Presentation to the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara, 15 jan 2017
Good
morning!
It is a pleasure and delight to be with
you this morning. I am so grateful for the invitation; and I am thrilled to
know there are so many people in one place that are fired up about social
justice.
With 20 minutes, there's barely enough
time for me to scratch the surface. What I'm hoping for is that our time this
morning will inspire some consideration for ways in which we can all become
more aware of social injustices - around the world and here in our own
community.
So to begin, I'd like to start with a
bit about what social justice IS. Many of you will have seen this graphic: In a
very simplistic way, it highlights for us the difference between equality and
equity.
In the equality scenario, each of the
spectators has a box to stand on - but you can see the shortest person is still
unable to see over. It's like giving everyone in this room an apple - how nice,
we all get fruit.
In the equity scenario, they use the
boxes to ensure that all of them is able to see over the fence. It would be
like asking everyone in this room if they had breakfast; those who did don't
need an apple, those who skipped breakfast get one, those who haven't eaten in
a week get more.
It's a
good start- meeting short-term needs - but it could be better.
Here's where the third panel of that
graphic comes in. It changes the story - it removes the barrier that creates
the problem in the first place. This would be like making sure that everyone in
the room had access to apple trees to feed themselves.
Tearing down fences is hard. So is
social justice work. BUT - it's worth the effort, when we can trust that the
results are making the world a better place.
So! Today
I'm going to touch on just a few of the MANY areas of social justice. I'll
articulate, however, that all areas of social justice can impact on each other
- it's what makes this work so much more difficult to categorise.
First:
the homeless and the hungry.
The homeless are not just the folks who
we see on the street corners, begging for change. The hidden homeless tend to
be three times as numerous - these are people whose home is their car - or a
motel - or couch-surfing from friend to friend - or an unused building. Many
have jobs, but cannot collect first-and-last month's rent to secure an
apartment. The safety and security of such an apartment is also to be considered.
Some scary statistics: In Niagara more
than 11,000 people are waiting for geared-to-income rentals. That's not
counting those who have fallen through the bureaucratic cracks. About half of
working Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. More than 70% of homeless
youth are escaping physical or sexual violence. 1 in 8 Canadian families will
experience food insecurity this year (that's where they don't have access to
food or resources to purchase food).
Imagine how much worse those numbers would be without our social
security system and the existing organisations.
So how we react locally matters: Aware that
this problem exists and is increasing, we can demand our governments to take
action. We can support agencies addressing the immediate needs: for example
Bethlehem Housing and Support services have their "Empty Bowls"
fundraiser in March. Start Me Up Niagara - which is feeding some 300 people a
day right now - is seeking sponsors and volunteers for their "Coldest
Night of the Year". Community Care looks after a variety of food and
hygiene needs, RAFT helps teens who have no home to go to anymore, countless
breakfast programmes and soup kitchens have existing structures to help the
vulnerable meet their basic needs.
We can also be forwardly intentional
about our advocacy; on National Housing Day (nov 22) let's make sure our MPs
and city council know that we demand better for our community.
And, more immediately, we can help the
people we see in need. Look Learn their name; thereby addressing their humanity
and maintaining their (and our) dignities. Give them money. Better yet - give
them food or a food card. Take them for a meal. Realise that everyone we see
has had better days; most people we see have had worse days.
Human Trafficking is the latest form of
slavery. It's frightening, and it's right before our eyes. Some 12 million
people are trafficked annually, mostly women and girls, half of whom are forced
into prostitution. We like to think "that doesn't happen here" - but
the sad reality is that large sporting or cultural events are prime areas for
this sort of activity - and it happened right here during last summer's PanAm
games.
There are resources available - the
RCMP and the Government of Canada have strategies to combat these activities.
Our challenge is to realise that it happens, and here - and support those
agencies that are already involved in the fight against it.
Trafficking connects directly with
gender justice issues; while we in Canada enjoy the relative freedom for women,
we know we could do better. We can challenge the glass ceiling in the
workplace; we can eliminate the stigma attached to new mothers, we can demand
economic justice (did you know Canadian Aboriginal women are the lowest earning
cohort? Lower than students.) We can support global initiatives like the UNCSW
(which meets every March). We can locally celebrate International Women's Day -
08 mar. We can support the empowerment of women and children in our midst -
economically, legally, educationally, politically, culturally. Trafficking is
harder where women and children are valued members of society.
When it comes to the Earth, we all know
that we're guests on a fragile island, floating out in space. We know that we
need to look after it. And we all know that this is one area where we are
really falling short.
As the stewards of creation, we are
blessed with memory and reason and skill... and we're meant to be using them.
However, the capitalistic greed that has become the norm seems to go in direct
opposition to these things. The global climate is changing; we're warming. That
leads to more frequent and more erratic storms. More damage is done, and that
damage is cumulative. We are poisoning our air and water and soil; we're
poisoning ourselves.
We can do better: in small ways and in
large.
To be cliché: reduce, reuse, recycle!
