Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
A national faith-based organization that supports Unitarian values through action
Cym Gomery 
You have probably heard or read at least one comment, recently, to the effect that Trump is ‘out of touch wth reality’. Why should that surprise anyone? Because, when you think of it, what the Trump administration serves to do, is shine a bold, unflattering light on the flaws of our own society. Trump shows … Read more
(above: Hosts Steven Staples and Anne-Marie Grondin) On December 7, 2017, politicians, peace organizations and others gathered in Center Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to celebrate Setsuko Thurow and ICAN, days before the latter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. CUSJ’s Québec chapter was invited in its capacity as an International Peace Bureau member, and Board … Read more
On December 9 2017, CUSJ President Margaret Rao attended a Toronto rally in defense of Jerusalem’s continued status as a shared capital city and spiritual home to Jews, Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike. This is her report. A large crowd of Palestinian Canadians and Palestinian-friendly Jewish, Christian and labour leaders were on hand. It was … Read more
Hundreds of people, including many prominent Canadian professors, lawyers and human rights defenders, have signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help Hassan Diab, detained without trial in a Paris jail. The first paragraph reads, We address this Open Letter to you to express our deep concern about the unjust situation of … Read more
CUSJ’s JUSTnews editor Philip Symons has just published a new Discussion Paper from the July 10 2017 New York Times article on Climate Change, providing example after example of what awaits us. To summarize: Doomsday ‘Over the past decades, our culture has gone apocalyptic with zombie movies and Mad Max dystopias, perhaps the collective result of … Read more
On November 2, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a ski resort could be built in Jumbo Valley, on land sacred to the Ktunaxa Nation. The Ktunaxa Nation had opposed the ski resort near their community in southeastern British Columbia, arguing that it would affect a grizzly-bear habitat and drive away the Grizzly Bear … Read more
Castor Inc. is a documentary by Jean-François Vallée and Thibaud Mony that exposes the dark side of Hydro-Québec’s ‘clean’ hydro-electric energy: Québec, once the land of rivers and lakes, has become a land of dams and reservoirs. This documentary is a bit slow moving, taking its tone from its subject, the once-mighty rivers that have … Read more
Note: The topmost image was added on March 13 2018. This article was updated on Nov 28th 2017, to add Keystone XL information and to add links to Trans-mountain pipeline news items. Prior to that, the article was updated on October 5th to show the news that the Energy East pipeline was cancelled. I have been … Read more
This op-ed is part of a series inspired by CUSJ’s resolution to explore ways to reform Canada’s criminal justice system. What if psychoactive drugs were legal in Canada? No need to wonder what would happen–we have only to look to countries like Portugal and New Zealand , which have legalized psychoactive drugs. Here’s the scoop: … Read more
On July 7th, the United Nations member nations held a vote on a global treaty that, if successful, would lead to the destruction of all nuclear weapons and forever prohibit their use. Negotiators representing two-thirds of the 192-member United Nations finalized Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons this week after months of talks. Canada did … Read more
Left to right: Rachel Garber, John Mackley, Adele Ernstrom, Sheila Laursen, Phyllis Baxter, Nancy Graham, Patricia Phillip, Rev. Carole Martignacco, Christina Duvander, Cym Gomery On July 2nd 2017, the CUSJ Québec Chapter met in a bucolic setting–at the home of Uma Nigam in Canton de Hatley, the site of the UU Estrie summer picnic. The picnic … Read more
By Jack Dodds The House of Commons and the Senate have adjourned for the summer, after making decisions on two bills related to our national security agencies: the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act (C-22) and the Preclearance Act, 2016 (C-23). The first was passed by the Senate, received royal assent and is … Read more
On June 21, 2017, the group Justice for Hassan Diab held a press conference in Ottawa to appeal to the Canadian government to free political prisoner Hassan Diab, in jail without fair trial since 2014. A recap of the story: In 1980, a synagogue in Paris was bombed. Initial news articles blamed right-wing neo-nazis (implicated … Read more
CUSJ’s AGM has come and gone, but our theme of looking back and moving forward with love and justice carries on. From an organizational perspective, I am grateful to have a mix of long-serving and dedicated Board members as well as four newly elected members, (three of whom were instrumental in forming brand new regional … Read more
By Mike Bell, Comox Valley Climate Change Network, Comox, B.C. Editor’s note: This is number 11 from a series of articles on Climate Change by UU activist Mike Bell. Star Trek afficionados will recognize the references, but for those less familiar, I have added a couple of images. As I sat down to start writing the next climate … Read more
“Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes the nation’s laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of parliament and … Read more
Anti-pipeline activists were celebrating yesterday, May 29th, with the news that Kinder Morgan had warned its investors that the Trans-Mountain pipeline might never be built. This is momentous news, because it suggests that proponents of the age of oil might be passing from the Denial stage to the Anger stage, or even beyond that. CUSJ members will recall that … Read more
First, the good news: CUSJ’s substantial brief to the Consultation was posted late last week on the government website. There was no size limit on this submission, which is unusual, so it is the most comprehensive brief that we have submitted on this subject. The government received 59,000 responses to the Consultation. (Wow!) Now, the bad news: It is a Herculean task … Read more
In 2016, the CUSJ submitted suggestions to amend the Income Tax Act and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) policies… we are pleased to report that the CUC and CUSJ’s major suggested amendments were adopted! Thus, the Income Tax Act and CRA policies and administration will be amended/modified to: Focus on charitable purposes, rather than activities; Update a list … Read more
Photo: President Margaret Rao thanks our keynote speaker Tim McSorley of the ICLMG, and Rev. Lynn Harrison, who provided the Invocation. On Friday, May 12th 2017, CUSJ members from across Canada gathered in Toronto for our AGM, an occasion to look back on our activities and successes in the past year, to take stock of the … Read more