Author Archive

KAIROS local group promotes mining justice documentary to neighbouring communities

October 23, 2018

Editor’s Note: Here is a fabulous example of the work of the KAIROS network.  Members of the Salmon Arm Ecumenical KAIROS Committee had seen the documentary ‘Flin Flon Flim Flam,’ produced by award-winning investigative journalist John Dougherty, and wanted other…

Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Regional News

KAIROS partner, South Sudan Council of Churches responds to latest peace plan in South Sudan

October 22, 2018

As a Church, we believe that peace is not something on paper. Peace is a practical reality on  the ground.” This time the peace agreement must not be allowed to fail. This time they will hammer their swords into plowshares…

Post filed in: Africa, Gender Justice/Women of Courage

Héritiers de la Justice collaboration with 2018 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Dr. Dénis Mukwege 

October 12, 2018

Photo: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Dénis Mukwege congratulated by local civil society partners October 6, 2018 at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo including Neema Lubala, sixth from right, and Chantal Bilulu from KAIROS partner Héritiers…

Post filed in: Africa, Gender Justice/Women of Courage

Spirited Reflection: Getting past ecological grief

October 12, 2018

On a cool, windy afternoon in early September, speakers took to the microphone at Waterloo Public Square joining people on seven continents to “Rise for Climate.” When two young adults took their turns, their tears and cracked voices stirred something…

Post filed in: Spirited Reflections

NEW VIDEO: Launch of updated Education for Reconciliation Report Card

October 10, 2018

Photo: Ellen Wood, Jennifer Henry, Alison Cox, Shannon Perez, Cheryl McNamara, Susie McPherson and Ed Bianchi. The E4R Report Card was released on October 9th, 2018 at a press conference at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg….

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights

KAIROS Times: October 2018

October 2, 2018

Hot off of the press! Read the October 2018 KAIROS Times Newsletter.

Post filed in: KAIROS Times E-Newsletter

Help foreign migrant workers stay in Canada. 1000 letters to be sent by November 2.

September 28, 2018

This October, join thousands of Canadians and migrant workers in calling on the Canadian government to take action! Only 2 minutes of your time to send a letter to your MP Canada’s Caregiver Pilot Program ends in November 2019. This…

Post filed in: Migrant Justice

At University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine, leaders take part in KAIROS Blanket Exercise that teaches Indigenous history and trauma

September 27, 2018

  Photo by Liam Mitchell: Department chairs and senior leaders in the Faculty of Medicine participate in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise.   Dr. Lisa Richardson, co-lead of Indigenous Medical Education in the MD Program, says that the KAIROS Blanket Exercise is…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights

Spirited Reflection: Orange Shirt Day

September 18, 2018

Orange Shirt Day is on Sunday, September 30. The day is inspired by Phyllis Jack Webstad’s experience. On her first day at residential school in 1973, Phyllis was stripped of her new orange shirt, a shirt that had brought her…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections

Urge Senators to support the UN Declaration Act

September 18, 2018

Join KAIROS in urging all Senators to vote in favour of Bill C-262, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. KAIROS is part of a Coalition of Faith Based Organizations* that is focused on ensuring that the…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates

Federal Court of Appeal overturns approvals for Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project

September 14, 2018

  September 5, 2018 “I’m glad today the courts heard the teachings of our culture and our spirit…” Chief Rueben George, Tsleil-Waututh First Nation KAIROS Canada recognizes the importance of the August 30 Federal Court of Appeal decision to overturn…

Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights

Spirited Reflection: Youth and children: raising hope and making change

September 12, 2018

World Council of Churches Week of Prayer for Peace in Israel Palestine Timing is everything, so they say, and the truth of this applied in the coincidence of reading a review of a book about the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian…

Post filed in: Middle East, Spirited Reflections

Trailblazer: T’Sou-ke First Nation Solar and Greenhouse Initiatives

September 4, 2018

“In order to achieve sustainability, it needed to embrace traditional values, including deep respect for Mother Earth.” – Chief Planes  In an effort to build a stronger, more sustainable economy the T’Sou-ke First Nation is “setting the table for future…

