If, as Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, the ultimate measure of a man is where he stands at times of challenge and controversy, Gerald Vandezande was truly an exceptional man. Gerry, as he liked to be known, never backed down from a challenge when it came to the causes he believed in. During his career as a public policy analyst and social justice advocate, Gerry took to his public justice pulpit to speak on a number of different issues affecting Canadian society. These issues included everything from aboriginal rights, economic development and educational equality to poverty and refugee rights. Gerry’s work and passion for Christ and public justice is well memorialized by the extensive list of accomplishments he leaves behind. Among these is the Order of Canada which he received in 2001, a testament to his contribution to Canadian society and social justice.
As a young man, one of the first causes Gerry championed was that of the Christian labour movement. For years, Christian workers had sought to form their own labour union as a way to ensure their workplace reflected the biblical principles and practices that governed their lives. Gerry worked with the Christian Labour Association of Canada from 1961 to 1972. During that time he challenged the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) which continually refused to recognize CLAC on the grounds that they believed a union based on Christian social principles would discriminate against non-Christians. Although CLAC demonstrated this was not the case, the OLRB refused to relent. In spite of warnings from legal advisors and clergy who were opposed to taking the government to court, Gerry and CLAC took their case to the Supreme Court of Ontario where they won the union’s certification. Riding this triumphant wave, Gerry saw similar rulings passed in British Columbia and Alberta.
In 1961, Gerry co-founded the Committee for Justice and Liberty (CJL), a faith-based organization which advocated and applied Christian principles to public justice issues. In 1963, the date we celebrate as CPJ’s birthday, CJL became incorporated and took the name the CJL Foundation. Gerry’s pursuit of public justice and the common good led him, and his colleague John Olthuis, into the field of native rights. In 1975, a plan was proposed which would see oil and gas pipelines built through the traditional land of the Dene people in the Mackenzie Valley of the Northwest Territories. In the “No Pipeline Now” campaign, Gerry and John aligned themselves with other activists and church members who were concerned about the environmental and social impacts of the pipeline. CJL proposed a ten year moratorium be placed on the project, a proposal that became the major recommendation of the Berger Inquiry into the pipeline. CJL also appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge the involvement of Marshall Crowe, the Chair of the National Energy Board panel deciding on the future of the pipeline. Crowe had previously been associated with one of the firms linked to the consortium bidding for the pipeline license. When all the smoke finally cleared, Gerry, John and CJL were successful in seeing that the interests of the native people and the public common good were put before the commercial interests of the oil and gas companies. The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline proposal was shelved.
Though not as easily measured as the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline victory – but no less important, Gerry’s ability to bring people together from various faith and political perspectives for the common good was an achievement few have mastered. In the late 1990s, he helped to form an Evangelical Fellowship of Canada-led group, the Ontario Multi-Faith Coalition for Equity in Education (OMCEE). Gerry built relationships with members of the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and secular communities around the subject of public funding for independent religious schools. Though little progress was made through the court system, Gerry remained steadfast in his belief that the government should fund independent religious schools in the same manner Catholic schools are funded. Likewise, Gerry’s belief in reaching across religious and political lines allowed him to mobilize a network of like-minded groups to address the social service cutbacks of the Harris government’s “Common Sense Revolution.” Many of these groups are now part of today’s Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC).
As co-founder, first executive director and later national public affairs director of CJL (which would later become Citizens for Public Justice), Gerry had tremendous influence over CPJ’s structure and organizational mandate. Through CPJ, Gerry’s commitment to bringing people together to discuss, in a non-partisan way, strategies for change concerning public justice issues has been realized. With Gerry’s help, CPJ has built a national reputation for addressing poverty, the environment and immigration, along with many other important social justice concerns. Gerry’s positive “be for something not just against something” message still resonates heavily within CPJ’s public policy work. The organization not only critiques current policy positions from a faith-based perspective but also brings well-researched, thought- out alternatives to meetings with politicians, church leaders and citizens. With approximately 1,200 members, Gerry’s legacy, through CPJ, will live on for many years to come.
