Three Development and Peace members meet with Gary Lunn, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Cabinet Minister.

On February 20, Nancy Stuart, Victoria DC Chair, Margie Noonan, former president of the National Council, and Donna Thompson, chair of Mr. Lunn’s parish Development and Peace committee met with Mr. Lunn for a second time.

Questioned about the lack of response by the government to the National Roundtables, Mr. Lunn answered that his government had made good progress in the area of corporate social responsibility.  He noted that Cabinet had approved Canadian standards for mining companies operating abroad in collaboration with the Canadian Mining Association. Mr. Lunn agreed to provide more information on that agreement and on the status of the Development and Peace call for an independent ombudsperson.

The members reiterated the need for legal mechanisms which would hold Canadian mining companies accountable for their actions overseas.

The Victoria DC in British Columbia has set a goal of meeting all MPs in their Diocese to get their support for the current campaign.

On February 17, Jocelyn Schaeffer and Bibiana Cujec met Dr. Keith Martin, MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca. Dr. Martin has worked in the Global South as a physician, and was familiar with and supportive of the current Development and Peace campaign. He offered to share his ideas and experiences at a future Development and Peace meeting.

Practicing an invitation to sign the postcards.

On the last weekend of September Prince George DC members enjoyed sunny weather and spectacular scenery as part of their Fall Action formation workshop at Camp Emile, Mobile Lake.

Participants found the timeline exercise, the Wall of Justice, to be one of the workshop’s highlights. Adding their local actions to the national ones gave them a sense of pride in what they’ve achieved in the past two years, and helped them feel part of a truly national campaign. Many good ideas for future local actions came out of the process.

It was also an occasion to say good-bye to their temporary animator, Paul Corcoran, whose contract is coming to an end.

The Wall of Justice activity is described in this document: c_social-justice-workshop-pdf1   To access the full workshop, members are invited to use their password to find it under Fall Action 08 in the Workshops section of the Formation website. Or contact your animator.

No, they’re not this year’s postcards (yet)! Over the summer enough postcards came in from last year’s Fall Action to send another impressive box of cards to Ottawa. Our total for last year’s campaign is now nudging 206,000! In this picture you can see an employee from Canada Post picking up your cards at our Toronto office. Keep up the good work, and let’s try to beat that number in this year’s postcard campaign!

Your postcards ready to go