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Kairos Times: May/June 2008, Vol 7, #4
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In this edition:
- URGENT ACTION: KAIROS calls for MPs to vote no to Bill C-33 on Biofuels
- Assembly of First Nations Day of Action - May 29, 2008
- Help the Save Darfur Canada coalition collect 300,000 postcards
- Pumped Up: How Canada subsidizes fossil fuels at the expense of green alternatives
- Good enough to work…Good enough to stay
- International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel: 4-10 June 2008
- Citizens for Public Justice poverty reduction workshops – coming to a city near you!
- Filipino working class hero Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran leaves a living legacy.
1)
URGENT ACTION: KAIROS calls for MPs to vote no to Bill C-33
on Biofuels
Thank you to everyone who has responded to our URGENT ACTION on Bill C-33. This Bill provides significant governmental subsidy for biofuels (also known as agrofuels). KAIROS’ own research into biofuels has raised very serious questions about their impact on the world’s food supply.
Since last week, KAIROS has received copies of over 100 letters to the government calling to defeat this bill. If you haven’t responded to this URGENT ACTION, please do so immediately. This bill could come to a third and final reading any day.
To participate in the URGENT ACTION please visit
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/urgent/uaNoToC-33Biofuels080513.asp.
For more information contact Dale Hildebrand, Team Leader for
Human Rights and Peacebuilding at dhildebrand
.
Top
of page2) Assembly of First Nations Day of Action - May 29, 2008
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and First Nations people are inviting all Canadians to join them on May 29 for a National Day of Action.
Last year's Day of Action focused on raising awareness of some of the challenges facing Indigenous peoples in Canada, including poverty. This year the AFN is asking all Canadians to join in calling on the Government of Canada to work with First Nations for a better future built on protecting First Nations children, investing in their future, and respecting everyone's rights and responsibilities. Please send a post card to Stephen Harper expressing your concerns around these issues. Postcards can be found at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/aboriginal/index.asp.
At the invitation of the AFN, Primate Fred Hiltz of the Anglican Church will be present as a representative of the church community at the Ottawa event. If you are not able to be in Ottawa on May 29 for the ceremony on Victoria Island and the march to Parliament Hill, you may want to consider gathering with others in your own community. While you're at it, ask your political representatives where they stand on these issues. Don't forget to send a message of support to the Assembly of First Nations as well. Messages can be sent to nda@afn.ca.
For more information contact Ed Bianchi, Indigenous Rightebianchi or 613-235-9956 ext. 221. Or you can visit the AFN web site at www.afn.ca.
3) Help the Save Darfur Canada coalition collect 300,000 postcards
The Save Darfur Canada coalition has launched its first national
postcard campaign. With the participation of KAIROS, the Canadian
Jewish Congress, the Muslim Canadian Congress, STAND Canada and
many others, the coalition aims to collect 300,000 postcards by
the fall of 2008 and deliver them to Parliament. That’s one
postcard for every life lost in Darfur. We need your help to convince
the Canadian government that Canadians care about peace in Darfur
and that we want our government to act. Please help us to sign
postcards or to distribute information about the campaign in your
networks. To order postcards for your family, school, or place
of worship, simply go to
http://www.sdcanada.org/en/postcards/postcards_ordering.html or
call 514-935-8806. The coalition will be happy to send you as many
postcards as you need free of cost or for a free-will donation.
Over 110,000 postcards have been mailed across the country to date,
but we still have a long way to go!
For more information about KAIROS' work for peace in Sudan, please
see
http://kairoscanada.org/e/countries/sudan/index.asp or
contact John Lewis, Program Coordinator for International Human
Rights, at jlewis
or
1-877-403-8933 ext. 224.
4) Pumped Up: How Canada subsidizes fossil fuels at the expense of green alternatives
This new KAIROS study investigates how the federal government spends $1 billion a year on subsidies to the oil and gas industries when the majority of Canadians would prefer actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The study shows that even if all the GHG reduction initiatives announced so far by Ottawa meet their announced goals, Canadian emissions will still remain 31% above our Kyoto targets.
By 2015 GHG emissions from the tar sands alone are predicted to equal or exceed the annual reductions from all the programs announced to date by the federal government.
The study advocates redirecting subsidies from fossil fuels to energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy alternatives. It calls for firm limits on GHG emissions from industry. It also advocates carbon taxes to promote conservation and markets for low-carbon alternatives counterbalanced by measures to protect low-income Canadians.
To access a copy of Pumped Up: How Canada subsidizes fossil fuels at the expense of green alternatives click on the following link: http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/ecology/PumpedUpInsides080415.pdf.
For more information contact John Dillon, Program Coordinator, Global Economic Justice, at jdillon or 1-877-403-8933 ext. 231.
