JUNE 2010 - IN THIS ISSUE

1) KAIROS G20 Climate Justice Tour Update
2) KAIROS Six Months After...
3) Canadian Council for International Cooperation faces CIDA cut
4) The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
5) How Big is the BP Oil Slick?
6) The Gaza Flotilla
7) Another Human Rights Defender Killed in the Congo

IN BRIEF
1) Choose Life: A Vision for a Peaceful Sudan
2) The Blanket Exercise

FEATURE RESOURCE
In Peace & Friendship: A New Relationship with Aboriginal Peoples

FEATURE PARTNER
Naty Atz Sunc
General Coordinator of CEIBA, the Association for Community Development and Promotion, Guatemala.

NEW MEDIA
Facebook group reaches 1700!

REFLECTION
William Loader on Australia's Day of Apology to the Stolen Generations of its Indigenous Peoples

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE G20: NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL

EVENTS JUNE 19 - 26

As downtown Toronto is cordoned and fenced off, KAIROS keeps up the engagement with numerous workshops, talks and rallies.

Check out the list of events in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Huntsville through this next week >>

Follow the KAIRO G20 Tour blog >>

Join in the Discussion Online >>

NORTH-SOUTH TOWN HALL MEETINGS
JUNE 14-17, 2010

From June 14 to 17, KAIROS undertook a Climate Justice Tour of Canada, with stops in St. John's, Halifax, Fredericton, Victoria, Yellowknife and Regina. Isaiah Kipyegon Toroitich (Program Officer for Policy and Advocacy at Norwegian Church Aid in Kenya), and Naty Atz Sunuc (General Coordinator of CEIBA, the Association for Community Development and Promotion in Guatemala) joined staff and network members on the Eastern tour while Francois Pihaatae (Ecumenical Animator on Climate Change for the Pacific Conference of Churches) and Fred Sangris, a Yellowknives Dene member who studies climate impacts on wildlife, joined us in the West and North. Naty and Isaiah then came to  Toronto for the G8/G20 Peoples' Summit, and Francois attended the Interfaith Leaders' Summit in Winnipeg.

Participants at the well-attended events had the opportunity to hear first hand about the disproportionate impact of climate change on Southern countries and Canada's north, and to discuss with partners what real solutions to these crises might look like. Suggestions included the adoption of science-based targets and timelines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, greater conservation in the North, a meaningful shift towards renewable energy, and increased international development funds to ensure the ability of Southern communities to adapt to the changes such as drought, flooding, food shortages and forced migration that are already happening as a consequence of climate change.

You too can join in this important conversation about climate justice and building a sustainable economy by reading our discussion paper Charting A Roadmap to a Sustainable Future and participating in our online discussion group or providing email feedback to Ecological Justice Program Coordinator Dorothy McDougall at dmcdougall@kairoscanada.org.

The tour was co-sponsored by the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition and the Council of Canadians.

VISIT THE TOUR PAGE HERE

KAIROS Update Six Months After...

Six months ago KAIROS lost its CIDA funding, ending a 35-year collaboration agreement, through which KAIROS and its predecessors provided support to its partners in the Global South. Canadians from coast-to-coast wrote their MPs, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of International Cooperation, urging them to reinstate the funds, and supporting KAIROS' good work.

Thanks to our donors KAIROS has continued to thrive despite this challenge but faces difficult choices in the fall.

Read the report on KAIROS' journey over the last six months >>

THE CANADIAN COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION NEEDS OUR SUPPORT

At this time, KAIROS and the international development community in Canada are gravely concerned that CIDA may be planning to cut funding to our coordinating body, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, by mid-July. CCIC helps 90 international development organizations in Canada, including KAIROS, to work together.

For more than four decades, CCIC has achieved important, positive changes to international development policies - changes that no organization could have achieved alone. De-funding CCIC would be a major blow to the capacity of the international development community in Canada which depends on their research, analysis and guidance. For more information and to lend your support go to CCIC's action page and join the CCIC Facebook group to post a solidarity note. 

THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Read the UNDRIP in online book format >>

On June 9 the leaders of KAIROS' eleven Churches and religious organizations wrote to Ministers Cannon, Moore and Strahl welcoming the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and urging the government of Canada to fully endorse and implement the Declaration. Read the full letter here >> In this letter the Church leaders highlight the First National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission held in Winnipeg from June 16 - 19, 2010. Jennifer Henry, KAIROS' Dignity, Rights & Development manager shares her initial reflections on attending this event.

