How about a little ethics with our politics?

Many governments have an ethics commissioner. Generally, this person’s job is to ensure that public officials avoid conflicts of interest (that they don’t use their position for personal or financial gain).

What an ethics commissioner does not do is give an ethical evaluation of the impacts of budgets, policies, and government choices. That’s up to the public. It’s up to us. But to do so, we need to pay attention to what governments are doing. We need to ask: What patterns and priorities are emerging in their policy choices?

Consider how some of the lowest-income people in Ontario are being impacted by government policies:

  • First, at a time when many companies aren’t hiring due to trade disruptions, and costs are soaring, Ontario Works’ basic rate (social assistance) is stuck at $733 monthly. That amount hasn’t changed since 2018. In those intervening years, inflation has eroded the purchasing power of $733 by more than 20 %. What does one have to do to survive on so little money? And how could one possibly get job-ready when one is just trying to survive?

  • Second, in June, provincial funding for Ontario’s last eight publicly funded supervised consumption sites will end. Will these closures lead to more overdose deaths and increased health-care costs?

  • Third, given the provincial government’s closure of these supervised consumption sites, and the earlier push to get people out of encampments, one would imagine that the government would be “all in” when it comes to supporting programs such as London’s House of Hope.  

London, Ontario’s House of Hope set to close after province denies funding.

House of Hope has 48 units and has been supporting people with physical and mental health issues, including addiction. In less than three years of operation it has proven to be effective in providing the wrap-around services that help people stay off the street. It has also reduced pressure on shelters, hospitals, and emergency services. And yet, so far, Hope of Hope has been unsuccessful in securing $1.37 million in ongoing provincial funding. Without this funding, House of Hope will be forced to close when its funding runs out in November. And how many similar stories are occurring in communities across Ontario? In your community?

The political conversation has been predictable. The city council blames the province for cutting funding. The provincial government lists all the money it spends on such services province-wide, and insists the city needs to better allocate its money. Who does one believe? And is there any point to the “blaming game” other than skirting responsibility?

Might the people of Ontario make a difference by taking an ethical stance?  

It’s just not right for people who live on the lowest incomes to continually be the target of insufficient funding and loss of services, be it OW, safe consumption sites, or wrap-around services. When we have programs that work, we need to fund them.

-Sister Sue Wilson, CSJ | Executive Director, Office for Systemic Justice

Image: Lady Justice statue, Philippe Oursel@ourselp/Unsplash

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65 Years of Amnesty International: A Movement That Changed the World

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On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy shared his bold vision of landing a man on the moon. Eight years later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface. This astonishing achievement, immortalized by his words, “This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” prove what vision and sustained commitment can accomplish.

May 28 is Amnesty International's 65th anniversary. Like the moon mission, our movement has reached goals that once seemed unattainable. The Sisters of St. Joseph— through letters written, petitions signed, and generous financial support- have helped make this possible. (Pictured below, Sisters over the years participating in various Amnesty initiatives).

Here are some results of that unwavering commitment over the decades:

  • 1962 — Amnesty sent a lawyer to observe Nelson Mandela's trial in South Africa. Mandela later wrote that his presence "was a source of tremendous inspiration and encouragement to us."

  • 1970s — Amnesty secured access to Chile under Pinochet to investigate human rights violations and published a list of 2,665 people who had "disappeared" in Argentina, helping families demand accountability. For this work, Amnesty was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

  • 1977 — When Amnesty began campaigning against the death penalty, only 16 countries had abolished it. Today, more than half the world — 113 countries — has done so.

  • 1990s — Amnesty drew global attention to the plight of 300,000 child soldiers, helping launch the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

  • 2002 — Decades of pressure from Amnesty supporters helped bring about the creation of the International Criminal Court to prosecute those responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes.

  • 2014 — The global Arms Trade Treaty came into force after sustained advocacy by Amnesty and others— a landmark step toward stemming the flow of weapons that fuel conflict and human rights abuses worldwide.

  • 2016 — Albert Woodfox was released from a Louisiana prison after a U.S. record-breaking 43 years and 10 months in solitary confinement. "I can't emphasize enough how important getting letters from people around the world is," he said. "It gave me strength."

  • 2018 — Teodora del Carmen Vasquez was freed in El Salvador after serving a decade of a 30-year sentence for suffering a stillbirth. Amnesty supporters had campaigned for her since 2015.

  • 2021 — Amnesty's Security Lab exposed the widespread use of Pegasus spyware against journalists, activists, and human rights defenders globally, triggering government inquiries and bans in multiple countries.

  • 2025 — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity. In their written charges against Duterte, ICC prosecutors cited Amnesty International reports more than 60 times.

©International Criminal Court/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Over the past 65 years, tens of millions of letters have reached people in cells, in exile, and in fear — reminding them they are not forgotten or alone. You are among those who wrote these letters.

No one knows what the next 65 years will bring. But the last 65 have shown that as long as people keep standing up for rights and accountability, the world will keep moving — however haltingly — toward justice for everyone.

-Amnesty International Canada

Exile Then and Now: Remembering the Displaced

I am watching a video series on the Old Testament (usually called the First Testament in recent scholarship) through the Great Courses study series presented by Dr. Amy Jill Levine, Professor of Jewish Studies and New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University. She relates history, archeology and scriptural scholarship in lectures on the prophet Jeremiah and the deportation to Babylon. I have read briefly about the 2 deportations in scripture of the Israelite people into exile. 

What shocked me is how little most of us, myself included, know about that suffering in history.

As deportations are happening across North America and other parts of the world, I realized we are ignorant of our own story and historic sufferings of displaced people.  About 1400 parents are deported each month in the United States (with 27,000 children being separated from their parents).  That is a horrific scandal that we seem powerless to address. Worse still, recent reporting states that up to 200 million people are displaced through war, famine, flooding or oppression in the past few years. 

I was staggered to realize that our world is aware but mostly indifferent to the plight of millions of suffering people. The gospel calls us to be aware and active in seeking out the marginal, the disposed and the oppressed of our world.  

I pray that these scandalous realities may be addressed and people given hope, help, and refuge.

-Father D.M.Vere

Reference: UNHCR reports 132 million people are forcibly displaced with 36.3 being refugees, 73.5million being internally displaced (in their own country) and 8.4 million asylum seekers fleeing oppression or seeking safer surroundings. There are differing number from various years within the United Nations data sources 2024/2025. (Some 8 million have returned to their home region in the past two years)