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SEPTEMBER 2010 - IN THIS ISSUE
1) Regional Meetings
3) The Land, Our Life: KAIROS Week of Action Oct. 10 - 17, 2010
3) Bill C-300
4) Women of Courage
5) Sisters in Spirit
IN BRIEF
1) KAIROS Position Paper: A Line in the Sand
2) Please Respond to the Disaster in Pakistan
FEATURE RESOURCE
The Land, Our Life Campaign Booklet
FEATURE PARTNER
Vernie Yocogan-Diano
NEW MEDIA
Over 50: the fastest growing demographic on Facebook & Twitter
REFLECTION
'September Greeting' - Dorothy McDougall
KAIROS' Annual Regional Meetings are fast approaching.
Join the network for a weekend of discussion, community and learning.
It has been a challenging and yet inspirational year for KAIROS. This year's Regional Meetings will bring folks together in solidarity to reflect on the successes and difficulties while planning for the upcoming year's campaign and actions. Join us!
We try to ensure that costs do not create barriers for attendance.
Please let us know if you would like more information on subsidies
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Atlantic Region: September 24 - 26
BC - Yukon: October 1 - 3
Great Lakes - St.Lawrence: October 1 - 3
Cambrian - Agassiz: October 16
Prairies North: October 15 - 17
Click here for more details on locations and contacts in your area >>
Download and share the PDF poster for all the meetings!
For more information contact:
Caroline Foster
Partners and Networks Associate
cfoster@kairoscanada.org
416-463-5312 x 221
toll free 1-877-403-8933
The Land, Our Life:
KAIROS Week of Action,
October 10-17, 2010
Indigenous peoples all over the world face unique challenges in terms of poverty, access to education, and other measures of social well-being. A child waking up this morning in an Indigenous community in northern Canada or in Ecuador faces a much different, less certain future than the average non-Indigenous child in North America or Europe. Why? Because, historically, European and North American cultures have been in a position to control their own development whereas Indigenous cultures have not. |
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In 2007, Canadian churches celebrated as the United Nations took a step forward in correcting this injustice by adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The UN Declaration, adopted in 2007, enshrines the right of Indigenous peoples to make decisions about the use of their lands and the resources within them. Canada and the United States, alone in the international community, have failed to endorse the Declaration.
With its recent Statement of Apology to former students of Indian residential schools and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canada has taken steps forward in rebuilding its relationship with Indigenous peoples to one based on mutual respect, responsibility, and sharing. Inspired by our faith’s tradition of Covenant and the Indigenous principles of right relations, KAIROS and its member churches invite you to join us in calling on the government of Canada to endorse and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We are launching this campaign with the October 10-17 KAIROS Week of Action, focussing on the impact of oil development on food security. Click here to download the Week of Action flyer, which includes stories, prayers, and a bulletin insert that you can use in worship during that week. Click here to download the petition.
Visit the campaign website for additional resources, news, and upcoming campaign events -- we have a lot planned!
For more information please contact:
Sara Stratton
Education and Campaigns Coordinator for Sustainability
sstratton@kairoscanada.org
1-877-403-8933 x 241.
KAIROS Bill C-300 Online Petition to MPs
 This is a crucial moment for Bill C-300, the private member’s bill that will set minimum standards for Canadian resource extraction companies operating internationally.
Please use our online Petition form and send a letter directly to your own MP (the form automatically finds your own MP by using your Postal Code), as well as to the leaders of all the parliamentary parties.
Please write to your Member of Parliament today, and urge him or her to support Bill C-300 when it comes up for its third reading vote this fall. KAIROS firmly supports this bill, as it offers the best chance to start holding companies accountable for their impacts on people and the planet. The mining industry has been aggressively lobbying to defeat this bill. In fact, the bill just narrowly passed second reading last year, by a vote of 137-133. The vote was won only after hundreds of Canadians reached out to MPs and reminded them that Canadians are deeply committed to fairness, justice and sustainability; and that we expect our companies to behave responsibly.
Canada needs this bill, and so do people in the global South who are being negatively affected by Canadian-based companies. Please take a moment and contact your MP today.
For more information contact:
Ian Thomson
Ecological Justice through Corporate Accountability
ithomson@kairoscanada.org
613-235-9956 x222
toll free 1-877-403-8933
The Women of Courage delegation returned home after a rich and unforgettable experience in Colombia, eager to share testimonies and experiences and strengthened in our work as human rights defenders. From August 15-25, KAIROS led a delegation of 6 women to Colombia including three Canadian Indigenous women, a migrant justice advocate, a leader in the Quebec social movements and a partner from the Philippines. Unfortunately, at the very last minute, Congolese partner, Chantal Bilulu, was unable to travel to Colombia because of visa obstacles, but she remains an important voice in the women of courage campaign.
