Guest Bloggers

,

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

,

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)

,

Earth Day: Rooted in Relationship: Forests, Faith, and Care for the Land

,

GUEST BLOG

At Ignatius Jesuit Centre, care for the land is not separate from spiritual life. It is part of it.

Set on over 600 acres in Guelph, Ontario, the land at IJC holds forests, fields, wetlands, and trails that are actively cared for through conservation, farming, and community engagement. For us, ecological stewardship is not only about protecting natural spaces, but about restoring right relationship — with the land, with one another, and with God’s creation as a whole.

As we mark Earth Day, we are reminded that forests are more than landscapes to be preserved. They are living communities. They hold memory, shelter biodiversity, regulate climate, and offer spaces for reflection and renewal. They also require ongoing care.

At IJC, this care takes many forms. Through our conservation work, we are restoring native habitats, managing invasive species, and working to establish long-term protections for the land. Our Old Growth Forest Project, in particular, is a commitment to thinking beyond our own lifetimes; to steward a forest that future generations may inherit, even if we will never see it fully mature.

This long view is deeply connected to our spiritual practice. In a culture that often prioritizes immediacy and extraction, both faith and ecology invite us into something slower and more attentive. Forests teach patience. They remind us that growth happens over decades, that resilience is built through interconnected systems, and that care is often quiet and unseen.

Alongside conservation, Ignatius Farm continues to be a place where people learn through direct relationship with the land — growing food, tending soil, and participating in ecological cycles. Increasingly, this work is being integrated with opportunities for reflection, retreat, and education through our emerging Centre for Integral Ecology. The Centre is being developed as a place of formation, where people can engage the ecological and spiritual dimensions of life together through hands-on learning, shared reflection, and dialogue. In this way, we are responding, in a practical and grounded way, to Laudato Si’’s call to care for our common home — bringing faith, ecological understanding, and lived practice into closer relationship.

This invitation is already being lived out through the participation of volunteers and community members. On any given week, people gather to remove invasive species, helping native plants and trees to regenerate. Others join in planting trees, tending the community orchard, or supporting restoration projects across the property. On the farm, volunteers seed, harvest, and care for the soil, learning directly from the rhythms and limits of the land. These are not abstract acts of care, but physical, relational ones — ways of coming back into contact with the living systems that sustain us.

At its core, this work is an invitation. Not only to protect the natural world, but to reconsider how we live within it.

Prayer Intentions

We invite you to join us in holding these intentions in prayer:

  • For the healing and restoration of forests and ecosystems under pressure around the world

  • For the plants, animals, birds, and unseen life that share this Earth with us, in gratitude for their presence and with hope for their healing where they have been harmed

  • For the patience and long-term vision needed to care for the land across generations

  • For all who work in conservation, farming, and ecological education, that they may be sustained in their efforts

  • For deeper awareness of our interconnectedness with all of creation, and the courage to live differently in response

Courtesy of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre

St. Patrick’s Day

Family Roots and Irish Tradition

Patrick was my father’s name. He grew up in Douro, a small, distinctly Irish township situated just east of Peterborough, Ontario. My mother, Bridget, was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. When she married my father and met the people of Douro, she remarked that their accents were even more Irish than those in Ireland itself! This background meant that St. Patrick’s Day was always a special occasion for our family. Our celebrations included attending morning Mass, watching a parade, enjoying Irish music, and sharing a meal of Irish stew and soda bread. We continue to honor these traditions to this day.

The Legacy of St. Patrick

St. Patrick was never formally canonized by the church because he lived and died before the official process of canonization began in the 12th century. Instead, he was recognized as a saint by the people, admired for his remarkable achievements in spreading the Christian faith to nearly every part of Ireland.

Prayer and Pilgrimage

St. Patrick was renowned for his preaching and his deep devotion to prayer. Much like Jesus, he would retreat to quiet places for prayer and reflection. One such place is Croagh Patrick, a mountain in County Mayo, which remains a site of pilgrimage to this day. Perhaps this March 17th, you will join me in reciting this beautiful Prayer of St. Patrick or listen on to Rita Connolly singing “The Deer’s Cry”.

The Prayer of St. Patrick

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks for me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

-Maureen Condon, csj associate

Images: Quentin Rey/Allec Gomes/K. Mitch Hodge | Unsplash

International Women’s Day: Honouring Resistance, Demanding Equality

Ketty Nivyabandi, Amnesty Int’l Canada [Photo Credit: Dave Chan]

As we approach International Women's Day, I am called to reflect on the extraordinary courage of women human rights defenders around the world who are leading, organizing, and resisting injustice in the face of unprecedented pressure and risk. Women like Yanar Mohammed, gunned down only last week outside her home in Baghdad.  

As authoritarian practices gain ground globally, we are facing a global, coordinated, and well-funded crackdown against hard-fought human rights gains. History reminds us that gendered violence has so often been used as a political tool to divide society and concentrate power.

Women who speak out face harassment, surveillance, detention and physical harm. Economic exclusion is used to limit their independence, and digital spaces are manipulated to silence their voices.

In Afghanistan, women have been systematically erased from public life. Girls who could attend school only a few years ago are now forbidden to do so. Women working to provide for their families and drive forward progress are now forced to remain at home, venturing out only when a male companion is present.

In Canada, the rights of Indigenous women to live in safety and raise families in traditional manners to keep cultures alive are threatened by apathy and antiquated laws designed to suppress their identities and rights. 

And yet—despite all such odds stacked against us—women remain the most integral of threads in the social, economic, cultural, and political fabric of life everywhere.

Women the world over are pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable. Of what we will tolerate.

In Ecuador, the Guerreras por la Amazonía remind us that women and girls of all ages are fierce defenders of their homes and communities. In Mexico, women have led the search for thousands of disappeared people and continue their pursuit for truth and justice, in the face of unrelenting threat.

I am firm believer in the power of women to reshape our world. To all the women across the globe fighting against immense odds to protect the rights of all, we salute your courage, but we do not salute it from the sidelines. We salute it in solidarity and action alongside you.

-Ketty | Ketty Nivyabandi is the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.

Image: Unsplash