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Kairos Times: June/July 2008, Vol 7, #5
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In this edition:
- Calling all Carbon Special Agents: KAIROS Carbon Sabbath Initiative (CSI) to launch in Fall 2008
- Human rights training project ready to launch
- UN says business must respect human rights, but Canada fails to address corporate abuses overseas
- Government shuts out Parliamentarians as it concludes Canada-Colombia free trade negotiations
- Cerro de San Pedro community members travel to Metallica Resources AGM
- African Church Leaders issue urgent statement on climate change
- Help us improve this newsletter! Check out our survey
- KAIROS Network News and fall regional meetings invitation
- Over a Barrel: Exiting from NAFTA’s Proportionality Clause
1) Calling all Carbon Special Agents:
KAIROS Carbon Sabbath Initiative (CSI) to launch in Fall 2008
KAIROS is developing an exciting and challenging new program, the Carbon Sabbath Initiative (CSI), which will be launched in the fall of 2008. CSI is a way for groups of people within congregations or other community settings to come together on a regular basis to:
* Look more deeply into the issues of climate change, particularly on how the use of fossil fuels in our culture contributes to global warming.
* Reflect on how our faith is related to the issues of climate change and justice.
* Commit to personal lifestyle changes that will reduce our carbon footprints by tracking carbon use in our everyday lives.
* Support each other in our efforts to make a difference in their learning and in our commitments.
* Engage in a community effort to impact our churches, communities, and /or government.
It sounds like an ambitious undertaking, but we are confident that you, and we, are up to the challenge, and that CSI will help you in your search for tangible ways to make a difference.
We’ll be launching the program with cross-Canada leadership training in the fall of 2008 and winter of 2009. These leaders will then return to their communities and start CSI groups there. KAIROS will continue to offer support by developing appropriate resources and action plans, as well as enabling ongoing communication among the CSI groups. Look for more information in the coming months!
For more information, or to signal your interest, contact: Dorothy McDougall, Program Coordinator for Ecological Justice: dmcdougall or 1-877-403-8933 x222.
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of page2) Human rights training ready to launch
Interested in learning more about human rights and human dignity? Consider partnering with KAIROS to hold a workshop focusing on the vision behind human rights, how we can protect and further human rights, and how we build partnerships between communities facing human rights violations. Each community or region will work with KAIROS to identify pressing issues such as migrant justice, the struggle against poverty, Aboriginal rights, and others. We’ll build the workshop together and partner in ongoing advocacy for human rights and responsibilities.
Our thanks go to Charlottetown, PEI for hosting our first pilot workshop, with particular thanks to co-organiser Mary Boyd and the participants who talked about their struggles with poverty—and how we can make PEI and Canada poverty-free. Thanks also to the hundred people who took the time to respond to our human rights survey.
Workshops will begin in the late fall and will run for the next two years. To learn more and offer your help or ideas, please contact Julie Graham, Education and Network Coordinator, at jgraham or 1 877 403 8933 x233.
Updates
3) UN says business must respect human rights, but Canada fails to address corporate abuses overseas
A UN report released this month confirms that business has a responsibility to respect human rights in its activities, without exception. Prof. John Ruggie, appointed UN Special Representative for business and human rights in 2005, has mapped out a framework to help identify the shared responsibilities of national governments and the private sector in advancing respect for human rights.
KAIROS issued a statement earlier this month welcoming the Ruggie report and calling on the Canadian government to enact binding legislation to hold Canadian companies accountable when they are found to be complicit in human rights abuses overseas.
To date, the Harper government has failed to implement a series of 27 policy recommendations on corporate responsibility that emerged from a series of National Roundtables it hosted in 2006. Last year Prime Minister Harper spoke highly of the Roundtable recommendations at the G8 summit in Germany.
However, his government has not adopted them or even issued a public response to the Roundtables process. The government’s inaction will become glaringly obvious on the world stage the first week in July, when the Prime Minister attends the G8 summit in Japan.
To read the UN report on business and human rights, visit:
http://www.reports-and-materials.org/Ruggie-report-7-Apr-2008.pdf
To read the KAIROS statement on the Ruggie report, please visit:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/letters/ltrProtectRespectAndRemedy080609.asp
For more information, please contact Ian Thomson, Program Coordinator, Corporate Social Responsibility, 1-877-403-8933, ext 229, ithomson ; or Rusa Jeremic, Program Coordinator, Global Economic Justice, 1-877-403-8933, ext 225, rjeremic
4) Government shuts out Parliamentarians as it concludes Canada-Colombia free trade negotiations
With little fanfare the Canadian government has issued a press release announcing the completion of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade (CCFTA) negotiations. The rapid conclusion of this controversial deal caught everyone by surprise, most of all the Standing Committee on International Trade. The all-party Committee undertook a months-long study of the CCFTA and was just about to release its findings and recommendations when the Harper government "trumped" itself and went ahead to conclude negotiations. Despite this, the Standing Committee has released a comprehensive report with substantive recommendations. The Committee, whose membership is made up of Conservatives, Liberals, Bloc, and NDP, recommended that Canada not sign or implement the deal until there is a thorough Human Rights Impact Assessment.
