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KAIROS Witness

In this monthly blog, KAIROS explores the social and ecological justice issues related to the extractive industry and watersheds, the rights of Indigenous peoples, women and migrant workers, and how to build movements of change. KAIROS brings awareness and offers insights on Canadian and global issues that are too often ignored.

Blog - KAIROS Witness May 29
Women drum at the Kitchi KAIROS Blanket Exercise in Ottawa, June 2, 2017 (Image: Photo by Extremeline Productions)
Post-pandemic Canada should centre the needs of Indigenous women
Chrystal Waban | This June, KAIROS invites you to learn about Indigenous women working to make change in Canada.
Blog - KAIROS Witness May 4
Workers at the Coastal GasLink project site on unceded Wet'suwet'en land on April 1, 2020. Image: Unist'ot'en Camp/Video Screenshot/Twitter
Large-scale resource extraction exacerbates the threat of COVID-19 across the American hemisphere
Chrystal Désilets, Gabriela Jiménez, Beth Lorimer | The grave threat posed by COVID-19 across the American hemisphere, especially to Indigenous peoples, is exacerbated by extractivism.
Blog - KAIROS Witness March 23
Image: Felton Davis/Flickr
Was, is, and will always be a saint: Celebrating the life of Oscar Romero
Alfredo Barahona | Oscar Romero was assassinated 40 years ago because of his unequivocal opposition to the violation of human rights in El Salvador, military repression and extreme poverty.
Blog - KAIROS Witness March 22
Image: KAIROS Canada
World Water Day 2020: taking a watershed approach to climate change
Beth Lorimer | The theme of this year's World Water Day explores how climate change and water are inextricably linked.
Blog - KAIROS Witness November 27
Isabel Zuleta of Movimiento Ríos Vivos Antioquia in Colombia and Natalia Atz Sunuc of the Guatemalan association Kaji' Ajpop. Image: KAIROS
Women land and water defenders are the real peacebuilders
Gabriela Jiménez | Large-scale resource extraction perpetuates violence, even in countries with peace accords. Women are often on the frontlines of mobilizing to protect land and water.
Blog - KAIROS Witness September 4
KAIROS Climate Action Month
KAIROS Canada launches Climate Action Month
Amelia Berot-Burns, Chrystal Désilets | To galvanize awareness and action on the climate emergency, KAIROS is promoting September as Climate Action Month.
Blog - KAIROS Witness July 3
Picture by Aleksander Pasaric/ Pexels
We need a global perspective for a just green energy transition
Amelia Berot-Burns | The Pact for a Green New Deal must also be a social justice pact for the global south.
Blog - KAIROS Witness June 25
Figure 1 Members of REMA Mujeres and the From Relajo to Refusal Work Group at UNAM, Mexico City, June 12, 2019. Photo courtesy of Kate Klein.
America is a mass grave
Gabriela Jiménez | An ensemble of living and non-living beings is calling an alarm: America is a mass grave. América es una fosa común.
Blog - KAIROS Witness March 22
World Water Day 2019: Leave no Indigenous community behind
Amelia Berot-Burns | Clean water is a human right and yet billions of people, including in Canada, are deprived of it. World Water Day shines a spotlight on this human crisis.
Blog - KAIROS Witness January 16
Upper Kananaskis lake, Alberta. Photo: Thank you for visiting my page from Canada/Wikimedia Commons
A social justice wish list for 2019
Cheryl McNamara | With the aim to promote justice, KAIROS looks to the year ahead and points to all the work that needs to be done.
Blog - KAIROS Witness June 25
Isabel. Image: KAIROS Canada
Canada boosts transformative work of grassroots women peace builders
Rachel Warden | Women are often prime targets in war but, when given the chance, they can also be critical agents for peace.
Blog - KAIROS Witness May 15
Great Climate Race team. Photo: Christopher Porter/Flickr
The Great Climate Race rallies people to take action on climate change
Richard Thompson | Environmental campaigner Ben West and his partner Mari McMillan initiated The Great Climate Race because they believed in encouraging people to make a difference.
Blog - KAIROS Witness March 8
Yolanda Becerra Vega of the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) in Colombia, KAIROS Women of Courage partner.
Be a feminist every day of the year
Rachel Warden | This year we are happy that it is finally acceptable (and even trendy) to be a feminist, but we urge Canadians and the Canadian government to fully embrace the challenge.
Blog - KAIROS Witness February 23
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a trailblazer for Inuit rights and the environment in the North
Richard Thompson | Watt-Cloutier sees connections between her personal struggles as an Inuk girl and her public leadership decades later, addressing the environmental crises that afflicted her people.
Blog - KAIROS Witness January 18
KAIROS Canada's wish list for 2018
Cheryl McNamara | Always striving for extraordinary change, KAIROS expects bold new provincial and federal policies this year that will advance human and ecological rights.
