40 Years of Responding to kairos Moments

This spring KAIROS is celebrating. In May, as our staff, Board, Partners, and Circles come together to plan KAIROS’ work for the coming year, they will also be honouring the work and spirit of the ecumenical coalitions which became KAIROS. The earliest of these coalitions was formed about 40 years ago.

You are invited to join us in celebrating these 40 years of responding to kairos moments – moments of crisis and opportunity – in the global struggle for social justice. In 2013, let’s honour our roots, deepen our faith and strengthen our local and global movements of hope and courage.

KAIROS warmly invites you to an ecumenical service on May 8 at the Church of the Redeemer in Toronto (details in the event poster). If you are not in Toronto, join the celebrations by planning an ecumenical event in your own community this year. KAIROS will have ideas and resources available to help you. So gather up your pictures, your stories, your insights, your questions and your faded social justice t-shirts... And stay tuned to KAIROS for opportunities to talk to one another about our past, our present and our future in faithful pursuit of social and ecological justice.

You can download the poster for the May 8 Service HERE for information on time and location. Information on how to host your own ecumenical event will be posted to the website.

For more information on this event please contact Anne Herteis at aherteis@kairoscanada.org.

Indigenous Rights Workshop: BC + Alberta

Thu, May 2, 5pm – Sun, May 5, 1pm

Naramata Centre, a leadership and retreat centre serving British Columbia and Alberta, and KAIROS are offering an exciting opportunity to live into Right Relationship! You are invited to a three and a half day program where we will build community and strengthen relationships of understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people (across denominational and geographic lines) by sharing stories, worshipping together and participating in experiential learning activities. It is an opportunity to rejuvenate our spirits and deepen our understandings of Indigenous rights. Naramata Centre is located on the shores of Okanagan Lake in Syilx territory. Facilitation will be shared by Natalie Maxson of Naramata, Katy Quinn of KAIROS, and local Indigenous leadership. Cost for shared accommodation (including all meals): $495 plus taxes ($35 extra per night for private accommodation). Subsidies are available! Please contact us.

For more information: 250.496.5751 or 1.877.996.5751 ext.201
Email: register@naramatacentre.net
www.naramatacentre.net/programs-fallwinterspring.asp?wp_id=860

May 25 KAIROS Lethbridge is offering a Blanket Exercise training event for all who wish to offer this popular education exercise; affordable accommodation is available for out of town guests, who are also welcome to participate in events on the 24th and 26th.
Please contact Julie Graham for details, jgraham@kairoscanada.org.

Many other KAIROS groups are involved in exciting right relationship events.
Please check the KAIROS events calendar for details and don't forget to send your own KAIROS-related event announcements to info@kairoscanada.org.

In late 2012, Indigenous peoples in Canada issued a call to all Canadians to enter into right relationship and to awaken ourselves to the impact of legislation that will weaken the protection of our environment. Canadians have responded with faith and in solidarity.

In response to this call, KAIROS invites you to affirm the importance of the connection between our waters and our life by declaring solidarity with Indigenous peoples and protecting the waters on which we all depend. Join us for a series of individual, local, and national actions between World Water Day (March 22) and National Aboriginal Day (June 21), 2013. This action is a continuation of more than 40 years of work to build right relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

To learn more, go to:
http://www.kairoscanada.org/ourwater/

Update on the Popular Feminist Organization (OFP), Colombia

A few weeks ago we wrote to you with grave concerns about the safety and security of the leadership and families of the Popular Feminist Organization (OFP), our partner in Colombia.  On February 11, OFP national director Yolanda Becerra and legal representative Gloria Amparo Suarez and her children received direct and chilling threats.  Two days later, four more women human rights defenders who work with the OFP received death threats. 

KAIROS issued an urgent action and the response from our network was immediate, generous, encouraging and effective. We received copies of almost 200 personal letters to the President of Colombia calling for the safety and security of the women and their families. The letters came from across Canada and most were copied to MPs.  The personal tone of the letters reflected people from all walks of life.  One began, “I am a Canadian First Nations woman with children and several grandchildren.”  Another read, “I am a mother of four children, grandmother of five living in St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada”.  Still another reflected on the courageous work of the OFP and concluded with, “Such brave women are among the most valuable people a nation can have. It is they who will bring peace and prosperity to any community.” 

Thank you for your responses.  These letters do make a difference. They save lives.  The OFP received copies of many of the letters and expressed its profound appreciation for your support and solidarity in a statement that reads, in part:  “Your letters, your concerns, are converted into support, accompaniment and, as we always say 'save many lives,' thanks, many thanks.” (Sus cartas, sus preocupaciones, se convierten en apoyo, acompañamiento y como siempre lo digo “salvan muchas vidas,” gracias, muchas gracias).  

Since KAIROS’ urgent action, OFP members have met with the Security Unit and the Victims Unit of the national government to discuss security measures for the OFP leadership and OFP offices - precautionary measures that were recommended by the InterAmerican Human Rights commission and are still pending. The OFP was also was invited to meet with the Canadian Embassy. The OFP emphasizes that these meetings were made possible by the international support and pressure demonstrated and generated by your letters and phone calls.

The OFP continues to negotiate with the government’s Victims Unit for collective reparations to the OFP as an organization and to its members.  Because of the OFP’s history of working in the most marginalized communities with victims of conflict, this is an extremely important and emblematic case in Colombia. The OFP’s case is based on its 40 years of experience defending the rights of grassroots women, as well as the testimonies and cases presented in the Women’s Courts for Justice, Peace and Territory.   KAIROS has been asked to be an international observer in this process.

