Blog
The Sisters of St. Joseph are concerned about how proposed changes to the federal health care program for newly arrived refugees will have negative impacts on refugees, refugee claimants, and health care systems across Canada.
Our Office for Systemic Justice has sent the following letter to the federal Minister of Health and the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada/IRCC to raise these concerns.
Read the letter here.
International Women’s Day
In a recent survey, “Gathering Women’s Voices for a She-covery,” women in the London region told us about their work experiences during the pandemic.
Mothers of young children reported needing to reduce hours, move to part-time work, take a leave of absence, or leave their jobs entirely to care for their children. Their comments fit closely with a Royal Bank report (Dawn Desjardins and Carrie Freestone) from November 2020 which noted that, although mothers with children under 6 made up only 41% of the labour force in Feb. 2020, they accounted for two-thirds of the workers leaving the labour market.
But it’s not just about the care of young children. Some women spoke of deep concerns for the mental health of their teens; others felt the need to invest more time in helping their children with their education. As I read their survey comments, it seemed clear that women have been plugging the holes in our poorly funded social systems: inaccessible child-care, lack of mental health supports, weak elder care systems and educational supports. And too many women have been paying the price with lost hours of work and high levels of stress.
As London thinks about how to improve our labour participation rates, it’s not enough to think in terms of matching jobs and skills. We need to look deeper, to open our eyes to the ways in which weak social protections are effectively pushing women out of the labour market.
-Sister Sue Wilson | Office for Systemic Justice, Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada
The Survey was sponsored by Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, Brescia, London Food Bank, Coalition to Empower Gender Equality, London Coordinating Committee to End Women Abuse, Pillar, and United Way.
The Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada are part of a coalition of 35 Canadian churches and faith-based organizations mobilizing an unprecedented, months-long campaign of personal environmental action coupled with federal climate advocacy.
For the Love of Creation's faith-in-action campaign mobilizes people across Canada to reduce their household greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and demonstrate support for increased federal climate action by writing letters to key federal Cabinet Ministers on a range of climate justice issues: climate ambition, a just transition, Indigenous rights, and support for the Global South.
Make a personal pledge to reduce your GHG emissions and engage in acts of solidarity with justice-seeking communities!
Share your pledge and call on federal Cabinet Ministers to commit the Government of Canada to:
A. Increase our national GHG emissions reduction target and invest in a just transition to a fair, inclusive, green economy.
Sign Letter A: Emissions & Transition
B. Implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including, but not limited to, the right of free, prior, and informed consent.
Sign Letter B: Indigenous Rights
C. Commit equal support for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in the Global South.
Public Statement re: Vaccines for COVID-vulnerable people in prisons
The Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada commends the federal government’s decision to offer vaccines to 600 elderly prisoners and those with pre-existing conditions. This decision is an affirmation of the dignity of each person, a foundation of morality.
The first wave of the pandemic showed that prisoners are much more likely to get COVID-19. According to Correctional Services Canada, as of January 6th, there have been 1,196 total positive cases with 167 active and 3 deaths. Furthermore, a CBC analysis indicates that infection rates are five times higher in provincial jails and up to nine times higher in federal facilities than in the general population. As this data shows, the prison context itself creates significant vulnerabilities to COVID-19 infection.
The guiding principle for decision-making for vaccine distribution should be the equal human dignity and worth of every person. Human dignity is not something that is earned. It belongs to each person and is not forfeited or forgotten due to specific circumstances or behaviours. It is the task of governments and institutions to protect the human dignity of each person, without exception. With regard to vaccines, respect for human dignity means the same two criteria, risk and vulnerability, should be used for the prison population as for the general population.
By design, prisons marginalize people from full participation in the community for a period of time. But this must never leave people marginalized from what is theirs on the basis of their basic human dignity.
Early access to a COVID-19 vaccine for at-risk persons in prison and other detention facilities is a simple question of human dignity and fairness. We diminish ourselves as a society if we do not honour these values in our collective decision-making.
- Office for Systemic Justice, Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada
Sister Olga, faithfully writing at 97 years of age
The Sisters of St. Joseph have been friends of Amnesty International for decades. We’ve delighted in the annual visit of its well-known former Secretary General for Canada, Alex Neve, and his workers throughout the last fifteen years. Besides contributing monetary donations, Amnesty’s yearly Write for Rights initiative is an advocacy opportunity we’ve embraced since 2012. This year was no different.
On the appointed December 10th, a group of our senior Sisters armed with pen and paper wrote 140 letters to various leaders throughout the world, pleading for amnesty and justice for their people who have been illegally incarcerated for standing up for human rights and justice in their countries.
140letters~ in the mail!
We read the cases of six specific men and women whose lives have been disrupted due to their support of others whose water, lands, and forests have been devastated and razed by companies seeking to advance their own financial largesse. The fact that our letters matter is evidenced by the success that has resulted for victims through the pressures our writing has exerted on various countries’ leaders.
I sensed a blessing descend upon our home as Sisters wrote impassioned pleas to repressive governments to right the wrongs of advocates unjustly treated for working on behalf of humanity. There is no better way to live these Advent weeks than to raise our voices against injustices. It is a powerful practice in preparing the way of the Lord.
-Sister Jean Moylan