If we reduce the amount of things we
buy, there won't be the unsustainable demand on the planet's resources. if we
reduce the things of a disposable nature, we make a world of difference. When
we carpool or use transit we reduce the air pollution; printing on front and
back of paper means half the amount of forests being clearcut.
When we reuse what we already have, we
win - carrier bags mean less of those cheap plastic bags that break anyway.
Mason jars are great for storage instead of ziplocks. Carrying a coffee mug -
one of my favourite investments!
And, as a last resort, we can recycle
and upcycle our existing goods. Those ubiquitous blue boxes aren't a perfect
solution, but they're better than the landfill.
We can also educate ourselves and make
informed decisions about what we DO buy. Are imported greenhouse strawberries
really worth it? Is a $10 t-shirt made in a Bangladesh slaveshop really a good
deal? Was the company that mined the gold for those fabulous earrings
responsible with its chemicals?
And, of course, let's be advocates for
those members of our community that have no voice for themselves - the trees,
the water systems, the land...
In speaking of Indigenous rights, we
must recognise that Canada is a country of colonisers. Centuries ago, believing
the land to be empty ("Terra Nullius"), Europeans "claimed"
the land as their own, ignoring the indigenous peoples. For hundreds of years, our
history has taught us to neglect the rights and traditions of the indigenous
people. From hydro dams flooding communities to Indian Residential Schools to
resource extraction and beyond: there is a need for justice.
One way to promote indigenous rights is
to acknowledge traditional territories: for example: we are gathered today on
the indigenous territory of the Neutrals, one of the tribes that joined the
Iroquois Confederacy. We thank them for their stewardship of this land.
Our justice work is a journey towards
reconciliation: we must re-write history to remove ongoing stereotypes and
stigma: for example - the governmental department of Indian Affairs JUST
changed to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. There are universities
and colleges are now requiring courses on Indigenous affairs. We - any of us -
can read the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The more we know; the better we can
respond.
A local example might be taking part in
a "Blanket Exercise" to educate ourselves on our shared history. In
the fall, we are invited to support as allies the Haudenosaunee deer hunt in
Short Hills Provincial Park. Each fall sees protests against the hunters' legal
treaty rights; the hunt preserves language and tradition while culling an
unsustainable population of deer. Simply
by showing up demonstrates solidarity and witness to maintaining rights.
And finally, we mustn't overlook the Refugee
Crisis. Right now, the world is facing the largest number of displaced persons
- internally displaced and refugees - with some 24 people fleeing their homes
every minute. These unprecedented numbers are scary; worse are the promoters of
hatred, racism, and xenophobia that are denying help and sanctuary.
And that is one way that we are
different - as you know, Port Dalhousie Community has come together to sponsor
a refugee family. In less than one year, over $30,000 has been donated to give
hope to a family of 4, currently in a camp in Jordan, just waiting to be called
by the Canadian government for their interviews. One family may not seem like a
lot in the big picture, but to this one family, the world is a different place
because of us. Together - a nickel and dime at a time.
So, some thoughts from the faith perspective about community.
We, as people of faith, have a moral
imperative to get involved in social justice. It's not just some random thing,
it's our calling. The scriptures are clear: The Micah challenge reads "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."
We
are called to be community. We are tied
together. Through any number of ways - our city is set up to depend on one
another, our food systems, cultural services, health care, government, our
faith communities - are all designed so that we might work together.
We are one people, our lives are
integrated. When something good happens for one of us, we are all invited to
celebrate as we all benefit. When something less-than-ideal happens to one of
us, we are all challenged to come together in support and assistance, as we all
are in need of improvement.
Social
justice is
about being community - it's not just about changing the lives of others, it's
also about changing our own. Getting involved is an opportunity for mutual transformation
– because of what we give, and because of what we receive in return.
And local action IS the best option.
One leading researcher called it the magic ingredient:
"Local action is the essential leading edge of social
change, where the public can see either injustice or justice with their own
eyes, where a national policy will either sink or swim, where the best new
ideas are devised and tested."[1]
So
what can WE do? We're making a start - a BIG start. My invitation to come this
morning shows a significant commitment of our communities - our shared
community - to work together here at home.
Our
shared community is a first step toward a shared ministry of social action. So
here is MY invitation to you... the congregation I serve, St John's Anglican,
is starting a local social justice group. We're going to meet with other local
churches to see what we can do together - sometimes it's as easy as sharing the
information; other times it might be planning an event together, hosting a
workshop, spearheading a letter-writing campaign, promoting advocacy activism -
who knows!
We
do know that we can't do everything. We also know that we can't do nothing. The
reality of social justice is that there will always be something to do; there
will always be MORE to do. So I encourage us to think and reflect on what area
of social injustice fires up the passion within US - each one of us - and
inspires us to begin taking action.
Ghandi
said: BE the change you wish to see in the world.
My prayer today and everyday follows
upon that. I pray that we might all have our eyes open enough to see something
that needs changing; that we might all have the courage to face the status quo
that has created that injustice; and that we might all have the perseverance to
be a part - even a tiny part - of the change that will make the world a better
place.
[1] Chris Leslie, New Local Government Network. http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/2006/for-social-justice-local-action-is-the-magic-ingredient/