In addition they recommended legislated provisions on corporate accountability that would prioritize and uphold human rights standards, and impose penalties where those standards were ignored. Since the report’s release the Harper government tried during the last session of Parliament to disassociate itself from the recommendations. To read the entire report: http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/committeelist.aspx?lang=1&parlses=392&jnt=0&selid=e24_&com=13181
Although negotiations have been completed it is not too late to stop this hasty free-trade deal, which will only exploit the precarious human rights situation in Colombia. When Parliament resumes in the fall the FTA will be presented to the House for a minimum of 21 days for study, consideration and possible vote. To read more about why Canada should shelve the Colombia Free-Trade Deal, check out: http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/1977/852/ For more background on Colombia, see our country of concern page at http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/countries/colombia/index.asp For more information, please contact Rusa Jeremic, Global Economic Justice Program Coordinator, rjeremic 416.463.5312, ext. 225
5) Cerro de San Pedro community members travel to Metallica Resources AGM
Representatives from the mining-affected Mexican community of Cerro de San Pedro travelled to Toronto recently to speak at the Metallica Resources AGM. Residents of this Mexican community are troubled that this Canadian company continues its mining operation despite community opposition. Sponsored by the Canadian arm of the Broad Opposition Front (FAO), they hoped that a face to face meeting with shareholders might alert them to the actual situation.
Leader Don Mario Martinez reported that most shareholders seemed
unaware of the controversy surrounding the operation, where the
actual landowners and residents are in fact opposed to the operation. Don
Mario reported that the 400 year old community church had been
stripped of paintings and statues. Residents fear that this cultural
icon is near destruction from the constant blasting. KAIROS
has been accompanying the Cerro de San Pedro community since March
2005,when a church leaders’ delegation first visited to learn
about their situation. To read more see:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/corporate/mining/cerrodeSanPedro.asp
For more information, please contact Rusa Jeremic, Global Economic Justice Program Coordinator, rjeremic 416.463.5312, ext. 225
6) African church Leaders issue urgent statement on climate change
KAIROS partners and African church leaders have issued an ecumenical statement on climate change that urges faith communities in the North to both examine their consumption and advocate with their governments to pay their carbon debts.
The statement notes that “a third of the African population has already fallen prey to droughts, floods and resource-based conflicts resulting from global warming.”
It goes on to point out that "the current climate crisis is primarily spiritual and ethical with serious political, economic and justice implications." Among other things, the church leaders challenge organizations like KAIROS to:
- Establish eco-congregations that will also offer options for checking consumerism through behavior change thus reducing carbon emissions.
- Engage faith communities to demand binding commitments from the Canadian government to pay their carbon debt, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and support adaptation initiatives in the South.
See the full statement at
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/ecology/climateChange/Statement_AfricanChurchLeaders-
ClimateChange_June08.pdf
For more information on KAIROS’ positions and work on climate
change, visit
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/ecology/climateChange/index.asp or
our campaign site at www.re-energize.org or
contact Dorothy McDougall, Ecological Justice Coordinator, at dmcdougall
or
1 877 403 8933 x222.
7) Help us improve this newsletter! Check out our survey
Kairos Times is our monthly e-newsletter and you’re reading it right now. First set up in the months after KAIROS was formed in 2001, it’s now in need of some updates and fresh ideas. That’s where you come in! Please take a few minutes to help us change and improve the content and style of Kairos Times, and feel free to share your creative ideas with us. Just visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=BmqKhN4HHdFT97xsk1Ftvw_3d_3d
THANK YOU in advance.
8) KAIROS Network News
As we pause for the summer, we welcome new groups forming in Sudbury, Kitchener-Waterloo, St John’s and Prince George!
Congratulations and thanks to the folks in Charlottetown who organized our first ever human rights training workshop. (See the related article above.)
Blessings to the multi-faith participants and partners of the Sabeel Young Adult Delegation to Israel-Palestine, as they go to learn about paths to a just peace in the region.
And be sure to look at the open invitation to KAIROS’ five
regional meetings, held in September and October. All are welcome;
join us and meet others who are working for social justice; join
us for workshops, inspiring speakers, and yes—parties. Download
the general invitation in PDF format on our network page:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/network/network.asp
9) Over a Barrel: Exiting from NAFTA’s Proportionality Clause
This new study, co-authored by Gordon Laxer, professor of political economy at the University of Alberta and John Dillon, economic justice researcher at KAIROS, examines how the North American Free Trade Agreement prevents Canadians from controlling our own energy and environmental policies.
Over a Barrel shows how, far from being an “energy superpower” as Prime Minister Harper claims, Canada is actually an energy colony, serving the USA’s voracious appetite for non-renewable hydrocarbons ahead of our own needs.
The study examines three scenarios in which the U.S. could invoke NAFTA to limit Canadian sovereignty. It could prevent us from a) conserving non-renewable hydrocarbons for future generations; b) setting aside natural gas for higher-value added petrochemical industries; or c) meeting eastern Canadians needs in the event of a global supply emergency.
We have only 9 years of proven natural gas supplies and 13 years worth of conventional oil left and are already dependent on imports for almost half the petroleum we consume.
As the Presidential campaign of Barack Obama opens up a new re-examination of NAFTA, Canadians must seize the opportunity to reassert control over our own oil and gas resources.
To access a copy of Over a Barrel: Exiting from NAFTA’s Proportionality Clause
click on the following links:
For the Executive Summary in English:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/National_Office_Pubs/2008/Over_a_Barrel_Summary.pdf
For the full report in English:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/National_Office_Pubs/2008/Over_A_Barrel.pdf
Résumé en français:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/National_Office_Pubs/2008/Over_a_Barrel_Summary_French.pdf
For more information contact John Dillon, Program Coordinator, Global Economic Justice, telephone 416-463-5569 extension 231 or jdillon
A peaceful and low-carbon summer to you all!
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
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