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URGENT ACTIONS

Urgent Action

Urgent actions, normally only current for about a month,

are a way of protesting a violent action or preventing imminent violence such as a murder or military action.

We partner with many groups whose members are threatened with violence as a result of their work for justice. When their lives or the security of their organization are threatened, we respond with letters of protest to those in power and letters of solidarity to those under threat. Occasionally we also send out urgent actions focusing on a key government decisions which demands an immediate response.

KAIROS sends notice of an urgent actions through our network via our website, Facebook, Twitter and our e-mail list.

Partners in both Canada and the global South tell us that our letters do make a difference.

Please write your own response to the situation, using our letter as a guide if needed!







URGENT ACTIONS

Attawapiskat Joint Statement: Urgent action needed to improve living conditions in Aboriginal communities

December 8, 2011 By
DR-IR-11-12-AttawapiskatJointStatement

Canada must meet its human rights obligations. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to enjoy the same standard of living and access to government services that are enjoyed by other people in Canada. They have the right to live and bring up their families on their own lands and territories. Our organizations, Canadian human rights and faith-­‐based groups, are deeply concerned that these basic principles are repeatedly cast in doubt. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Feature 1, Indigenous Rights, Truth, Reconciliation & Equity, UNDRIP Tagged With: , , ,

Attawapiskat: a hard look at the federal government’s response so far

December 2, 2011 By
Attawapiskat Logo

1 December 2011 KAIROS Urgent Action Background information As of November 30, federal leaders and the Red Cross have now visited the northern Ontario Cree community of Attawapiskat, which is a step forward. The Red Cross is flying in emergency supplies like winter sleeping bags. However, no emergency or long term funding for housing has been committed by either the provincial or federal government despite the onset of winter, and the latest word from the federal government is very troubling. The Minister of Aboriginal Affairs' November 30 announcement that he is putting the community's finances under the control of a government appointed third-party manager deflects attention from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Dignity & Rights, Feature 2, Indigenous Rights, The Land Our Life, Truth, Reconciliation & Equity, UNDRIP Tagged With: , , ,

KAIROS urgent action: Cree community of Attawapiskat, Ontario calls a state of emergency as hundreds face winter in tents and sheds

November 25, 2011 By
Attawapiskat Students

'Attawapiskat: a hard look at the federal government’s response so far' - KAIROS commentary, Dec.2, 2011 Statement by Attawapiskat Chief and Council on notice of Third Party intervention - Dec.1, 2011 Please click here for a full background PDF version of this Urgent Action Photo by Phil Fontaine Summary: In early November the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario took the extraordinary step of declaring a state of emergency. Faced with the beginning of winter, overcrowded housing and over one hundred people who have no houses at all, Chief Theresa Spence asked the federal and provincial government to recognize a state of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Dignity & Rights, Feature 1, Indigenous Rights, Urgent Actions Tagged With: ,

Attawapiskat First Nation: Background

November 25, 2011 By

Dr. Elizabeth Blackmore, one of 15 family doctors for the James Bay coast, said at a recent press conference on Attawapiskat, “I often have to remind myself that I am still working in the province of Ontario... From a medical perspective, we see this as an emergency and that something has to be done.” She said the overcrowding and lack of hygiene present in the community lead to increased infectious diseases, scabies, lice, respiratory problems and acute depression. Substance abuse and suicide often follow. The Member of Parliament for the area, Charlie Angus, writes: “Two weeks ago I travelled to this community on the James Bay coast to see why conditions had become so extreme that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Rights, Take Action, Truth, Reconciliation & Equity, Urgent Actions Tagged With: ,

Joint Statement to be read Oct. 4:
Sisters in Spirit Vigils – A Movement for Social Change

October 3, 2011 By
DR-IR-11-10-SISVigils

Each year on October 4th communities across Canada come together to honour the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. As we do so, we remember the lives of sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers tragically taken from us. Today, we offer our support and sympathy to their families and we join with them in demanding justice. Statistics consistently show that Aboriginal women face much higher levels of violence than all other women in Canada. The Native Women's Association of Canada has documented more than 600 cases of Aboriginal women and girls who have been murdered or who remain missing. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Dignity & Rights, Feature 1, Indigenous Rights, Truth, Reconciliation & Equity, Urgent Actions

KAIROS joins call for investigation into the murder of yet another mining activist in El Salvador

June 27, 2011 By
Juan Francisco Durán Ayala

KAIROS is deeply saddened and concerned to learn that another environmental and community activist has been murdered in El Salvador. We join civil society organizations in El Salvador and Canada in calling for a full investigation into the murder of Juan Francisco Durán Ayala. This is the fourth murder in two years that local organizations believe are linked to the presence of Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining in the department of Cabañas. On June 2nd, Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, a thirty-year old linguistics student at the Technological University in San Salvador, was hanging posters in the city of Ilobasco, in the department of Cabañas. The posters were part the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dignity & Rights, Feature 1, Mining Action, Trade & Rights Tagged With: ,

Drumming for the future

January 6, 2011 By

 The Lethbridge Herald covers KAIROS 'Beat the Drum' Day of Action http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/local-news/drumming-for-the-future-12610.html … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Rights, Urgent Actions

Cross Canada KAIROS Groups Drum for Justice on Indigenous Rights

November 30, 2010 By

Photo Opportunity Toronto/For Immediate Release                                     Tuesday, November 30, 2010 WHO:           KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives local groups and local churches. WHAT:       Events in communities across Canada where people will drum together in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and call for implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and for climate justice. Participants in these celebratory events will hear from speakers, share meals and sign holiday cards to their Members of Parliament, stating that they “expect ongoing, full, and sincere … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Rights

December 5th “Beat the Drum” Action Update

November 17, 2010 By

A victory! On November 12 the federal government announced that Canada will endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This reverses its previous position, and means that Canada is no longer one of only two countries that have refused to endorse the Declaration. The December 5 Day of Action IS going ahead. Together we can all celebrate achieving an important step. Now we need to begin to make it real. The UN Declaration invites a commitment to right relationship from all of us. Whether your Day of Action is taking place in church or as a public event, this is a chance for all Canadians to learn more about the Declaration and to break down barriers of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action for Indigenous Rights, Indigenous Rights

G-20: Take Action on Financial Transaction Taxes

November 11, 2010 By

International Civil Society Statement to the G-20 Leaders Summit in Seoul "We, the undersigned civil society organizations from 32 countries, urge G-20 leaders to make concrete progress towards the introduction of an internationally coordinated financial transactions tax (FTT) at the upcoming summit in Seoul.   Our organizations have long advocated that such taxes are a practical way to generate revenues needed to fill domestic and international financing gaps, discourage the type of short-term financial speculation that has little social value but poses high risks to the economy and serve as a desperately-needed and sustainable source of financing for health and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Action Against Poverty, Global Finance, Take Action
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