Indigenous Rights
JOB OPPORTUNITIES: Apply for the role of KAIROS Blanket Exercise Coordinator (Alberta), Application deadline May 1, 2019..
April 11, 2019
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Uncategorized
NEW VIDEO: Join us for the largest Mass KAIROS Blanket Exercise ever in Atlantic Canada (1:00)
April 11, 2019
Post filed in: Gathering, Indigenous Rights
Chat with Activists: Kenn Stright on passionate activism
April 1, 2019
Kenn Stright has worked tirelessly for social and ecological rights for more than 40 years. A retired Presbyterian Minister, and past KAIROS Atlantic Regional Representative, Kenn is on the planning team for Streams of Justice: Atlantic Gathering 2019. We recently…
Post filed in: Gathering, Indigenous Rights
Spirited Reflection: The outsider insider perspective- how a KBE changed me
March 29, 2019
I am a settler in Canada and having immigrated from India about a year ago, I felt a longing need not just to belong here, but also to be able to connect with the cultural and historical past of this…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Budget 2019: KAIROS analysis
March 28, 2019
While Budget 2019 contains encouraging investments in Indigenous communities and the transition to a clean energy economy, it falls short in many other areas. What follows is an assessment of what Budget 2019 means for issues related to the KAIROS…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Gender Justice, Indigenous Rights, Women of Courage
Regional news – Thank you Janet Gray!
March 28, 2019
As a community we offer a huge ‘Thank you’ to Janet Gray for 6 years of dedicated and creative service in the role of KAIROS British Columbia Yukon Regional Representative. There are many, many volunteers across the country who give…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Spirited Reflection: This land’s not my land, This land’s not your land
March 7, 2019
The First Sunday in Lent “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor” …. (Deuteronomy 26:1-11) So begins a recitation of the history of the people who wandered, were enslaved in Egypt, and then, through the Exodus, eventually came to the promised…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Why a blanket exercise made me disappointed, uncomfortable and angry
March 1, 2019
SHINING A HARSH LIGHT ON THE IMPACTS OF COLONIZATION On a cloudy, fall afternoon at NAIT Main Campus, a circle of chairs are arranged around five patterned blankets laid flat on the floor. It’s a homey scene – one of…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
NEW VIDEO: Bill C-262- a step towards reconciliation in Canada (2:17)
February 27, 2019
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates, Video Playlists & Photo Albums
Communities coming together for Reconciliation
February 19, 2019
Reflections on the Blanket Exercise On June 9th, 2018, Vancouver Monthly Meeting gathered with the Vancouver Unitarian community on unceded Musqueam and Coast Salish territory in a beautiful intergenerational Blanket Exercise. The Blanket Exercise is a teaching tool developed by…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Spirited Reflection: From the Doctrine of Discovery to the killing of Colten Boushie
February 15, 2019
When an apparently all-white jury acquitted Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley a year ago of any wrongdoing in the August 2016 killing of 22-year-old Cree man, Colten Boushie, their action pierced the hearts of Indigenous people and their allies across Turtle…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Federal, provincial and territorial interpretation and implementation of FPIC must be aligned with Canada’s human rights obligations
February 14, 2019
In December, in two separate letters issued under their Early-Warning Measures and Urgent Action Procedures, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) called on Canada to seek independent, expert advice on implementation of the right of…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Ecumenical letter to Senators on Bill C-262
February 8, 2019
Ten faith based organizations urge Canada’s Senators to support Bill C-262, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. In a joint letter released on February 7, the Senators were reminded that the time for action is now. KAIROS…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Spirited Reflection: When called to paths toward reconciliation
February 6, 2019
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany 5 – February 10, 2019 Luke 5:1-11 we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets. (Luke 5:5) For me, 2018 was a year…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Christians working on global issues can be a thankless job
January 17, 2019
Finding pathways to truth and reconciliation has become the latest focus for Christian activists in Canada. The nation’s churches and church members have been active on social justice issues over many decades, a Lethbridge audience was reminded Thursday. But Joe…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
KAIROS Blanket Exercise a sad journey into Indigenous history
January 8, 2019
It was like gazing at a map of the world, but one turned upside-down. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a two-hour journey through 400 years of tragedy, and it evokes a powerful sense of the wrongs Indigenous people have suffered…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Needs Improvement: Educators make progress on Indigenous curriculum, but more work to do
December 14, 2018
In the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to include more study on Indigenous issues in school curriculum, it appears educators across the country are taking the recommendations to heart. In its second report card on how Canadian…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
“We’re definitely not the best nation in the world,” school children learn about colonialism
December 5, 2018
“Getting to the truth was hard, but getting to reconciliation will be harder. It requires that the paternalistic and racist foundations of the residential school system be rejected as the basis for an ongoing relationship. “Reconciliation requires that a new…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise in Ireland
December 3, 2018
A KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) team travelled to Ireland in November to facilitate the exercise for Trócaire, a development and emergency relief agency that works “to support the most vulnerable people in the developing world, while also raising awareness of…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Ecumenical Community writes PM regarding recent Supreme Court decision
November 21, 2018
On November 9, in response to the Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada Supreme Court of Canada decision, KAIROS Canada and Mennonite Church Canada (MCC) wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to ensure that Indigenous Peoples are fully involved…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Winds of Change: Education for Reconciliation update in BC
November 7, 2018
On October 30, 2018 a delegation consisting of Janet Gray (BC-Yukon KAIROS Regional Representative) Susan Draper (KAIROS Victoria), Rev. Laura Kavanagh (KAIROS national steering committee member), Ruth D’Hollander (Aboriginal Neighbours), and Indigenous leaders and educators, Nella and Alex Nelson, met…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Ontario mustn’t backslide on education about Indigenous issues
October 29, 2018
It was déjà vû. When the Ontario government cancelled curriculum-writing sessions this summer on truth and reconciliation, I was immediately taken back to 1998 when I was part of a team writing curriculum for the Ontario Ministry of Education. At…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
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
MEDIA RELEASE: Encouraging progress on TRC Call to Action 62.i: Education for Reconciliation
October 9, 2018
(Ottawa, ON) – The majority of provinces and territories are making progress towards implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Call to Action 62.i – also known as Education for Reconciliation, according to KAIROS Canada in its updated…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Media Releases
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