Blog - KAIROS Witness November 7
Melina Laboucan-Massimo. Image: Melina Laboucan-Massimo/Facebook
New economy trailblazer: Melina Laboucan-Massimo
Richard Thompson | On the day U.N. climate talks begin in Bonn, KAIROS Canada launches a new blog series called New Economy Trailblazers showcasing leaders in the transition to a clean energy economy.
Blog - KAIROS Witness October 9
Image: Flickr/Bread for the World​
Foreign workers should be eligible to apply for permanent residence prior to or upon arrival to Canada
Connie Sorio, Tess Agustin | On Thanksgiving we gather with family and friends and often we acknowledge the delicious bounty that's before us. But what about the temporary foreign workers who tend to and harvest this food?
Blog - KAIROS Witness June 8
John Dillon
Remembering John Dillon
Jennifer Henry | John Dillon, KAIROS Canada's long-serving researcher and policy analyst on the global economy, human rights and ecological justice passed away on June 5.
Blog - KAIROS Witness April 22
Tar Sands Healing Walk 2014. Photo by Allan Lissner
NAFTA renegotiations must be done through the lens of climate change
John Dillon | Canada, and not just Mexico, may be in for a rough ride when it renegotiates NAFTA with the United States. When it comes to fighting climate change, however, the ride will be rougher.
Blog - KAIROS Witness April 13
Philippine delegates in Canada
Championing peace by making Canadian corporations accountable
Connie Sorio, Bishop Antonio Ablon | Can Canada champion world peace while simultaneously supporting Canadian extractive companies that are accused of human and ecological rights violations?
Blog - KAIROS Witness March 8
Women building peace in Colombia: Isabel Polanco and Organización Femenina Popular
Rachel Warden | This year KAIROS is celebrating International Women’s Day (March 8) with the launch of a video on Isabel Caicedo Polanco and the work of KAIROS’ partner, Organización Femenina Popular in Colombia
Blog - KAIROS Witness February 7
11 wishes for 2017 that will make Canada greener, more just and more equal
Cheryl McNamara | Last January, KAIROS released its wish list for the year -- 10 plus one hopes for the federal government and the provinces to fulfill. Two of these were realized. Here are our wishes for 2017.
Blog - KAIROS Witness January 3
RCMP in Alberta participate in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, a participatory re-t
KAIROS Blanket Exercise deepens RCMP Alberta Division's cultural awareness
Cheryl McNamara | KAIROS Blanket Exercise becomes part of the RCMP's Alberta Division's mandatory Indigenous cultural training for all officers and employees.
Blog - KAIROS Witness November 24
Violence Against Women Painting
NO MÁS! End Violence against Women NOW tour brings November 25 to Canada
Rachel Warden | November 25 (UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) and following 16 days of activism against gender-based violence offer important opportunities to respond to this issue.
Blog - KAIROS Witness September 13
Rolling Justice Bus against Site C Dam. Photo by Deirdre Kelly.
Site C legal challenge on UNDRIP anniversary shows Indigenous rights are a long ways away
Katy Quinn | Nine years ago today, the United Nations took an important step towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Where is Canada today on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
Blog - KAIROS Witness August 17
Panel members: ‘Convergence Assembly on Gendered Impacts: Indigenous women and r
The spirit of Berta Cáceres: The power and playful defiance of Indigenous women at the World Social Forum
Rachel Warden | I had the honour of accompanying a group of Indigenous women and organizations to the World Social Forum, and felt like I was in the presence of the spirit of Berta Cáceres.
Blog - KAIROS Witness August 8
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise
Spanish KAIROS Blanket Exercise connects colonial dots
Alfredo Barahona | If you ask Latin American expats what they know about Canada's TRC and residential schools, most will answer "not much." To address this KAIROS translated its powerful Blanket Exercise into Spanish.
Blog - KAIROS Witness June 21
Circle Dance at Mass KAIROS Blanket Exercise in Edmonton
Honour National Aboriginal Day by supporting the Education for Reconciliation Initiative
Shannon Neufeldt | On National Aboriginal Day, we encourage you to sign the petition, urging your province to fully implement TRC Call 62.i.
Blog - KAIROS Witness June 9
The Honourable Senator, Murray Sinclair
Murray Sinclair: Education is key to reconciliation
Sara Anderson | Despite the many challenges that Indigenous peoples face today, Murray Sinclair reminds us that "education is the means by which we will be able to fix this."
Blog - KAIROS Witness April 21
Image: Wikimedia Commons
On Earth Day, look -- then Leap
John Dilllon | How might Canadians celebrate Earth Day? My suggestion is that we all carefully read the Leap Manifesto: A Call for Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another.

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