Citizens for Public Justice

From The Catalyst, Summer 2016

Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada

By Ratna Omidvar and Dana Wagner

Between the Lines, 2015

Reviewed by Kathryn Teeluck

In Flight and Freedom, Ratna Omidvar and Dana Wagner give a human voice to what has become a political issue. An issue that has been lost in a barrage of incomprehensible statistics and photos of faceless crowds crammed into boats. They weave together a narrative of the common themes faced by many refugees. But the authors still maintain the distinctiveness and uniqueness of each individual’s experience.

From The Catalyst, Summer 2016

Disarming Conflict: Why Peace Cannot Be Won on the Battlefield

By Ernie Regehr

Between the Lines, 2015

Reviewed by Jennifer Wiebe

“Peace, no less than politics, is the art of the possible,” writes Ernie Regehr (O.C.). Regehr is widely respected as a peace researcher, security and disarmament specialist, and co-founder of Project Ploughshares. In this book, he unravels our deeply-entrenched assumptions about both the inevitability and efficacy of military force in resolving conflict.

From The Catalyst, Summer 2016

Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada’s Lost Promise and One Girl’s Dream

By Charlie Angus

University of Regina Press, 2015

Reviewed by Will Postma

Children of the Broken Treaty is a highly readable account of the indigenous young people of James Bay. Angus outlines their struggle for an education equal in quality and funding to that of other Canadian youth.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ottawa, ON: June 28, 2016 – Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, is meeting with his provincial and territorial counterparts this week. Before the meetings, Duclos announced his plans to develop a National Housing Strategy over the next year.

by Danielle Rowaan 

“When you hear about all the assimilation policies one after the other, you sit back and think ‘whoa,’” says Shannon Perez.  Shannon has experienced and led the Blanket Exercise, an interactive workshop developed by KAIROS that walks participants through the history of Canada from the perspective of Indigenous peoples, dozens of times.

June 2016

Read the Letter

CPJ has joined 26 other Canadian environmental, faith, and international development organizations to write to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for Canada to re-join the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Closing the International Accountability Gap
June 2016
Read the Statement

CPJ calls on the Government of Canada to ensure that people harmed by the overseas operations of Canadian mining, oil and gas companies are able to access justice in Canada.

Submission to Environment and Climate Change Canada

June 2016

Download the brief

CPJ is calling for a Canadian climate action plan that establishes a new emissions reduction target based on scientific estimates of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions budget, and contributes equitably towards the 1.5°C limit on global warming aspired to in the Paris Agreement. To achieve this target, CPJ calling for the implementation of clear, quantifiable, time-bound measures to (1) reduce GHG emissions, (2) develop a low-carbon economy, and (3) provide justice for those most directly impacted by climate change.

CPJ’s infographic on why Christians are asking for a strong pan-Canadian climate plan.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time. It is altering the physical environment of the Earth, devastating ecosystems, and contributing to social, economic, and political instability around the world. Still, many continue to see climate change and its impacts as someone else’s problem – whether they be elsewhere in Canada or across the…