Delegates visited Colombian communities that face militarization and daily violence, before joining together to participate in the Women and Peoples’ Summit of the Americas against Militarization, which is sponsored in part by KAIROS partner the Organización Femenina Popular (Popular Women’s Organization, OFP). Some spent over sixty hours on the bus, travelling to Narino and Buenaventure and accompanying women from these communities to the international gathering in Barrancabermeja. In a powerful and profound experience, women who have themselves experienced colonization, discrimination and violence in their own contexts and who are working for healing and change in their communities, spoke to Colombian women about this shared experience.
Click here for more details on the delegation and the delegates >>
Click here to visit the Women of Courage blog for accounts of delegates experiences, photos and videos >>
The delegation marks the beginning of a longer term campaign focusing on the courageous work of women human rights defenders in Canada and around the world.
For more information please contact:
Rachel Warden
Latin America Partnerships Program Coordinator
rwarden@kairoscanada.org
416-463-5312 x 242
toll free 1-877-403-8933
or
John Lewis
Human Rights Program Coordinator
jlewis@kairoscanada.org
416-463-5312 x 224
toll free 1-877-403-8933
Sisters in Spirit
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On October 4, 2010, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and its partners KAIROS, Amnesty International, the Canadian Federation of Students, and the National Association of Friendship Centres will host the fifth annual Sisters in Spirit vigil on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
They will join First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women and their supporters at vigils in communities across Canada to honour their missing and murdered sisters, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, and friends. Together we call for immediate action to end violence against Indigenous women and girls. |
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Click here visit KAIROS Sisters in Spirit web section to learn more about Sisters in Spirit and to find ways of participating in the vigils on October 4.
For more information contact:
Ed Bianchi
Indigenous Rights Program Coordinator
ebianchi@kairoscanada.org
613-235-9956 x222
toll free 1-877-403-8933
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FEATURE RESOURCE
'The Land Our Life' Campaign Booklet
Background information, stories, activities, and prayers for KAIROS’ 2010–2011 'The Land, Our Life' campaign.
20 pages
$5
To order contact:
Caroline Foster:
416-463-5312 x221
1-877-403-8933 x221
cfoster@kairoscanada.org
FEATURE PARTNER
Vernie Yocogan-Diano
Philippines
Executive Director Cordillera Women's Education Center
Vernie Yocogan-Diano is an Indigenous (Kankanaey-Bontoc) woman, a mother and a human rights and community activist from the Cordillera, Philippines. She is currently chair person of Innabuyog and a member of the Regional Council of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA). In June 2009 she became Executive Director of the Cordillera Women’s Education Action Research Center (CWEARC), where she started in 1989 as a networking staff.
Her interests also include globalization (land, food and resources issues) and militarization issues particularly related to Indigenous women. She has written extensively on Indigenous women in the Cordillera region.
View the video of Vernie interviewed at the KAIROS Toronto office with Jim Davis and Connie Sorio >>
"Who are the 'Women of Courage?': YOUTUBE Video >>
For a more detailed bio >>
IN BRIEF
Please Respond to the Disaster in Pakistan >>
Support the millions affected by flooding through one of KAIROS member organizations or churches. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will continue to match donations made by individual Canadians to the Pakistan Flood Relief Fund until October 3, 2010.
Drawing a Line in the Sand:
Why Canada needs to limit tar sands expansion and invest in a green economy
"Development of the Alberta tar sands poses a serious ethical dilemma for Canadians. How can we create meaningful employment and meet our energy needs while at the same time respecting Indigenous rights and the Earth's natural limits?
The way, and the extent, that the tar sands are developed will affect the lives of all Canadians and greatly influence our economy, our trade and foriegn policy priorities, and the legacy we leave to future generations.
KAIROS adopted the following policy positions in November 2009:
1) No further approval for tar sands projects;
2) Support Indigenous communities' and environmental groups' longstanding calls for independant studies, funded by the Alberta and federal governments, on the cumulative impacts of the tar sands development, especially on health, water and ecosystems. These studies must involve Indigenous people and be accessible to them and the public;
3) The federal government must develop a clean and sustainable energy strategy, based on conservation and the development of renewable energy as well as a funded transition plan for sustainable jobs in a renewable energy sector. The principles of ecological sustainability and Indigenous Rights must be applied to the development of renewable energy projects."
To read the full paper click here >>
NEW MEDIA
My Mom is on Facebook?
A great infographic put out by 'flowtown' visually demonstrates the rapid shift in the demographics of current Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) users.
"the most significant growth among these sites in the last several years has been among adults 50 years and older..."
Click on the graphic above to view all the charts and then, of course, join us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter!
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