From July 30th to August 1st, the International People’s Conference on Mining (www.peoplesminingconf.net) took place in Quezon City, the Philippines. Development and Peace’s Filipino partner Center for Environmental Concern was part of the organizing committee of the conference.
By Heidi Matthews, Hamilton Diocesan Council Chair
From March 13th to the 17th, the Diocese of Hamilton was blessed to have a Solidarity Visitor, Fr. Alberto Franco, CSsR, from Columbia.
Fr. Franco is the Executive Secretary of Development and Peace’s partner, the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP). He has been an ardent defender of human rights for over 20 years and has been accompanying Afro-Colombians, indigenous peoples and peasant farmers in defending and reclaiming their lands.
Stephanie Nguyen, Regional Youth Intern for British Columbia and Yukon
It was exciting to learn that British Columbia would have the honour of hosting Fr. Edwin Gariguez as this year’s Solidarity Visitor. Fr. Edwin is the Executive Secretary of Caritas Philippines-NASSA. He has been playing an important role in bringing about humanitarian aid in the Philippines to those who have been displaced by Typhoons Haiyan and Hagupit, and addressing issues of injustice in the Philippines that perpetuate poverty.
I felt very fortunate to have been given the chance, through Development and Peace’s Sow Much Love photo contest, to attend Food Secure Canada’s 8th National Assembly in Halifax from November 13-15, 2014.
Food growers, food activists, food academics, and food policymakers came together at the 8th annual Food Secure Canada Global Assembly, Waves of Change: Sustainable Food for All, in Halifax to share experiences, research, and strategies on the best ways to ensure that people across Canada and around the world will be able to feed themselves. The focus was on how to produce healthy, nutritious food in a sustainable way, so that we will be able to continue to feed ourselves into the future.
During the past year, a broad coalition of Canadian civil society organizations have called for the creation of an independent ombudsman for the extractive sector who is able to make justice more accessible for communities from the Global South affected by Canadian mining operations. As part of this ever-growing movement, Development and Peace has repeatedly insisted on the need for this mechanism, through the Voice for Justice campaign, as well as in previous campaigns.
At Development and Peace, we believe that there is room at the table for all. However, 1 billion people are still suffering from hunger – that’s 1 in 8 people of the entire human family! This fall, Development and Peace continues to answer the call of Pope Francis to fight the global scandal of hunger, by launching an education campaign about the role of women and men family farmers in fighting hunger.
This fall, Development and Peace will focus its education campaign on the injustice of world hunger, and the importance of supporting small family farmers as key to feeding the planet. We began to raise awareness on this issue during our last Share Lent campaign by joining in the global Caritas Internationalis campaign called One Human Family, Food for All. This theme inspires us to take action to ensure that all of our brothers and sisters around the world have enough food to eat.
Come join a mass rally on May 14th calling for Canadian mining companies to be accountable for their actions overseas!
The rally will take place on Wednesday, May 14th at noon on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Come be part of hundreds from across Canada who will be gathering on Parliament Hill to call for an ombudsman for the extractive sector so that communities negatively impacted by Canadian mining companies in the Global South can have a Voice for justice.
Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of our Share Lent campaign, and many activities have already taken place just in this first week! We held the national launch of the campaign in the Diocese of Hamilton with special guests Most Rev. Douglas Crosby and Fr. Hagos Hayish, the Secretary General of Caritas Ethiopia. Both did touching presentations on the impact of Development and Peace’s work to be in solidarity with the most poor and vulnerable in the Global South and how this is changing lives.
