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July 2015
Read the Letter
The Dignity for All campaign has asked Canada’s premiers to bring their concerns about federal responsibility on poverty to the forefront of their priorities.
Last year, with the passage of C-43 – the omnibus budget implementation bill, the federal government removed the financial penalty for imposing a residency requirement for social assistance. There are exceptions. Canadian citizens, permanent residents, victims of human trafficking with a temporary resident permit, and accepted refugees would not have to meet this requirement. It is those who are not explicitly named who would be most adversely affected, and these are refugees who file their claims in Canada.
From The Catalyst, Summer 2015
Glorious and Free
By Bryce Dymond
FriesenPress, 2015
Reviewed by Naomi Kabugi
Bryce Dymond reminds the reader that poverty is not entirely an issue for developing countries nor does one need to travel outside Canada to see it. Child poverty is a reality in Canada. The cycle of child poverty is a result of, among many other things, abusive homes, addictions, bullying, and mental illness. The story of Glorious and Free invites the reader to contemplate child poverty with an action plan not just to raise awareness about it, but to also contribute to programs that work towards eliminating child poverty in Canada.
From The Catalyst, Summer 2015
Our Only World: Ten Essays
By Wendell Berry
Counterpoint, 2015
Reviewed by Janelle Vandergrift
Before reading it, I assumed Our Only World would focus solely on climate and environment issues. Instead, Wendell Berry weaves an analysis of today’s social and environmental issues as one in the same.
From the Catalyst, Summer 2015
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
By Naomi Klein
Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2014
Reviewed by Karri Munn-Venn
Author and activist Naomi Klein has done it again. This Changes Everything, is at once thick with academic research and deeply grounded in human narrative. It is a profoundly personal account of coming to understand that climate change is the issue of our time.
From The Catalyst Summer 2015 Submit your letters to Brad Wassink, at ac.jpc@darb or 309 Cooper Street, #501, Ottawa, ON K2P 0G5. God’s Call to Reconcile God’s focus in the world (or mission, if we use church-y words) is all about reforming and restoring relationships. This work is primarily done through God’s communal life (the Trinity) … Read more
From the Catalyst, Summer 2015
Canadian Medicare: We Need It and We Can Keep It
By Stephen Duckett and Adrian Peetoom
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013
Reviewed by Adrian Helleman
In this book, Stephen Duckett, an expert in public health, and Adrian Peetoom, an author and publisher who is well-known to some CPJ members, describe the current medicare system in Canada and also prescribe some much-needed improvements.
From the Catalyst, Summer 2015
Fighting Over God: A Legal and Political History of Religious Freedom in Canada
By Janet Epp Buckingham
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014
Reviewed by Kathryn Teeluck
In Fighting Over God, Janet Epp Buckingham offers a fascinating exploration of the historical role of religion in Canadian political life.
She begins her analysis by examining the status of religion before Confederation when religion, particularly Christianity, held a prominent role in every aspect of society.
From The Catalyst, Summer 2015
Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation
By Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
Fortress Press, 2013
Reviewed by Joe Gunn
In May last year, I co-taught a week-long course from the CPJ offices in Ottawa on “public theology” (offered by Waterloo Lutheran Seminary). We took students to visit theAssembly of First Nations and environmental groups, organized panels of Parliamentarians, interviewed Senators, and brought in speakers on topics from ethical issues in healthcare to tax policies. Resisting Structural Evil would have been the perfect textbook from which to base all our sessions.
