Charline Kavugho shared the news that she and her two-year-old son, Jonathan, had been declared free of the Ebola virus, 17 days after her husband Gerome Kanyitondi died of an Ebola infection. Kanyitondi had been a pastor for the Community of Baptist Churches in Central Africa (CBCA). Kavugho was sharing her testimony with the Church of Christ of Congo’s Ministry of Refugees and Emergencies (ECC MERU), a partner organization of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). She had been willing to undergo an infection prevention and control process, at a time when many in the community are distrustful of health care personnel. […]

In a letter to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in January of 1985, MCC Chairman Ross Nigh wrote a letter encouraging the government “not to allow any major industrial projects without prior settlement of the land claims. We would also want these settlements to proceed by negotiation rather than imposition, without requiring the extinguishment of claims to aboriginal rights.” In 1999, in a letter to Jane Stewart, then Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, concerning hydro-electric developments on the lands of the Pimickimak Cree Nation, MCC Canada wrote, “We are concerned that the hydro-electricity we have used to power our homes […]

Humanity’s fixation with walls can be traced back to the world’s first recorded civilization – the Sumerians, who built a border wall circa 2100 B.C. – and is seen repeatedly throughout history in examples such as the Great Wall of China, the Long Walls of Athens and the Berlin Wall. Walls typically symbolize a power imbalance: Constructed by a dominant group, walls often block or suppress a weaker adversary, reinforce unjust policies and lead to human rights violations. Today, the U.S.-built wall just north of the U.S.-Mexico border serves as a formidable “No Admittance” sign but fails to be a […]

In April, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was playing soccer near his home in Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. Suddenly an Israeli soldier arrested him and took him to a nearby police station where he was interrogated and accused of throwing stones. After six weeks in Ofer Prison and a fine of $840, the teen was finally released. Unfortunately, this story happens all too often in the West Bank. At any given time, Israel is holding about 200 Palestinian children in military detention. Human rights organizations report that three out of four of these children experience some form of physical violence. […]

I hadn’t ever considered myself an “advocate” per se. Maybe I had always seen advocacy work suited for fiery, passionate people with loud voices and strong opinions. Personally, I have always felt a bit envious of those with strong opinions; I have always held mine rather loosely. I am usually one to empathize with both sides of an argument, sometimes to a fault. With that said, recent developments in my professional life, including joining the Canadian Advocacy Network (CAN) at MCC have made for an interesting and encouraging experience. My colleagues on the CAN are, unlike me, well-seasoned advocates and […]

Clara Weybright is a Climate Advocacy Intern in the MCC U.S. Washington Office, through the Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions.   Climate change affects all of us around the world, but especially the most socially and economically vulnerable. Even as many of us grieve for the damage we have done to our planet and to each other and make changes to our personal behavior, we must also seek policy changes to address the impacts of climate change. Carbon pricing has been proposed as one possible way to mitigate the carbon emissions that cause climate change. Carbon pricing schemes include a […]

originally published on MCC Ottawa Notebook ON MAY 29, 2019 What is a Christian response to migration? While on a day to day basis, I tend to deal with the nuts and bolts issues of refugee resettlement and Canadian and international policy related to it, I regularly ask myself that question. Migration issues call for these sorts of reflections because there is a moral aspect to them. The issues around migration and forced displacement are, at the heart, issues of national sovereignty, community identity and defining who is in and who is out. As citizens of the Kingdom of God […]

  In 1994, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, also known as the crime bill, in an attempt to be tough on crime. The bill included an amendment to ban Pell Grants for incarcerated students. As a result the number of education programs within prisons fell from over 350 in 1990 to only 12 in 2005 . The lack of educational opportunities within prisons adds to the obstacles for returning citizens as they are released, including difficulty in finding a job. This can feed into the cycle of poverty and homelessness and increases recidivism rates […]

Eighty years ago this week a ship carrying 937 people, almost all Jewish immigrants escaping Nazi Germany, returned to Europe after being turned away by the governments of Cuba, the United States and Canada. At one point, the ship came close enough to the shore near Miami that passengers could see the city lights. Upon their return, some found safety in other European countries; 254 perished in the Holocaust. After World War II, many countries realized they did not do nearly enough to protect people fleeing violence and genocide. As a result, the international community created the 1951 Refugee Convention […]

“We need to create a parade that politicians want to get in front of.” That is how one participant at a forum on the living wage and public sector employers put it. At the heart of decent work is fair pay – the ability to earn a living wage. Not a poverty wage. But enough to meet your needs and fully participate in the life of your community. But the growth of low-wage and precarious employment has become one of the defining labour market challenges in our time and one of the root causes of growing income inequality. In 2017, […]