Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
A national faith-based organization that supports Unitarian values through action
Presentation to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) by CUSJ member Jack Dodds*, and CUSJ President Margaret Rao. On October 19th, 2016 in downtown Toronto, these two CUSJ representatives spoke to the SECU about their concerns that the democratic rights of Canadians are being threatened by over-zealous attention to national security. They pointed out … Read more
First published in French, by Jean-Marie Matagne, 29 October 2016 The article here is a copy of the one reprinted in English on Oct. 29 in the Action of Citizens for Nuclear Disarmament (ACDN) website: http://acdn.net/spip/spip.php?article1032&lang=en What a fantastic day. It will count as a red letter day in contemporary history – indeed in world history. Ever … Read more
On October 5th, 2016, CUSJ President Margaret Rao wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, noting that the US and Russian superpowers are showing renewed interest in a nuclear arms race, and reminding Trudeau to work towards a Nuclear Weapons Convention to ban nuclear weapons–one of the promises of the Liberals heading into the 2015 federal election. Here is the text of the … Read more
On Monday, October 17th, 2016, CUSJ President Margaret Rao wrote to the Honourable John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, urging him to let U.S. Iraq war resisters stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Here is the text of that letter: Dear Mr. McCallum, I am writing to you on behalf of Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice … Read more
2016 10 12 Today the Unitarian Universalist Ministers of Canada (UUMOC) issued an open letter to the Honourable Chrystia Freeland asking her to stay her support for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). See the full letter on the TTP here. CUSJ Congratulates the UUMOC for taking a public stand on this important issue. CUSJ is very … Read more
The CUSJ is proud to participate in the government’s consultative process to determine if Canadians want a new electoral system and what kind of a system we want. They also want to know if we would support electronic voting. CUSJ came down firmly on the side of Electoral Reform to achieve Proportional Representation. We hope … Read more
Update: Our efforts bore fruit! In September 2016, Canada’s federal government initiated national consultations on the development of a “national housing strategy.” The government released a report on November 22 2016, and has promised to come up with a housing strategy in 2017. The Bill C-400 campaign saw CUSJ partnering with Dignity for All, Citizens For Public Justice, The Wellesley Institute, Canada Without Poverty, and the Canadian Unitarian Council to … Read more
2016 09 07 CUSJ joins with over 50 Environmental Organizations to call on the Federal Government to fix the National Energy Board (NEB) before continuing the review process for the Kinder Morgan and Energy East pipelines. The letter states, ‘The Board has been widely criticized for its political appointees, conflict of interest allegations, shutting out … Read more
Discussion Paper #31 A Critique of the Trans Pacific Partnership with contributions from Leslie Kemp, Cym Gomery, Bill Curry, Murray Dobin, US Senator Bernie Sanders, and Frants Attorp. See also our Summer 2016 Issue of JustNews. Covers themes of democracy, election financing, media, inequality, homelessness, and climate change: Why Minority Governments by … Read more
Note: This post was updated on March 5, 2017, to add the Unitarian Church of Vancouver and the First Unitarian Church of Victoria to the list. On March 7th, the Unitarian Church of Montreal was added. In spring 2016, the CUSJ Board decided to follow up on the CUSJ Board’s call to action and the Unitarian Universalist Association’s … Read more
Voices/Voix, an organization dedicated to documenting threats to the Canadian democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech, has just published a new case study on the issue of the right of Canadians to participate in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Many Canadians from churches, students, labour unions, and other walks of life are choosing … Read more
Update: Bill C-14, introduced in spring 2016 by the Liberals to legalize doctor-assisted dying, was supported on the third reading 186-137, with most Liberals in favour and most opposition MPs opposed, although 19 Conservatives supported it. Here is a letter from CUSJ President Margaret Rao, urging amendments to the bill. Dear friends, Unitarians have been on the forefront of … Read more
CUSJ President Margaret Rao wrote today to the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade, to express grave concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a so-called “free trade” agreement currently under negotiation between Canada, the US, Australia and several other countries. In her letter, Rao explains that CUSJ opposes the TPP, as ”a detriment to the economy, … Read more
Greenpeace Report: Alberta can create 145,000 jobs in green energy. Focus on pipelines and expanding Tar Sands and threats of East-West divisions still the biggest barrier to meaningful greenhouse gas reduction targets. We need to bring Alberta on board. See Our Climate Action Pages for actions your social justice group can take.
On Monday, February 29th, 2016, CUSJ President Margaret Rao wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to overturn his government’s recent motion condemning those who support a boycott of goods produced in settlements, as a legitimate, peaceful and democratic means of putting pressure on Israel to cease its expansion of settlements. Israel is breaking the terms … Read more
The Federal Government will be using these recommendations as it considers what approach to take for legislation on assisted dying.
Note: This is an updated version of an article by CUSJ board member Leslie Kemp. On February 3, 2016, Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland signed the massive twelve-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Pacific Rim treaty. Led by the US, the partnership includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. … Read more
Pipeline reviews are back in the news. During the 2015 federal election campaign, Mr. Trudeau confirmed that a NEB overhaul would apply to the Kinder Morgan project. “Yes. Yes,” Trudeau said. “It applies to existing projects, existing pipelines as well.” Kinder Morgan’s proposal would not be approved in January, he said. But by Nov. 18, … Read more
Israel’s continued expansion of settlements and destruction of Palestinian homes and farms must stop! Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice, advocating Unitarian Principles, adopts a formal stance in favour of: 1) a boycott of products from companies, regardless of origin, that participate in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories; 2) a cultural boycott in which performing … Read more
Editor’s Note: The board passed a resolution at the May 12, 2017 AGM to amend this resolution to request on no uncertain terms that Hassan Diab be released, and that change is reflected herein. CUSJ’s mission is to defend and promote Unitarian principles, such as the inherent worth and dignity of every person, justice and equity in human … Read more