5) Good enough to work…Good enough to stay
During the past few weeks KAIROS and allied community and grassroots immigrant organizations have been voicing our concerns with regards to the changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
These changes are being introduced as part of Bill C-50, which is actually a budget bill. Bill C-50 will grant the immigration minister the power to issue instructions about which categories of applications to expedite. If implemented, this bill will allow the government to effectively engage in “queue jumping”. With these changes ministerial instructions can be issued at any given time without proper accountability and other check and balance mechanisms in place; the minister’s instructions will not be subject to parliamentary debate.
Minister Finley has made it clear that the current government’s objective is to “help business stay in business”. While KAIROS recognizes the importance of a strong and healthy economy, KAIROS is concerned with the impact of these proposed changes to Canada’s long-standing immigration vision of a fully settled, integrated and equally participating immigrant communities in Canadian life.
KAIROS agrees with Minister Finley’s affirmation that the system is broken and needs fixing. However, we strongly disagree with the way in which her government is proposing to fix it. KAIROS believes that Canada should offer migrant workers the opportunity to come as permanent residents, and to participate equally in Canadian life accompanied by their families. From a policy point of view, this makes more sense for Canada in the long run and is well in line with KAIROS’ basic affirmation that our Creator loves all people equally and wants justice and peace for all.
To read more about Bill C-50 please visit:
Canadian Council for Refugees
http://www.ccrweb.ca/documents/c50tenreasons.htm
British Columbia and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council (PDF document)
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
http://ocasi.org/index.php?qid=967
For more information contact Alfredo Barahona, Program Coordinator, Refugees and Migrants at abarahona or 1-877-403-8933 ext. 251.
6) International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel: 4-10 June 2008
The year 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the 1948 founding of the state of Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust. 2008 is also the 60th year of the Nakba, Arabic for ‘catastrophe’, which refers to the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their lands when Israel was formed. A sustainable and just peace that will end the violence and insecurity requires recognition of the Palestinian right to self-determination and a sovereign Palestinian state, recognition of Israel as a sovereign state, and respect by both states for human rights and international law.
On behalf of our eleven member churches and agencies in Canada, KAIROS joins with the World Council of Churches in its worldwide call. See http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/partners/mideast/israelPalestine/index.asp for a bulletin insert and supplementary resources for use in your parish or community.
See also the web site of the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, a member of KAIROS, for an excellent summary. And have a look at the ICAPPI page on the World Council of Churches’ website.
For more information contact Dale Hildebrand, Team Leader for Human Rights and Peacebuilding at dhildebrand@kairoscanada.org or 1-877-403-8933 ext. 235.
7) Citizens for Public Justice poverty reduction workshops – coming to a city near you!
As part of the Envisioning Canada without Poverty campaign, our ecumenical partner Citizens for Public Justice has embarked on a national tour, hosting poverty reduction workshops in cities across the country. CPJ hopes these engaging and thought-provoking discussions will challenge participants to take action on poverty by engaging with their Members of Parliament.
Check out the dates on the site below to see when CPJ will be in your neighbourhood. No registration required – simply come and join the conversation. If you can’t make it to the workshop, be sure to visit www.canadawithoutpoverty.ca and see how you can get involved. Together, we can work towards a Canada without poverty.
CPJ's work echoes KAIROS' continued work on the urgent need for provinces and the federal government to get serious about addressing poverty. For more information, contact Jill Carr-Harris, Interim Coordinator for Canadian Social Development, at jcarrharris or 1-877-403-8933 ext. 237.
8) Filipino working class hero Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran leaves a living legacy
On May 20, 2008 a dear friend of KAIROS, Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran died in Quezon City, Philippines of severe head injuries due to an accidental fall. Ka Bel, 75, was a great labour leader, representative to the ANAKPAWIS Party for his third term in Philippine Congress, and recent delegation member of the KAIROS co-sponsored Stop the Killings Campaign. Ka Bel and two other Philippine Parliamentarians visited Canada in April 2008 to bring attention to the human rights situation in the Philippines to the Canadian government. The KAIROS staff had the privilege of hosting the delegation at the offices in Toronto before the group headed to Ottawa for meetings with the federal government. (Click here for the pictorial tribute of Ka Bel’s visit to Canada).
Ka Bel presented to the government findings of a study on the human rights situation in the Philippines and Canada-Philippines relations. Click here to see the research study. He called on Canada to disclose all bilateral support it is providing the Philippine government, particularly that related to security and peace building initiatives, and also review how this bilateral funding is deployed. He also called on the government to suspend all bilateral funding related to security and military training while the review is being conducted, and condition future bilateral funding on improving the human rights situation in the country. Click here for the transcript of Ka Bel’s presentation before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
For more information, contact Connie Sorio, Partnerships Coordinator
for Asia-Pacific at csorio
or
1-877-403-8933 ext. 240 and or Hanadi Loubani, International Human
Rights Coordinator for Asia-Middle East, at hloubani
or
1-877-403-8933 ext. 226.
You’ve been reading Kairos
Times, the free monthly e-newsletter
of KAIROS, which unites eleven Canadian churches and church organizations
in action for social justice. To learn more about us or to support
our work visit www.kairoscanada.org
Ce bulletin est également disponible en français.
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