Meanwhile, the situation in Barrancabermeja and the surrounding region where the OFP works remains grave. The OFP continues to work in a context of ongoing threats. Recently, a pamphlet was circulated that threatened a government official who has been working with the OFP.  As well as a being a direct threat to a government representative, this is also seen as a threat to the social movements she works with.   

We continue to be in contact with the OFP and remain vigilant.  We ask that you please hold the women of the OFP, their families and communities where they work in your thoughts, your prayers and your actions.


For more information, please contact Rachel Warden, program coordinator for Latin American Partnerships and Gender Justice programming, rwarden@kairoscanada.org.

Is the New Blackberry 10 Conflict Free?

Church and human rights organizations have become concerned in recent years that the extraction of minerals used in smartphones and other electronic devices may worsen conflict and lead to human rights violations.

In this article, KAIROS and its Congolese partners are asking one Canadian company to assure its customers that its devices are conflict free.


For more information, please contact:
Jim Davis, program coordinator, African Partnerships and Climate Justice jdavis@kairoscanada.org

or

John Lewis, Human Rights and Middle East Partnerships program coordinator, jlewis@kairoscanada.org

Our Dreams Matter Too, June 11

Our Dreams Matter Too is a walk and letter writing event supporting the rights of First Nations children to grow up safely at home, get a good education, be healthy and be proud of their cultures. An initiative of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society , KAIROS is collaborating on this 2nd annual, nation-wide show of support.

June 11, 2013 is the fifth anniversary of the Prime Minister’s apology for Residential Schools . You can participate in Our Dreams Matter Too and communicate to Canada that this apology needs to be accompanied by concrete action.

First Nations children receive less funding for services like education, health and child welfare. This makes it difficult for them to overcome the intergenerational impacts of residential schools, and to achieve their dreams. This walk is to show how many people support First Nations children receiving the same opportunities to succeed.

To participate:

- Organize or join an existing walk in your community.
- Write letters to your MP and to the Prime Minister asking for equitable funding for First Nations children.
- Conclude your walk at a mail box where you and other participants can mail the letters.

To access a sample letter, to find out where walks are happening and most importantly, to register your participation, visit the Our Dreams Matter Too site. Here you will also find tips for organizing a walk in your community and materials to help promote your event, including posters, bookmarks, buttons, and much more!

There were over 50 Our Dreams Matter Too walks across Canada last year! Thousands of letters were sent to the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament in support of Shannen’s Dream for “safe and comfy schools”, Jordan’s Principle to ensure equitable access to all government services and I am a witness to help First Nations children grow up safely at home. This year, be a part of an even greater show of support!

Don’t forget to register  your support and participation!


For more info please contact Katy Quinn, Indigenous Rights Program Coordinator at kquinn@kairoscanada.org or 613-235-9956 ext. 224.

KAIROS Connects Globally On Mining

KAIROS continues to be active in global mining justice circles. In January, staffer Ian Thomson attended the Alternative Mining Indaba in Capetown, South Africa.  Held at the same time as major industry meetings, the Alternative Indaba is a place for mining justice advocates from Africa and all over the world to gather, discuss their struggles, and strategize together on ways forward.  Ian’s report is posted on the KAIROS website and includes links to several other relevant documents, including the final statement from the Alternative Indaba. Ian was able to reconnect with Bishop Jo Seoka of South Africa and Rev. Suzanne Matale of Zambia, key presenters at the 2011 Ecumenical Conference on Mining – you can connect with them too via our video of that event, Remember the Land. (French and Spanish language versions of the video will be available soon!)

In February, network member and Sustainability Circle co-chair Janette McIntosh represented KAIROS on a United Steelworkers solidarity visit to mining-affected communities in Mexico.  The group met with unions, civil society groups, people affected by mining, and the Canadian Embassy. Janette reports that

The nine days were full, and we feel better equipped to share, from what we’ve seen and heard first hand, what is happening here in Mexico. This has been an incredible journey for us all, very humbling, at times discouraging, sometimes anger and shame-provoking, yet with hope and inspiration found in surprising encounters. We can’t understand and ask why companies who have made agreements with Mexican people, community members and workers, don’t follow through. …  We are compelled to be and act in solidarity with people and communities. We must share these stories…. We have a responsibility possibly as shareholders in these companies through our pension funds. We ask: how can we be a part of this struggle?  Convinced of the value of international solidarity, we were reminded of the person on the other side when signing agreements, submitting letters/notices/statements etc. This is real solidarity. Thanked for the great hearts we brought with us and our willingness to move forward, we were reminded also that the people only want respect for their lives and land. They are not products nor things, they are people who deserve a lot more.

PHOTO: Janette McIntosh (3rd from right) and delegation colleagues fly the flag of solidarity in Mexico

Stay tuned for Janette’s full report, as well as the delegation report and open letter to Mexican communities, which we’ll be sharing on the KAIROS website as soon as they have been finalized.

The work on mining continues here in Canada, with the United Church of Canada issuing a parliamentary petition calling for the regulation of mining companies operating overseas, and the Anglican Church of Canada and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada preparing to discuss questions of resource extraction at their joint gathering this summer. 


For more information, please contact:
Ian Thomson, program coordinator, Ecological Justice through Corporate Accountability
ithomson@kairoscanada.org

Miriam Spies, an M.Div student at Emmanuel College and candidate for ordained ministry in the United Church of Canada, completed her Contextual Education internship at KAIROS in the 2012-13 school year. As this time came to a close, she shared this reflection with the staff.

Click here to read Miriam's reflection.