Post filed in: Ecological Justice

Resilience and collective responsibility in peace building in Palestine

August 20, 2018

In July, my colleague Rachel Warden and I travelled to the West Bank to visit with Wi’am: Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center, one of five KAIROS partner organizations in the Women of Courage: Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program. I was…

Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Middle East

Ecumenical Call to stop the demolition of Khan al Ahmar

August 16, 2018

“By silence and inaction, governments have become complicit in this violation of international law…” KAIROS joins fifteen international faith-based, civil society, and human rights organizations from around the world in collectively calling on our governments to take action to stop…

Post filed in: Middle East

KAIROS Signs-on to letter in response to killing of Guatemalan land and life defender Ángel Estuardo Quevedo

August 8, 2018

In response to the killing of human rights defender Ángel Estuardo Quevedo on July 12, 2018 in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Lima, Guatemala,   KAIROS has joined over 60 civil society organizations from across Canada and the United States…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Latin America

Witness to Injustice: The KAIROS Blanket Exercise

August 8, 2018

Photo: This painting features an Onondaga Gustoweh (headgear) by Onondaga artist Josephine M. Cook for the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign. Posters can be purchased online. This article was written by Kaluhyanu:wes and Michelle Schenandoah and originally published in Onoñda’geh…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights

Spirited Reflection: From reconciliation to reckoning

August 1, 2018

August 9th is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the day set aside by the United Nations to promote the protection of Indigenous rights and to mark the day, thirty-six years ago, that a working group focused on…

Post filed in: Spirited Reflections

Grassroots feminist initiatives for peace in post-agreement Colombia

July 30, 2018

In the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia, where the Organización Femenina Popular (Popular Feminist Organization or OFP) operates, a climate of political uncertainty, social insecurity, and economic precarity prevails. While the signing of the Final Peace Agreement—unprecedented in its inclusion…

Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Latin America

Indigenous and Newcomer Friendships: Building relationships of solidarity

July 25, 2018

Guests of the Festival of Faith were invited to participate in a workshop presented by Alfredo Barahona and Dawn Maracle that shared experiences with the KAIROS Blanket Exercise and the KAIROS project, Indigenous and Newcomer Friendships for a Just and Inclusive Community. While…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights

Letter to the Editor: Investing in peace will reduce need for defence spending

July 18, 2018

Re: “NATO or not, Canadian defence spending should rise,” (The Hill Times, July 11, p.8). As the government considers an increase in defence spending, I hope it will also invest in effective peacebuilding efforts in the world’s most vulnerable regions….

Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage

Trailblazer: Iron and Earth

July 18, 2018

Towards a Renewable Energy Economy Fossil fuel extraction creates a boom and bust cycle for the economy.  Nowhere is this truer than in Canada, where workers in the oil, gas and coal industry are starting to look to renewable energy…

Post filed in: Ecological Justice

Canada boosts transformative work of grassroots women peace builders

June 26, 2018

Women are often prime targets in war but, when given the chance, they can also be critical agents for peace. Isabel Caicedo is one such woman. Forcibly displaced from her home after paramilitary forces massacred her neighbours during a decades-long…

Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage

Why this blanket exercise is now essential training for RCMP cadets

June 26, 2018

The exercise synthesizes 500 years of colonization under the observation of a local Indigenous elder.  This past winter, the RCMP introduced a new educational tool at its Regina training academy: the KAIROS blanket exercise. Developed by its namesake ecumenical advocacy organization,…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights

KAIROS Times: June 2018

June 25, 2018

Hot off the press! The June 2018 KAIROS Times.

Post filed in: KAIROS Times E-Newsletter

Blanket exercise coordinator educates non-Indigenous people about shared history of Canada

June 22, 2018

Susan Beaudin knows about the power of a blanket. The educator from Cowessess First Nation is a residential school survivor. She is also the Kairos Blanket Exercise Coordinator for Saskatchewan. In her role, she travels to different communities, institutions, and…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights