Spring 2018 – Vol. 41, No. 1
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Our Journeys to Justice
By Joe Gunn
Are church communities the best places to go if you want to engage in social and ecological justice? Is the prophetic desire for justice encouraged to burn in the hearts of church-goers today? Do our ecclesial structures promote animation and action towards public justice?
A new book by Citizens for Public Justice, Journeys to Justice: Reflections on Canadian Christian Activism, answers these questions head on.
In Review
Canada Must End Fossil Fuel Subsidies
By Karri Munn-Venn
Give it up for the Earth! – CPJ’s Lenten climate campaign – has prompted me to think seriously about my personal Lenten journey. In 2017, I decided to “give up” overpackaged goods, and, as much as possible to purchase food in bulk, using reusable jars and bins. The way we spend our money reflects what we deem important. And the same is true of government spending.
That is why Give it up for the Earth! is calling on the Canadian federal government to end all subsidies to the fossil fuel industry right away.
Mobilizing Young Adults for Social Action
By Monique Verhoef
Young adults often get a bad rap. If they aren’t failing to launch, they are too addicted to their “likes,” unreliable, and unengaged. Besides for a few small caveats, I couldn’t disagree more.
But young adults really care, and when given the proper space, place, and some tools, they exercise incredible levels of ingenuity and creativity to raise awareness among their peers and take action in their communities.
Living in the Gap
By Natalie Appleyard
This month, CPJ and the Dignity for All campaign released Living in the Gap: A Snapshot of Precarity in Canada. This report includes six infographics highlighting households across Canada struggling to make ends meet. These profiles represent compilations of typical people’s experiences, with numbers drawn from the actual communities in which they are situated.
The main message of the report is that if we are serious about ending poverty, we need more than piecemeal programs and siloed approaches.
Disenchantment for Refugees in Canada
By Justine Nkurunziza
I thought you could come here as a doctor, physician, engineer, construction worker, or journalist. As an immigrant, you think you’ll be considered at the same level as your Canadian counterparts. But once you land in Canada, your dream is over because you don’t have “Canadian experience.”
Canada does welcome immigrants. But they should be welcomed to Canada with all their dignity, which includes the recognition of their qualifications and various skills.
Groundings: The Living Relationship Between the People and the Land
By Mark MacDonald
Indigenous environmental wisdom is a part of a healing way forward for humanity and ecology. But to be effective it must directly connect Indigenous well-being to the wellbeing of the rest of humanity and creation. With the appreciation of Indigenous wisdom, there must be a moral and practical recognition of the living reality of Indigenous life.
Canada has a potentially vital role to play in this unfolding reality.