What our Indigenous friends had to say about reconciliation

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Sheryl Lightfoot, University of British Columbia’s Senior Advisor to the President on Indigenous Affairs and the Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics. speaks about what reconciliation means to her.

Quaker Concern

New series of 1-2 minute videos shares Indigenous voices on reconciliation

Many settlers wish they could ask Indigenous people questions about reconciliation without appearing foolish or rude. Canadian Friends Service Committee knows... that not every settler has the opportunity to have open dialogue with Indigenous friends and neighbours. This is why we want to give you a chance to hear the answers to some important questions from some of our Indigenous partners, people that we work closely with and trust to give us honest responses, and who trust us enough to engage with this project!

Over the past year we have been meeting with our Indigenous friends and asking them questions about reconciliation. Are you curious about their responses? Meet some of our Indigenous friends and partners and hear what they had to say about reconciliation… Watch these short video responses to questions about reconciliation.

Quaker Concern

Ban facial recognition by law enforcement, intelligence agencies

CFSC joined a large group of civil liberties and privacy advocates in calling for a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by Canada’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies and for a public consultation about privacy regulation for this technology.

To date there has been a widespread lack of transparency regarding use of facial recognition. The letter notes “…it is currently impossible to know which police forces and intelligence agencies are using facial recognition in our country, and to what ends, including during protests.”

The letter notes other serious issues, such as the fact that, “Facial recognition technology has been shown to be inaccurate and particularly prone to produce biased outcomes for people of colour and women. Many top systems have been found to mis-identify the faces of women and people with darker skin 5 to 10 times more often than those of white men.” https://quakerservice.ca/facialrecognition

Quaker Concern

Israel/Palestine updates and e-petitions

A flurry of activity has taken place of late in response to the government of Israel's stated plans to annex large portions of the West Bank. We joined many groups in endorsing a call to Canada's MPs to oppose the annexation, which over 60 MPs signed. There are also three Parliamentary E-petitions that Canadians may be interested in signing that are well-aligned with CFSC's positions:

This petition calls for Canada to stop turning a blind eye to the well-documented ill treatment of children in Israeli military prisons:

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2667

(For more about this deeply disturbing issue see our 2018 article No way to treat a child.)

This petition calls for honesty in labelling and excluding illegal settlement goods from the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2710

This petition calls for an end to the blockade of Gaza:

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2565

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