[CFSC E-news] You won't believe what Canada did at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples

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Published on Tuesday, 07 October 2014 10:40

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October, 2014 Welcome to our snazzy new email format
CFSC has switched over to a new email program which has a number of advantages including being (we hope) more visually appealing and allowing you to read the E-News right in the body of an email while still being able to download and print it if you'd like! If you have any feedback or suggestions let us know.

If you're not already on the list, sign up to receive Quaker Concern via email 3 times a year (QC is our 8-page publication sharing longer stories from our work): http://bit.ly/QCSignUp
Urgent Action: US war resisters facing possible deportation
An alarming number of US Iraq War resisters in Canada (5 so far) have recently been notified that decisions are imminent in their cases; 0ne has already received a deportation date. Others awaiting their decisions are expecting it to include a removal order (i.e. leave Canada voluntarily or be deported).

CFSC has posted an urgent action (with a short backgrounder of information on rights of conscientious objection) on the website: http://www.quakerservice.ca/LetThemStay

It is urgent that Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, opposition critics, and your Member of Parliament know of your support for the war resisters, to prevent current and potentially future deportation orders. As Canada enters into conflict in Iraq, having once refused to enter the war, it is vital to let elected representatives know of your support for those who have always objected to the Iraq War (which has seeded the current situation) and who should be protected by Canada and not sent back to the US to face punishment that amounts to persecution. Please read our materials and act.
Is it time for a Canadian military intervention in Iraq? We are all concerned with the incredible violence and human suffering in Iraq and Syria. Most discussion today seems to centre around which forms of violent response will work best and how Canada should support these. But is a violent response the only, or even the most effective, option that the international community has left, given the extreme and chilling realities in Syria and Iraq?

CFSC has written a blog post: http://www.quakerservice.ca/news/time-canadian-military-intervention-iraq with analysis and links to a number of resources. We encourage you to share this with others who are wondering how Canada should respond to ISIS. And we welcome your feedback – please send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." style="word-wrap:break-word;color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You may even wish to use this in part of a discussion of CFSC's book “The Four Elements of Peacebuilding” at your Meeting. (Download it at http://bit.ly/4ElementsofPeace or contact us for free print copies).

Quaker work on the challenge of climate change
CFSC joined with Quaker agencies around the world in issuing a statement in the build up to the UN Climate Summit 2014 and Peoples' Climate March. You can read the statement at: http://quakerservice.ca/news/quaker-groups-internationally-issue-joint-statement-climate-change/

The Quaker United Nations Offices (QUNO), which CFSC supports financially, work at the UN on mitigating the human impacts of climate change (http://www.quno.org/areas-of-work/human-impacts-climate-change). During the recent UN Climate Summit, QUNO was active and, among other things, released a new paper titled Call to Conscience: Quaker experiences in facing the challenge of climate change: http://www.quno.org/sites/default/files/timeline/files/2014/QUNO%20Call%20to%20Conscience.pdf
CFSC issues multiple open letters on Indigenous rights
Quaker Indigenous Rights program committee has been busily working with partners to:

• Draw attention to Canada's indefensible behaviour at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. A consensus outcome document was approved but, as Chief Perry Bellegarde put it, "Alone among all the UN members, Canada instead chose to use this forum to make another unprincipled attack" on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: http://quakerservice.ca/news/canada-uses-world-conference-continue-indefensible-attack-un-declaration-rights-indigenous-peoples/.
• Call on British Columbia to use the Tsilhqot'in decision as a framework for a principled and respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples - http://quakerservice.ca/news/open-letter-government-bc/;
• Call the attention of the Convention on Biological Diversty to the fact that a decision it has drafted would attempt to change the meaning of "Indigenous Peoples" as "Peoples" and would therefore impose limitations that are regressive and in violation of the rule of law - http://quakerservice.ca/news/cbd-draft-flawed/; and
• Recognize the 7th Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - http://quakerservice.ca/news/7th-anniversary-un-declaration-rights-indigenous-peoples/.

Oral history of Grindstone Islanders – do you have a story to share?
Were you active in the Quaker Centre for Peace Education on Grindstone Island? Tarah Brookfield, a History Professor at Wilfred Laurier University, is writing a book about the history of Grindstone. If you are interested in being interviewed about your experiences visiting or working at Grindstone during its “Quaker years”, please contact Tarah at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 519-756-8228 ext. 5792. She is particularly interested in speaking with people who attended or led the nonviolence institutes, sessions related to disarmament, Quebec-Canada relations, interfaith dialogues, biases in teaching, and the high school workshops in the 1960s and 1970s.For those who don’t know, Grindstone was once a project of CFSC (1963-1976) – to learn more, visit: http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/186
Activist theatre troupe going to prison
Our Quakers Fostering Justice program committee is supporting performances of the social justice play Forgiven/Forgotten (produced by Theatre of the Beat of Stouffville, Ontario). This hour-long piece will be presented in universities, prisons, high schools and various denominational churches throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, and will engage communities on concepts of justice and crime. Find out more about Forgiven/Forgotten and its tour dates: http://forgivenforgotten.wordpress.com/
New post-grad courses in Quakerism
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and Lancaster University are working together to offer the first online postgraduate courses in Quakerism - a certificate in Quaker Studies and an MA in Quakerism in the Modern World. Courses begin in October and will be run by Ben Pink Dandelion who led the Quaker Study at Canadian Yearly Meeting in 2013. Find out more at http://bit.ly/quaker-lancaster or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Facebook Twitter CFSC website This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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