Partnering With First Nations

CUSJ is delighted to have Clayton Thomas-Muller as our speaker at the CUSJ AGM.   Clayton is the Tar Sands Campaign Manager for the Indigenous Environmental Network in Ottawa.   People will be able to see him in person on Monday, May 21st, at the Lord Elgin Hotel or to watch him on line at 11:00 am. Eastern time on that day.

In addition to our AGM on Monday morning, The CUSJ dinner will be Saturday evening followed by a Movie:  For the Next Seven Generations  For all the details, please visit   CUSJ AGM

Registration is now open.  Please register so we can plan to welcome you.

See our Oil Energy and Tar Sands Page for more information

Senate Letter Writing Campaign (C-10)

CUSJ has just posted a set of talking points and sample letters to help you in your letter writing campaign.  Scroll down to second black bold heading to find it.  We have also posted the proposed Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Policy for discussion at the Canadian Unitarian Council annual meeting.  We hope we have provided all the information congregations will need to discuss these issues and form their own opinions.

We encourage all individuals to write their senators on this important issue.  It is time the Senate acted truly as the house of sober second thought.  We’d like to see the bill defeated as an omnibus bill so it can be more closely examined in detail.  If this is not possible important amendments are needed to include priority and dollars for crime prevention to make our communities truly safer.

Criminal Justice Page

Hassan Diab Needs Our Help Now!

At its board meeting of January 8th, 2011, CUSJ voted to send a letter of support to the Minister of Justice on behalf of Dr. Hassan Diab.

April 6th, Minister Rob Nicholson decided to issue the extradition order.  Mr. Diab is ordered to return to France.  According to the Ottawa Citizen, he is going there to be interrogated, not to be charged and tried.  They still have not completed their investigation.  Because of the special powers of police in all the developed countries in cases of terrorism, Diab fears pressure to confess, in a judicial system where the standards of evidence are lower than in Canada. (Including using “evidence” that has been derived from torture.)   He has 30 days to initiate a judicial appeal.  The next step is the Supreme Court of Canada where he will test all the legal points that have not yet been addressed in the minister’s decision.

See our Human Rights page for more information and actions you can take to support Dr. Diab.  If , on reading the facts, you believe we should not extradite Mr. Diab and we should update our extradition laws, please write your local or a national newspaper on his behalf.

Human Rights Page

Why do people vote against their own interests?

Discussion Paper #20 – (opens own window & keeps this page open for convenient commenting whilst reading)

Intro: Last year, in a series of “town-hall meetings” across the country, Americans got the chance to debate President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms. What happened was an explosion of rage and barely suppressed violence.
Polling evidence suggests that the numbers who think the reforms go too far nearly match those who think they do not go far enough.
But it is striking that the people who most dislike the whole idea of health-care reform— the ones who think it is socialist, godless, a step on the road to a police state—are often the ones it seems designed to help.
There is nothing voters hate more than having things explained to them as though they were idiots.

Support Lead Now campaign against omnibus Crime Bill

CUSJ encourages all its members to sign up for Thursday, November 24th at 1pm and join others in presenting a petition of over 100,000 Canadians to your MP opposing this bill.

Sign up here!

For more information see our Criminal Justice Page

CUSJ Endorses Canadian Council of Churches Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change

Religious leaders from all faiths are encouraging the Canadian Government to take action and exercise leadership in the area of climate change.  The science is solid telling us that if we do not turn this boat around and reduce our greenhouse gases, there will be dire consequences around the world.  We are already seeing the results in more intense catastrophic climate events around the world.  It is up to us in the Western World to show leadership.  It is unfair that we create the pollution and people in the developing world pay the price.  We have to face up to our responsibilities.

CUSJ takes the position that Tar Sands, Coal, and Nuclear are not the answer.  We must focus our attention on renewable energy and speed up the transition to a new economy.  All sectors of our economy, including manufacturing and agriculture need strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas production.  One of the best ways in the agricultural sector to achieve this is to reduce beef production and especially grain-fed beef production.

See our letter of endorsement

CUSJ Supports Supreme Court Challenge to First Past the Post

November 7th, 2011

The board of CUSJ declared its support, today, for L’Association Pour La Revendication Des Droits Démocratiques, the Quebec organization that is taking it’s challenge to the first-past-the-post voting system to the Supreme Court of Canada.  The suit has made its way through all levels of Quebec court systems, failing at each level.  Nevertheless there are important questions relating to Canadian constitutional rights that have not been answered by any of the judges.  A successful suit could overturn the first-past-the-post electoral system and make way for proportional representation.

see letter

Frances Deverell,   President

Food Security and the Wheatboard

CUSJ has added a new page on Food Security.  There are many important issues facing our society on our food system, food prices, the quality of food, the way it is produced, and the way food is distributed.  Our food security page outlines the basic issues and then links you to groups that are trying to do something about it.

Food Security Page

Farmers are in a desperate, last ditch attempt to save the Canadian Wheat Board.  They want to retain supply management control over the price of wheat for better security for farmers.  By eliminating the Wheatboard Harper will subject the products it controls to the volatility of the market and commodity speculators in an increasingly volatile market.  Support the National Farmer’s Union campaign.

Support the CBAN campaign against allowing low levels of unapproved GMO foods to contaminate our food supply.

Read the reports from USC Canada on international food policy issues.

BRAVO THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT!

