Canada

The first time I sat in a Cree circle I was just fifteen years old. The Cree Elder did not present a ‘woe is me’ argument against white people for his young audience, rather, he spoke of the equality of all the nations as depicted on the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel portrays four colors: red, yellow, black (sometimes depicted as blue or green depending on the beliefs of the nation), and white that represent the equality of the four nations of the global population of humankind.

As part of DARC (Decolonization and Anti-racism Collective, the new name for the Canadian Advisory Committee on Antiracism), I was asked to talk with BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) people to hear their honest experiences with the CRCNA. I was honoured to talk with a brilliant woman who is a Doctor in Education and a Professor at the University of Alberta.

You are mightier than all the breakers pounding on the seashores of the world! - Psalm 93:4

Earthquake death toll tops 41,000 in Turkey and Syria 

In the continuing aftermath of the earthquake, 100 people have been arrested in Turkey amidst a collapsed building probe.  We pray for justice, healing and also a solid rebuilding.

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.

When you became a deacon, did you know what you signed up for? Most new deacons hear the Deacon’s mandate read at their ordination and then sit at their first meeting thinking – what now? My job at Diaconal Ministries is to help deacons understand their calling and discover ways to work out their leadership role. The Deacon’s mandate can be broken into 4 ministry areas: Stewardship, Benevolence, Justice and Community.

Let the King of my heart be the wind inside my sails and the anchor in the waves. - King of My Heart

The Do Justice editor has invited me to contribute to “Do Justice” every three months, and this post marks the launch! This week I’m retiring from regular employment, and one of my post-employment goals is to live out Micah 6.8 more intentionally with my wife Evelyn in our local context here in Hamilton, ON:  “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

One thing I have learned as I prepare for this transition: seeking justice requires CPD oil.

Jonathan Nicolai-deKoning (is the director of the Micah Centre at King’s University, which helps students explore ways of seeking justice in today's local and global contexts. He joins Chris to talk about the lines of thought in two of his recent blogs on Do Justice which lent inspiration to the theme of this season.  

Lead Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Commissioner Murray Sinclair has the wonderful ability to speak important truths in great one liners.  Two of those one-liners have stuck with me for  the 7 years since the release of the final report of the TRC:  education got us into this mess and education will get us out and reconciliation is a generational project.  Both of these short-zingers have inspired our long-term work in the CRC in Canada to advocate for the implementation of TRC Calls to Action 7-10 that focus on justice and equity in First Nation K-12 education.

The calendar has turned, and so it is time (in the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘In Memorium CVI’) to “ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky// the flying cloud, the frosty light: the year is dying in the night”.  It’s time, to quote the same poem, to “ring out the old, ring in the new”.

Tennyson’s poem suggests that the changing of the calendar can be an opportunity for change that has less to do with personal resolutions and more to do with ‘ringing in’ a more just, humane, and peaceable world.  As he ends the poem: