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Canada and the post-2015 agenda
2015 will be an eventful year in global and Canadian politics. It marks the deadline for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), bold poverty alleviation goals adopted in 2000, and the start of the post-2015 agenda. Meanwhile Canadians will have a federal election.
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UN Photo/Amanda Voisard
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The MDGs focused on extreme poverty, health, education, gender and global partnerships. Proposed successor goals will go further, addressing general poverty elimination; strong emphases on sustainability in everything, from the environment to economics to community development; and universality -- calling everyone, including Canada, to respond.
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Canada joins air combat campaign
On Tuesday, October 8, Parliament voted 157 to 134 to join a U.S.-led coalition in airstrikes against forces of the so-called Islamic State.  Project Ploughshares, longtime coalition partner of MCC, sent a letter to parliamentarians calling the government's proposal to join the combat mission, "short term gain for long term pain." Ploughshares calls for a comprehensive peace process that will address geo-political, sectarian, socio-economic, and cultural issues at work in the current conflict.
Look for a letter from MCC Canada to the Prime Minister in the near future. In other Parliamentary business, Bills 486 and 584 were recently defeated. Both Private Member's Bills bills were intended to bring about greater accountability in the international operations of Canadian mining companies.
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New resources:
for the Remembrance Day season
A MCC Remembrance Day Resource for Teachers will be available the week of October 13 at mcccanada.ca. Let your teacher friends know! MCC is hosting a peace poster contest. Deadline is October 27.Let your artist friends know!  MCC's annual Peace Sunday Packet includes worship resources, stories and an advocacy component.
It is now available also in French.
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Ottawa Office Newsletter archives
Read previous editions of our newsletter here. |
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Quotation
of the month
"... 13 years after the horrific assaults of 9/11 we have enough experience with military interventions intended to combat terrorism to give us pause."
-- John Siebert, Executive Director, Project Ploughshares to Members of Parliament, October 3, 2014
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Opportunities:
Our annual Student Seminar will take place February 12-14, 2015 in Ottawa. The theme this year is "Citizens. Disciples. Advocates. Christian faith and political responsibility." For more information, click here. * * * * *
We also invite applications until October 31 for the position of Ottawa Office Advocacy Research Intern, for January through April, 2015. Click here for a job description and qualifications.
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Staff update:
Travels west
On October 1 the Ottawa Office team headed west to Saskatoon for the two-day annual Public Engagement Network (PEN) gathering.
While the weather was
cold and blustery outside, the amazing hospitality of our friends and colleagues at MCC Saskatchewan kept us warm inside.
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