereabouts are still unknown. The story he shares here shows the strength of solidarity offered by Iraqis living with daily violence and occupation.
A man with a familiar face showed up at our door yesterday. His name was Ibrahim but none of us could remember where we had seen him before.
Ibrahim is the leader of a small, completely volunteer Iraqi human
rights organization. He explained that his group had worked with
us since 2003, (and that) in July of 2004 we had been able to cooperate
to obtain the release of two innocent prisoners being detained by
the American military. Then we were able to remember meeting the
group almost three years ago when several human rights organizations
were forming. They were all squatting in a looted and burned out
government building on Rasheed Street near Tahrir Square.
Ibrahim had come to us to explain what his organization is now doing
for our four detained friends, Harmeet, Norman, Tom and Jim. They
have produced a leaflet in Arabic and English explaining the work
of CPT and asking for the release of our friends. They have organized
two public demonstrations here in Baghdad at which they have handed
out thousands of these leaflets. Now they were letting us know that
they will be holding another demonstration this Friday.
(CPT has prepared) two statements in Arabic and English, one condemning
the Danish cartoons, and the second asking for the release of our
friends. They will hand those out along with their own.
Ibrahim expects about 170 people to show up for the demonstration.
These demonstrations have already attracted the attention of some
media including Reuters, Turkish TV and Free Iraq Radio. Thanks
be to God for these old friends. They have offered, and continue
to offer so much support during this difficult time. Love to all,
Allan Slater.
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KAIROS launches policy briefing papers series |
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KAIROS has just launched a new publication series called KAIROS Policy Briefing Papers.
The Briefing Papers will be an occasional paper series offering research and analysis on a specific issue. They will be posted to our website, but we will also distribute them through our members' websites, coalition and network listserves, and through the listserves and websites of our partners. We will also produce limited printed versions for distribution at events and meetings, and these can be ordered from our website.
The first two Policy Briefing Papers are now available. The first issue, "Canadian Security: Security for all of us", challenges current justifications for more restrictive immigration policies post 9-11. It advocates for repeal of the Safe Third Country Agreement and improved protection of the rights of refugees and migrants. To read the briefing paper click here.
"Will US debt lead to a financial crisis?" (Issue No. 2 ) considers how the imbalances that threaten global financial stability are rooted in the USA's burgeoning debt.
To read the briefing paper click here.
For more information, contact John Mihevc, Team Leader - Economy of Life, 416 463 5312 x228 or jmihevc
Reminder! World Water Day is coming up on March 22 (read about
it here) and the churches’ Racial Justice Week is too. And
please take our website survey!
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