Indigenous Rights
Youth taking the lead on reconciliation
August 14, 2019
Nearly three-quarters of Indigenous youth in Canada believe they will see meaningful reconciliation in their lifetime, an online poll has revealed. The Canadian Youth Reconciliation Barometer, a study done by Environics Institute for Survey Research and released in early July,…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Town of Okotoks to acknowledge traditional territories
July 31, 2019
An Okotoks town council meeting took a step forward on July 15, as Mayor Bill Robertson opened with an acknowledgement of Treaty 7.The acknowledgement will precede all future Town of Okotoks events, following a KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) on June…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Blanket Exercise boosts staff awareness about colonization effects on Indigenous patients
July 23, 2019
It moves some to tears. Others are shocked, yet hopeful. Anger, guilt and shame can also come with the heightened awareness hospital staff members have after taking part in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise.The interactive exercise – developed by KAIROS, an ecumenical…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Reflexión: Loque significa caminar en tierra robada; una reflexión sobre el ejercicio de mantas de KAIROS
July 9, 2019
Como hija de inmigrantes nicaragüenses, no soy ajena a las historias de dictaduras respaldadas por los Estados Unidos y tampoco sus masacres. Las historias contadas durante el ejercicio de mantas de KAIROS en su versión guatemalteca me hicieron llorar de…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: What it means to walk on stolen land
July 9, 2019
The Guatemalan KAIROS Blanket Exercise (adapted from the Canadian version) was recently held in Toronto. Two others have commented on the impact of the exercise— one as a settler, one as a First Nations woman, and now, a third as…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
September is Climate Action Month
July 8, 2019
KAIROS is promoting September as Climate Action Month to explore the climate crisis and highlight the work of our members and networks. On each day in September, an event, blog post, environmental challenge – or some combination of all three!…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Acting on an Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
June 26, 2019
KAIROS Canada is deeply disappointed that Bill C-262, while passed by elected officials in Parliament, will die on the Order Paper in the Senate. Since it is highly unlikely that the Senate will meet again before the writ for the…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Bill C-262 in limbo
June 21, 2019
Time may have run out on Bill C-262. Although originally scheduled to adjourn on June 28, the Senate is now expected to wrap up today, National Indigenous Peoples Day, leaving several bills, including Bill C-262, in limbo. In an Open…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Spirited Reflection: Ancestors, Imagined
June 21, 2019
Recently, I was fortunate to witness the Guatemalan expression of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise while in Toronto, Ontario. As a First Nations woman, I was struck by the similarities of this story of colonization to the one I had come…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Imagine
June 20, 2019
At a recent KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE), the facilitator commented that he often wonders what Canada would look like today if, instead of having forced Indigenous communities to adapt to colonial ways, the European colonists had assimilated the ways of…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Retarder les projets de loi C-262 et C-337 mine le processus démocratique au Canada, et met en danger la réconciliation ainsi que la protection des droits humains
June 19, 2019
Une motion unanime des 338 députés de la Chambre des communes déclare que les deux projets de loi actuellement devant le Sénat, les projets de loi C-262 et C-337, sont « des mesures législatives majeures » qu’il est urgent «…
Post filed in: En français, Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
KAIROS urges Parliament to pass key human rights bills before time runs out
June 19, 2019
(Ottawa, ON) – KAIROS Canada joins Indigenous nations, organizations, and other human rights defenders in an urgent call to Parliamentarians to pass two critical bills that have been stalled in the Senate. In an Open Letter released on June 17,…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Stalling on Bills C-262 and C-337 undermines Canada’s democratic process, jeopardizes reconciliation and fails to protect human rights
June 17, 2019
17 June 2019 Open Letter to Parliamentarians A unanimous motion of the 338-member House of Commons said that two bills currently before the Senate, Bills C-262 and C-337, are “critical pieces of legislation” and urged that they be “passed into…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Advocates continue to push for Indigenous rights bill as deadline looms
June 17, 2019
A bill which would harmonize Canadian law with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) would need to restart its life in the House of Commons—after the federal election—if not passed by the senate before June…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Hyperbole and misrepresentation must not prevent Senate passing Bill C-262
June 11, 2019
We are hopeful that in a matter of days the Senate will vote to adopt a private member’s bill that would require the federal government to begin in earnest the work of implementing global human rights standards to protect the…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Urge the Opposition leader to stop senate filibustering of Bill C-262!
