Bringing Friends' concerns to Geneva

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Published on Friday, 02 September 2016 10:30

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Bringing Friends' concerns to Geneva r1 ... r33 September, 2016 During CYM 2016, Friends pose with Chief Kurt Buffalo, councilors and staff from Samson Cree Nation. Photo credit: Matt Legge Reconciliation
At the recent national gathering of Friends, Canadian Yearly Meeting, CFSC facilitated Friends adoption of a new minute on reconciliation. The minute commits Friends to specific actions to take our Indigenous rights work "to the next level".

The minute acknowledges, "that part of our journey is to decolonize our own thinking and sit in the discomfort and pain of confronting where we need to deepen our understanding, bear witness, and transform our behaviour."

To that end, Friends' Meetings are asked to:

1. continue to educate themselves, including children and youth, about the doctrine of discovery, the ongoing effects of colonialism, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, residential schools and their legacy (including the TRC Report), the history of the land on which they live, and reconciliation efforts;
2. formally acknowledge the traditional territories where their Meetings are located and engage in processes of reflection on the meaning of this;
3. find out about current concerns of Indigenous Peoples from those territories, including land appropriation or resource development, with which the Meeting could be engaged;
4. investigate projects of cultural revitalization that Indigenous Peoples are involved in and discern if there is an appropriate role (including funding) that Friends can play;
5. uphold and support individual Friends involved with grassroots Indigenous rights and provide spiritual support to Friends led to this work. This might include offering committees of care and approving minutes of support; and
6. report back annually through CFSC, which will collate this information and report it.

We encourage you to read the full text, which after just 24 hours online had already become the most popular thing we've ever posted: http://quakerservice.ca/reconciliation

The most recent issue of our newsletter Quaker Concern features a cover story with plenty of other news and updates from Canadian Yearly Meeting's 2016 sessions. If you are not receiving Quaker Concern already and would like to, you can sign up and read the most recent issue at: http://quakerservice.ca/news-and-resources/quaker-concern/ and you can find plenty of pictures from CYM on our Facebook page http://quakerservice.ca/Facebook


Act now to support a Department of Peace
Now until November 25th, a petition hosted by the House of Commons calling for the creation of a Federal Department of Peace is available via http://canadianpeaceinitiative.ca/get-involved/sign-the-petition/. If so led, please sign, and contact your MP to let them know you support the creation of a Department of Peace. We believe a Canadian Department of Peace could go a long way toward developing more effective responses to global conflict.


CFSC's criminal justice Community Grants
Community Grants support projects that are consistent with CFSC’s criminal justice program’s mandate and Quaker principles in both goals and processes. Most projects funded are under $500, with the maximum $1,000. We are open to two or three year proposals. More information is available at: http://quakerservice.ca/our-work/justice/community-grants/
Understory Magazine, an online magazine of literary writing and visual art by and about Canadian women, recently received a grant to assist with publishing a special issue on the theme of women and justice which can be viewed here (Issue 8): http://understoreymagazine.ca/


CFSC endorses charter to stop Islamophobia
We're pleased to endorse the National Council of Canadian Muslims’ Charter for Inclusive Communities. We are appalled by Islamophobia in Canada, as discussed in our 2015 joint statement with Canadian Yearly Meeting (http://quakerservice.ca/Islamophobia).

We are very encouraged by the work that the National Council of Canadian Muslims is undertaking to build healthy relationships of trust and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims in Canada, and to counter the rise of Islamophobia. As the Charter notes, “Islamophobia like all other forms of racism, hate, xenophobia, and bigotry, has no place in Canadian society.”

We encourage individuals and organizations to consider acting as proposed by the Charter and endorsing it. http://www.nccm.ca/charter/
Upcoming CFSC workshops on criminal justice
CFSC is offering more workshops on Canada’s punitive approach to criminal justice (its roots and deeper effects on all of society) at: Western Half Yearly Meeting in Alberta (Oct. 7-10), Coldstream Monthly Meeting (Oct. 23) and Calgary Monthly Meeting’s Retreat (Feb. 2017). More information on this topic is available at http://www.quakerservice.ca/PenalAbolition Contact us to request a workshop for your Meeting or group.
Celebrate World Quaker Day World Quaker Day, organized each year by Friends World Committee for Consultation, will be Sunday October 2nd. This year's theme is Inspired by Faith - Witnessing Together in the World. Meetings will be using this theme to inform activities offered. FWCC invites Friends to share descriptions, poems, photos or videos of World Quaker Day what they did for World Quaker Day. Find out more at http://worldquakerday.org

Canadian Yearly Meeting online courses
Starting September 19 CYM will offer the courses Introduction to Quakers and Friends' Ways and Uh-Oh Was That a Leading. Participation is free and can be done via phone or video conferencing once a week for six weeks. Readings for the course are available at http://quaker.ca/resources/education/ and to register please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your name, location, time zone, e-mail and telephone number, Meeting or Worship Group, and which of the time slots will work for you (12:30, 2:30 or 6:30pm EST Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday).
Halifax Meeting to host Peace Expo Halifax Monthly Meeting is organizing a Peace Expo on September 21, 2016 to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace. The event will take place at the Women's Council House, 989 Young Ave. in Halifax from 7 to 9:30 pm.

The Expo will consist of displays of the work of peace organizations, and brief talks by representatives from groups invited to come and share their work and to talk with members of the public who attend. The Expo will share positive examples of the many peace activities which are being carried out locally, nationally, and internationally. This will encourage actions like volunteering and advocacy in support of peace.


CFSC co-sponsoring live webinar Sep 13 September 13 is the 9th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. To mark this historic occasion we are co-sponsoring a live webinar from Ottawa, Keeping the promise: Treaty rights, the UN Declaration, and the Site C dam. The event will feature the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations' lawyer Alisun Rana and representatives from the Coalition for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, moderated by Sarah Morales. A link to the webinar will be on our website. Read an earlier open letter about Site C at http://quakerservice.ca/news/no-site-c/
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