Best Practices

“People are going to start dying soon.”

Vardan Tadevosyan’s face on my computer screen is filled with worry, as he speaks to me from his office in Nagorno Karabakh. For the past eight months, he and 120,000 other Armenian Christians have been trapped there, under a siege orchestrated by the dictatorship of Azerbaijan.

The consensus in Fiji is that the life changes they are forced to endure are the result of the climate crisis. “We know it affects our lives”, said Mosese, the receptionist at the hotel where I was staying in Suva, the capital and largest city in Fiji. 

47 years ago I had the privilege of teaching typing (do you remember what that is?) to a class of grade nine students in Toronto. To my great dismay, Sandra, one of the brightest students in the class, failed the course. Her mother said to me, “She refused to hand in any work that is not perfect, and finally she completely gave up and chose to fail the course.” I had a little heart-to-heart with Sandra. I encouraged her to try to give up the need for perfection and re-do the course during the summer. She did re-do it, and though her work was not perfect, she earned an “A.”

In my first blog piece written on Deacons and Justice, I wrote about the call for Deacons to offer holistic ministries that respect the dignity of all people found in their mandate. In today’s blog, we will look at the call to change exploitative structures. 

The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
    he brings low; he also exalts.- 1 Samuel 2:7

We’ve received this question from folks a lot recently. In answering this question, there are a few things we should consider, including the historical context of asylum, what the Bible says about immigrants, and different ways Christians can engage with the issue of immigration.

Historical Context

Asylum is a form of legal protection that allows people fearing persecution or harm in their native country to remain in the United States. Asylum seekers can apply for this protection from within the country or at a port of entry.

In November 2022 I received my ancestral name Switametelót—a name gifted to my great-grandmother from her father Switamet.  When my great-grandmother married a non-Indigenous man, she was no longer considered Indigenous and her name was buried under the rubble of discrimination found in the Indian Act.  The name could not be passed to my grandmother nor my mother in their lifetime.  What an injustice to the matriarchs of my family!  Five generations later, I reclaimed our family name.  Through this reclamation, my connection to Squiala (my great grandfather’s traditonal territory)

“Who despises the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10)

Last December 2022, my wife Sharon and I attended dinner at her parents for our birthdays. This had been a tradition for years.  We arrived expecting a few hours of eating good, conversation about family, and playing cards. Everything was going as planned as we dined on pot roast with steamed potatoes and carrots along with garlic rolls, and a salad. 

A couple of weeks ago at a community collaborative meeting, I had the privilege of listening to and learning from a few survivors of human trafficking about ethical storytelling. This is a topic I am very passionate about because as I conduct anti-human trafficking work, I strive to advocate in a way that does not re-victimize, exploit, or harm survivors, but honours and uplifts them.

“Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” -Psalm 8:2