Decolonizing climate action is the theme underscoring the 4th annual Climate Action Month, which launched September 1 and coincides with the Season of Creation. During each week in September, KAIROS will focus on different peoples and communities who are too often ignored when addressing the climate crisis.

KAIROS staff and partners from South Sudan and Palestine hosted a workshop on women peacebuilders’ contributions in building sustainable relationships among all people and with Creation at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Karlsruhe, Germany. 

The Migrant Workers Alliance is building a massive mobilization on Sunday, September 18. Please join this unprecedented opportunity to win permanent resident status for nearly 1.7 million migrants and stop deportations. You are encouraged to organize a contingent. Let’s make this a BIG mobilization!

The KAIROS Canada community and network in Canada and around the world extends deep condolences, sympathy, and support to all those who have lost loved ones and been impacted by the grievous attacks in James Smith Cree Nation and in the town of Weldon, Saskatchewan.

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise will be part of the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education in Adelaide, Australia, September 26 – 30. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise. Since its creation in 1997, the KBE has grown beyond the colonial borders of what is now known as Canada.

For the Love of Creation is supporting the participation of two young women to the COP27 delegation, organized by KAIROS with UN accreditation from the United Church of Canada. Tia Kennedy and Yusra Shafi impressed interviewers with their commitment to climate action, knowledge of Indigenous rights and the sustainable development goals, and demonstrated ability to communicate these issues. We look forward to hearing and amplifying their perspectives. Meet Tia and Yura and nine other delegates at our Meet the COP27 Delegation online event on September 13 at 8 p.m. ET.

KAIROS wants to lift up the artistic work of young activists. We are excited to share your visions and amplify your voices! The 2022 Contest coincides with the lead up to the COP 27, so we are asking contestants to consider what message they would like to send to Canadians and Canadian leaders at this time. Submissions will be accepted starting October 1. Voting will begin October 12. Get your artwork ready now!

On August 27, Muskeg Lake Cree Nation hosted a group of 45 (mostly) settlers, reflecting on the theme of “Decolonizing Ourselves: Healing Haunted Histories.” The event’s title was drawn from the book by Elaine Enns and Ched Meyers, Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization. The authors, plus former Chief and Catholic deacon Harry Lafond and his partner, Metis Elder Germaine Lafond, led participants in reflecting on their landlines, bloodlines, and songlines in different locations around the Muskeg Lake reserve.  

The Sixties Scoop Network (SSN) in collaboration with KAIROS successfully secured funding from the Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation to further support the Bigiwen 60s Scoop Healing Initiatives and Debwewin In our own Words: Mapping the 60s Scoop Diaspora projects. These are vital healing and cultural initiatives for Sixties Scoop survivors and their families. Project activities and events include a 60s Scoop gathering for Survivors in the fall, as well as cultural, training, and healing opportunities in 2022 and 2023. 

The “At a Glance” report for Year 4 of the KAIROS Women of Courage: Women, Peace and Security program is now available in English, French and Spanish. The report highlights the critical work of KAIROS partners – grassroots women peacebuilders – in Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Palestine. Despite the pandemic, partners and participants demonstrated great resilience and strength, and a strong sense of pride in overcoming adversity. 

Maria Ressa, a Nobel Prize laureate and journalist, faces ongoing criminalization by the Philippines government after losing her appeal against the false conviction of cyber-libel. KAIROS joins the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and numerous national and international human rights groups in expressing unwavering support. We call on the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines to follow Voices at Risk guidelines, which include providing a clear, visible presence at court hearings.

On July 21, the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) celebrated its 50th anniversary. A KAIROS Women, Peace and Security partner in Colombia, the OFP works with communities and grassroots women in the Magdelana Medio region to build just, sustainable and equitable peace, with a feminist face. As the OFP anniversary poster aptly reads: “For memory with a feminist face – 50 years of sowing life, territory and peace.”