------------

For more information please contact
Ed Bianchi
Indigenous Rights Program Coordinator
ebianchi@kairoscanada.org
613-235-9956
toll free 1-877-403-8933

HOW BIG IS THE BP OIL SLICK?
BRINGING THE SCALE OF THE DISASTER HOME

An interactive map set up at the website www.ifitwasmyhome.com enables users to place the oil spill, scaled, anywhere in the world. The magnitude of the spill is difficult to imagine but the website gives a shocking picture. For those of us in the Great Lakes region, the spill easily fits both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Halifax? It's easily as big as the entire province of Nova Scotia. Vancouver? The spill could completely engulf Vancouver Island, all the Gulf Islands, extending well inland.

But this analysis from KAIROS moves beyond the spill, discussing it comparatively with the Exxon Valdez, the oil devastation in the Niger Delta, and Canada's own Alberta Tar Sands.

Read the full article here >>

_____________________________

For more information please contact
John Dillon
Economic Justice Program Coordinator
jdillon@kairoscanada.org
(416) 463-5312 x 231
toll free 1-877-403-8933

KAIROS CONDEMNS THE ASSAULT AND KILLING OF PEOPLE ABOARD THE FREEDOM FLOTILLA TO GAZA

KAIROS joins churches and concerned people from around world in condemning the assault and killing of innocent people aboard the humanitarian convoy headed to the Gaza Strip. On May 31st, the Israeli Navy boarded a ship in international waters that was attempting to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, who have been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007. At least 9 civilians were killed in the subsequent assault. All on board the four ships were arrested and detained.

KAIROS urges our government to join the international community in calling for an end to the Gaza blockade, condemning the attack, and supporting an independent investigation into Israel's actions.

Read the full statement here >>

ANOTHER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER KILLED IN THE CONGO
Floribert Chebeya found dead

KAIROS is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Floribert Chebeya Bahizire in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Floribert was the executive director of La Voix des Sans-Voix (Voice of the Voiceless), one of the DRC's most important human rights organizations. He was found dead in his car on Wednesday, June 2nd.

KAIROS is increasingly concerned by the worsening intimidation against Congolese human rights defenders, and the ongoing impunity for crimes committed against them.

The death of Floribert brings to mind the 2005 death of Pascal Kabungulu Kibembi, another leading human rights defender and former executive secretary of KAIROS' partner organization in the DRC, Héritiers de la justice. No one has ever been found responsible for Pascal's death...

Read the full story here >>

FEATURE RESOURCE

This resource provides an opportunity, particularly for non-Aboriginal people, to explore a new relationship with the original inhabitants of this land, one that recognizes Aboriginal peoples' unique nationhood. It may be used as a series of weekly workshops for a local group or linked together for a 2-day conference or retreat. The first and fifth sessions assume a Christian perspective ($14).

To order contact:
Caroline Foster:
416-463-5312 x221
1-877-403-8933 x221
cfoster@kairoscanada.org

FEATURE PARTNER

Naty Atz Sunc
Guatemala
General Coordinator of CEIBA, the Association for Community Development and Promotion

Naty Atz Sunc was born in San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, the daughter of a catechist. Orphaned as a result of the armed conflict in Guatemala in the 1980s, and despite the inaccessibility of education, especially for Indigenous children, she completed secondary school on weekends, eventually completing her studies in law.

She started working in CEIBA (the Association for Community Development and Promotion) in 2001 as the receptionist, and in 2010 became general coordinator. CEIBA provides human rights support and integral community development to communities in Guatemala. Increasingly, the communities it works with have been impacted by unsustainable land use and climate change. CEIBA has accompanied these communities in their efforts to build sustainable alternatives.

Naty joined KAIROS in its Climate Justice G20 Tour, visiting St. John's, Halifax, Fredericton and Toronto.

IN BRIEF

Choose Life: A Vision for a Peaceful Sudan

The Sudanese Church Position paper on the Current Political Situation, the Referenda and Popular Consultations in 2011 and Beyond

View the PDF >>

----------------------------

The Blanket Exercise

A Reflection on 'The Blanket Exercise', a teaching tool used to bring awareness about European Settlers, Indigenous Peoples, and Canada's history >>

Thanks to all of you who have joined us on Facebook. We try to keep you all connected with what we're up to every day, and we hope some of you are finding one another there.

Big thanks too to all who have joined us in posting and/or commenting.

Welcome to all who have joined recently!
And here's a big invite to those who haven't joined yet!

Please join us (all) on Facebook.