KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives unites eleven churches and religious organizations in faithful action for ecological justice and human rights.
Here we offer KAIROS' analysis of emerging issues, or matters of justice that have a particular impact on Indigenous peoples, communities in the global South, and many others. Here we try to raise questions of ethics and values as well as read between the lines of contentious issues. We hope you enjoy the read!
All content has been written or approved by KAIROS unless otherwise indicated. For permission to reprint or distribute, contact info@kairoscanada.org
4 February 2011 Reverberations from street protests in Tunisia and Egypt continue to be felt around the Arab world, and unrest is spreading. The first spontaneous protests broke out in Tunisia, aimed at its autocratic government. They have since spread across the region. Demonstrators gathered on the streets of Yemen last week for a ''day of rage'' against their government. Syrian activists are planning to hold demonstrations in front of parliament in the capital, Damascus, and the Algerian government is trying to defuse tensions by saying it would lift its 19-year state of emergency. The King of Jordan dismissed his country's government in an attempt to fend off unrest there. Protests … [Read more...]
“You're quite patriotic, aren't you?” a friend once remarked. We were both expats living in California. The concept took me by surprise. I never considered myself a flag-waving nationalist. But yes, I had to admit, I am proud to be Canadian. And why not? My country provided safe haven for runaway slaves. My country trained its military as a peacekeeping force. My country provided sanctuary to conscientious objectors. My country turned the human right to healthcare into a national policy. My country led the Ottawa Treaty to rid the world of landmines. My country recognizes a person's constitutional right to marry the one they love. My country gave birth to the most comprehensive … [Read more...]
By Rachel Warden “Last season I lost my crops because there was too much rain, this season I lost them to drought. We used to be able to distinguish between the seasons, and now we can’t. The rains used to bring relief and life, now they bring more heat and disease. ” These are the words I heard over and over again from small farmers (campesinos) in Ixtahuancan, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. I was there to meet with KAIROS’ partner, the Association for Community Development and Promotion (CEIBA), and to better understand its work in resource extraction and climate change. While climate change has meant a growth in a “green” market in the Global North, for some communities in … [Read more...]
Pumped Up: How Canada Subsidizes Fossil Fuels at the Expense of Green Alternatives
KAIROS’ 60 page 2011 study “Pumped Up: How Canada Subsidizes Fossil Fuels at the Expense of Green of Green Alternatives” demonstrates that the fossil fuel industry receives subsidies amounting to 1billion dollars a year from the federal government — resources that could be used to offset the costs of transitioning to a green economy. ------- "The global economy is utterly dependent upon the use of oil and other fossil fuels. Paradoxically, the same resource that is vital to our economy is also killing us, sometimes quickly as a result of the intensified conflict over the control and use of fossil fuels, and sometimes slowly through the degradation of the air that we breathe … [Read more...]