You are acting for many Canadians from all walks of life who share your frustrations. Canadian Unitarians For Social Justice support your action to protest growing income inequality and corporate greed. You are exposing the underlying unfairness of an economic system that has left a tiny elite with a disproportionate amount of wealth while hard-working Canadians struggle to make ends meet.

The growing inequality in our country and around the world must be reversed. The needs of people, families, communities and the natural world must have an equal place at the table. We support more open, fair and transparent democratic processes; A compassionate society with fair, progressive taxation and good programs to help people get on their feet; real changes in our economic system with a balance between government, corporate and NGO sectors.

Thank you for taking a stand! Thank you for your commitment to non-violent system change.  May you walk your message in love and peace and may you be heard by all Canadians.

For a flyer with this message that you can copy and take to Occupy sites in Canada click here

For more specific issues on economic justice see our issue page here

Discussion Paper No. 22 on Equality Now on Line

Our latest discussion paper #22 is a summary of the book The Spirit Level by Richardson and Picket.  It demonstrates using the best epidemiological approach that societies that are more equal have better outcomes in most of the factors that make a good society.  Both the paper and the book are worth your attention.
(The Paper opens in its own window, for easy comments on this page)

For other issues of Just News and other discussion papers go to JustNews.

CUSJ Calls For Changes to Omnibus Crime Bill

CUSJ joined with Elizabeth Fry Society and John Howard Society to ask Harper and the Minister of Justice to make changes to the Omnibus Crime Bill.  We would like to emphasize a harm-reduction approach to drug crimes, and to ensure measures are included that support crime prevention as well as punishment.

See our letter

See our Criminal Justice Page

CUSJ joins Sept 26 Action on Tar Sands

e-mail To the Ottawa Action Network

Organizing the September 26^th Rally against the Tar Sands

September 21, 2011

Dear organizers of the Ottawa Action on the Tar Sands.

At its September 16th board meeting, Canadian Unitarians For Social Justice voted to support this action against the tar stands and that it agrees with the following statement found on the Greenpeace website:

On September 26, hundreds of people from across Canada will risk arrest in Ottawa to send a message to Prime Minister Harper that we must turn away from the tar sands and respect treaty and Indigenous rights and start building the green energy future all our communities deserve to live in.

President of CUSJ, Frances Deverell, in detention

If you are collecting a group of organizations that are supporting this action I would like to request that you add Canadian Unitarians For Social Justice to the list.

I personally plan to attend the demonstration in support of those who are planning to sit in, but I do not intend to commit civil disobedience.  Thank you for organizing non-violence training for demonstrations for September 25th.  I’ll be there.

In Faith,

Rev. Frances Deverell

President,

Canadian Unitarians For Social Justice

president@cusj.org

 See Photos here

How To Boil A Frog

North Shore Unitarian member, Jon Cooksey, a writer and show runner for television, has recently been nominated for a Best Documentary Gemini award for his one hour film, How to Boil a Frog.  A number of other NSUC members/friends worked on it, and part of it was shot in our sanctuary.  The film is still being broadcast from time to time on The Movie Channel (don’t know which channels in other parts of the country), and also at an increasing number of film festivals around the world.  The Toronto Premiere was recently held at First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto.

CUSJ Calls for a Complete Environmental Review from both the Provincial and Federal Governments on the Highland Quarry Project in Dufferin County.

See Our Issues Page on the Mega Quarry

CUSJ Opposes C-4 Refugee Bill

July 31, 2011

CUSJ signed on, today, to the Canadian Council of Refugees campaign against Bill C-4.  (Formerly Bill C-49 and re-introduced into the house as Bill C-4 this spring.)  This Bill would exempt the Canadian Government from honouring the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the Canadian Constitution.  It will punish the refugees without doing anything to stop the smugglers.  It is completely unacceptable and should be removed from the parliamentary agenda.

CUSJ Human Rights Page

CUSJ signs on to Darlington Declaration

July 31st, 2011

After an extensive discussion on the board and the publication of a special discussion paper on Nuclear Power, CUSJ has decided to support the Greenpeace Darlington Declaration calling for renewable energy, not nuclear, to be the centre of Ontario’s future energy policy.

CUSJ Nuclear Page

Margaret Rao and Rev. Frances Deverell presented the CUSJ Brief on Nuclear Power to the Darlington Review Panel on March 31st, 2011.  We asked the Panel to say NO to new nuclear reactors and to tell the province to put their money and effort into renewable energy.

The Nuclear Home Page contains references to all the sources of our thinking, both pro and con.  It also contains the discussions from the CUSJ listserve, both pro and con.  We hope this will be a vital resource for congregational study.

Nuclear Home Page

CUSJ calls on all its members to bombard the Senate with requests to expedite the passage of Bill C-393 before any election may be called.  Let democracy be respected.  Let Senators rise above party politics and do the right thing.  We have the opportunity to remove the roadblocks and have inexpensive generic drugs sent to Africa to save millions of lives.  It’s up to the Senate to act and make this happen.

http://www.letdemocracywin.ca/

Protect the Integrity of Parliament:  Fire Bev Oda

CUSJ is concerned about the loss of integrity in parliament as ministers feel free to mislead parliament with false information and change documents after senior civil servants have signed them without acknowledging where the changes are coming from.  For the full letter calling Harper to accountability see:

Letter to Harper on Bev Oda