June 6, 2019
Bill C-262 is in trouble. On Wednesday, June 5, Senator Don Plett refused a motion from Senator Lillian Dyck to allow the Senate Committee to proceed with its scheduled review of Bill C-262. The five senators who have been filibustering…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
KAIROS attends closing ceremony of the National Inquiry into MMIWG
June 3, 2019
As today we participate in the closing ceremony of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, our hearts are heavy. Heavy with mourning for those who have died, whose absence demands memory and honour. Heavy with…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Urge senators to stop filibustering Bill C-262
May 28, 2019
Bill C-262 is now before the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. There are strong concerns that some senators are engaging in filibuster tactics to undermine the bill while in Committee. This includes introducing amendments. Any amendment will in effect…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
Podcast Interview: Indigenous orientation toolkit for newcomers
May 24, 2019
Listen to the feature story on BeCause Radio (2:27 – 13:03). KAIROS is part of an exciting project developing in Winnipeg to orient newcomers to Canada around the truth about Indigenous people. This project seeks to foster safe spaces for…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
Urge Senators to send Bill C-262 to committee
May 14, 2019
This Thursday, the Bill is supposed to be sent to committee for review. Please urge senators to be in the Red Chamber on Thursday to vote in favour of this important step. Time is of the essence. STEP ONE – Please…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, UNDRIP Blog Updates
KAIROS and partners respond to the April 8 appointment of CORE
April 24, 2019
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights
NEW VIDEO: Join us for the largest Mass KAIROS Blanket Exercise ever in Atlantic Canada (1:00 min)
April 11, 2019
Saturday, May 4th: Mass Blanket Exercise Alumni Field, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM An experience to build understanding of our shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples Elder opening and special guests All are welcome Join us for the largest…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Regional News
Chat with Activists: Kenn Stright on passionate activism
April 1, 2019
Kenn Stright has worked tirelessly for social and ecological rights for more than 40 years. A retired Presbyterian Minister, and past KAIROS Atlantic Regional Representative, Kenn is on the planning team for Streams of Justice: Atlantic Gathering 2019. We recently…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Regional News
Spirited Reflection: The outsider insider perspective- how a KBE changed me
March 29, 2019
I am a settler in Canada and having immigrated from India about a year ago, I felt a longing need not just to belong here, but also to be able to connect with the cultural and historical past of this…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Budget 2019: KAIROS analysis
March 28, 2019
While Budget 2019 contains encouraging investments in Indigenous communities and the transition to a clean energy economy, it falls short in many other areas. What follows is an assessment of what Budget 2019 means for issues related to the KAIROS…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Indigenous Rights
Regional news – Thank you Janet Gray
March 28, 2019
As a community we offer a huge ‘Thank you’ to Janet Gray for 6 years of dedicated and creative service in the role of KAIROS British Columbia Yukon Regional Representative. There are many, many volunteers across the country who give…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Regional News
Spirited Reflection: This land’s not my land, This land’s not your land
March 7, 2019
The First Sunday in Lent “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor” …. (Deuteronomy 26:1-11) So begins a recitation of the history of the people who wandered, were enslaved in Egypt, and then, through the Exodus, eventually came to the promised…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Why a blanket exercise made me disappointed, uncomfortable and angry
March 1, 2019
SHINING A HARSH LIGHT ON THE IMPACTS OF COLONIZATION On a cloudy, fall afternoon at NAIT Main Campus, a circle of chairs are arranged around five patterned blankets laid flat on the floor. It’s a homey scene – one of…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights
