My Life, My City: Ethics of Urban Living Speakers Series

TORONTO, December 29, 2009 /Canada NewsWire/ - On January 6th at 7pm, Lawrence Park Community Church will kick off a speaker series titled My Life, My City: Ethics of Urban Living with a riveting panel of prominent Torontonians tackling tough questions about "A Vision for Toronto: How Can Toronto become a Great City over the next 10-20 years?"

The debate will feature the following panelists: Paul Beeston, President and C.E.O., Toronto Blue Jays; Sara Diamond, President, Ontario College of Art and Design; Royson James, Columnist, The Toronto Star; and former MPP Frances Lankin, President and C.E.O., United Way.

"The discussion will focus on Toronto's potential to be a great cosmopolitan city," notes Ken Gallinger, Minister of Lawrence Park Community Church. Rev. Gallinger is the Toronto Star's Ethics Columnist and is moderating the discussion. "Each guest is a city leader with a specialized context to share."

After the Panel discussion on January 6th, the My Life, My City series continues each Sunday in January at 10:30am with a guest speaker discussing what it means to live ethically in an urban context. On Sunday, January 10th, Police Chief Bill Blair will discuss "Crime & Community" followed by MPP Cheri DiNovo addressing "Making Neighbourhoods Work" on Sunday January 17th. MP Rob Oliphant will discuss the integration and polarization of "New and Old Canadians" on January 24th and on January 31st John Tory will wrap up the series by considering what it means to be a "Corporate Urban Citizen."

The series continues with Toronto-themed documentaries running each Wednesday evening in January starting at 7pm.

With the municipal elections looming, Jaye Robinson, Chair of the Social Justice Committee, knows people in our city want to discuss what works and what needs to be changed.

"Toronto is a city of contradictions," says Robinson. "Forums like My Life, My City raise awareness of what our collective values really are and what we deem to be priorities in Toronto."

Lawrence Park Community Church is a congregation of the United Church of Canada. It is located at 2180 Bayview Avenue at Dawlish Road, just south of Lawrence Avenue in Toronto, Canada.

KAIROS Responds to Accusations of Anti-Semitism and Renews Call for CIDA Funding to Be Restored

TORONTO, December 18, 2009 /Canada NewsWire/ - KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives denies allegations by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney that it is anti-Semitic and decries the apparent politicization of aid that led to its funding being cut by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). It wants CIDA funding restored.

"Minister Kenney's charge against KAIROS is false," KAIROS says in a statement released today. "Two points need to be made: Criticism of Israel does not constitute anti-Semitism; and CIDA was developed to fund international aid and not to serve political agendas".

KAIROS' response goes on to say, "Minister Kenney's statement, in a highly charged environment, raises very disturbing questions about the integrity of Canadian development aid decisions. If aid decisions are based on political rumour rather than on due diligence, development criteria and CIDA's own evaluation process then this is a matter of grave concern for the entire international development sector -- and for the Canadian people who pay for this aid".

On November 30th, a senior CIDA official informed KAIROS that the agency would no longer fund KAIROS' human rights program, despite a 35-year collaboration. The only reason given was that KAIROS no longer "fit" CIDA program priorities. However, there has been widespread speculation that the real reason for the CIDA funding cut was to sanction KAIROS for its views on the environment and other controversial issues.

KAIROS, a church-based non-governmental organization that represents seven of Canada's largest church denominations, works on a range of social justice issues, including human rights in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. Since 1973, KAIROS and the church coalitions from which it was formed had received funding from CIDA to support partners in countries with the world's most egregious human rights violations including Sudan, the Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

KAIROS work is highly regarded in Canada and around the world. It supports 21 ecumenical and civil society groups overseas. Hundreds of thousands of people benefit from and depend on KAIROS' support.

Since news of the cuts broke a week ago, the government has been under increasing pressure to reverse its decision. Canadians from across the country, churches and non-governmental groups have written letters of support for KAIROS and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister Bev Oda to reverse the decision. Questions have been raised in the House of Commons and all opposition parties and the Green Party have also issued media releases calling on the government to reverse its decision.

The full text of the KAIROS statement is available at: www.kairoscanada.org

VisionTV to examine role of religious belief in global warming debate

TORONTO, December 3, 2009 /Canada NewsWire/ - The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (Dec. 7-18) represents a decisive moment in the battle against global warming. According to some, it is a last chance for world leaders to agree on measures to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Powerful political and economic forces are at play in this debate. But what of religion? To those who believe that humankind has been entrusted with the stewardship of God's earthly creation, the outcome of the Copenhagen summit is of epochal importance.

Beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 9, Canada's VisionTV will present "Faith at the Summit," a series of news reports from Copenhagen, airing weeknights throughout the summit at 6:57 p.m. ET / 3:57 p.m. PT. The concluding segment will air on Monday, Dec. 21.

The "Faith at the Summit" series is being produced by New York-based Odyssey Networks (www.odysseynetworks.org), a non-profit coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups dedicated to building bridges of understanding through media.

The three-minute reports will be hosted by award-winning British journalist and environmental activist Mark Dowd. A former Dominican friar and a veteran broadcaster, Dowd presented the acclaimed 2007 documentary God Is Green on Britain's Channel 4. He is campaign strategist for Operation Noah, a faith-based campaign dedicated to fighting climate change.

Dowd's reports from the summit will explore the views of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and other faith communities on climate issues, and will examine the role that religious believers have to play in the environmental debate.

As he points out in his introduction to the series, the world's poorest inhabitants are the ones most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. "Surely if you are a person of faith, this is the ultimate matter of justice," he says.

Said Bill Roberts, President and CEO of VisionTV's corporate parent, S-VOX: "Faith communities around the world are coming to the realization that climate change is the greatest challenge facing humankind in the 21st century, and are committing their energies to the protection of the environment. This is an important and largely untold part of the Copenhagen story, and we are pleased to work with Odyssey Networks to bring Canadians a spiritual perspective on what may be a turning point in our history."

For more information on the UN climate summit: www.cop15.dk


* For more information on VisionTV programming, please visit www.visiontv.ca


* To see full programs and exclusive clips, check out http://video.visiontv.ca/


* Follow VisionTV on Twitter: www.twitter.com/visiontv


* Check out VisionTV on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/VisionTV2

Government of Nepal Meets on Everest to Discuss Climate Change

Ministers meet to discuss climate change at 17,192 feet above sea level. Photo via AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe

from TreeHugger.com
by Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil December 4, 2009


Something very important happened in Nepal this morning as 24 ministers gathered around a table on the world's highest mountain to discuss climate change.

In this small corner of the world so steeped in tradition, when a visitor asks of Everest, even the oldest of Sherpa will nod and point a finger at that snowy peak, rising so impossibly high, though in his heart she is still known as Chomolunga, or "Saint Mother."

Perhaps he's never heard of carbon emissions, climate change, or never cared much for fickleness of political debate--but he is still certain of one thing: The ice is melting on these peaks as it never has before.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Christmas Carol Swing-a-long

Join us for a swinging carol sing!!!

Norfolk Street United Church

Sunday, December 13th. at 7 p.m.

featuring the

John Zadro Jazz Trio

Freewill offering

Entering the Mystery: A New Experience of Christmas

An Advent presentation bringing us into that beautiful story and inviting us to journey with Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph and the other people of the Christmas story in a new way.

Join us for the morning service at Norfolk Street United Church on...

Sunday, December 20th
lead by Rev. Deborah Vaughn



...and experience this presentation that will strengthen your faith and appreciation of God's gifts and blessings.

More Species Closer to Extinction

OTTAWA, November 30, 2009 /Canada NewsWire Telbec/ - So concluded COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada), which met in Ottawa from November 23 to 27, 2009, to assess the risk of extinction for Canadian wildlife species. Of the 28 wildlife species assessed, many plants and animals are habitat specialists requiring specific and increasingly rare conditions to survive - all of these wildlife species suffer from habitat loss and fragmentation.

The Greater Prairie-Chicken that once numbered in the millions on the grasslands of the Canadian prairies, the Atlantic population of the Grey Whale on Canada's east coast and the Dwarf Wedgemussel, a mollusc whose habitat was destroyed by a causeway were all reassessed as Extirpated. The Eskimo Curlew, a bird known to nest only in Canada, was assessed as Endangered. Given there have been no verified sightings of this wildlife species anywhere since 1963, the Eskimo Curlew is on the brink of becoming the first Canadian bird to be declared Extinct since the Passenger Pigeon nearly 100 years ago. Without a reversal in habitat loss, climate change and direct human impacts, these assessments of Extirpated and Extinct will become more frequent.


Swift Rebound for Swift Fox - A Good News Story?


Known as one of the fastest animals in North America, this beautiful small fox holds considerable appeal as a symbol of prairie conservation and First Nations spirituality. Unfortunately, unrestrained harvest and poisoning decimated the Canadian population; the last sighting in the wild occurred in 1938 in Alberta. Efforts to reintroduce the Swift Fox beginning in 1983 appear to have been successful. Although the wildlife species was designated as Endangered in 2000, numbers in Alberta and Saskatchewan have since doubled leading to a reduced likelihood of extinction and a designation of Threatened. The wildlife species is, however, still imperilled because of habitat loss and risk of disease, which can rapidly spread through fox populations.


Big Shark in Deep Trouble


Despite this success, many wildlife species are still considered to be at risk in Canada. The Atlantic population of the Basking Shark, the largest fish in Canadian waters, was assessed as a wildlife species of Special Concern. Feeding on tiny plankton, it grows up to 12 meters - nearly the length of a city bus. This wildlife species is particularly susceptible to population declines because it takes up to 18 years to reach maturity and females are pregnant for about two and half years, one of the longest periods of any animal. The total population is estimated to be about 5 000 adults. The Pacific population of Basking Shark, which was once abundant and now rarely seen, was assessed as Endangered in 2007. This highlights the vulnerability of the wildlife species as a whole.


Fire Suppression Harms Wildlife


Over the decades, humans have become increasingly vigilant at preventing wildfires to protect human property and lives. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost to many native wildlife species that depend on periodic fires integral to ecosystem renewal. Three eastern Canadian wildlife species assessed at the meeting are particularly reliant on habitats produced by wildfire and all were assessed as Endangered. These include: the Northern Barrens Tiger Beetle, a globally imperiled, showy green beetle of the pine savannahs; an annual herb the Pink Milkwort, which depends on the wet prairie habitats of Ontario; and, a tall herb from the pea family, the Virginia Goat's-rue which lives in oak savannahs of Ontario.

About COSEWIC


COSEWIC assesses the status of wild species, subspecies, varieties, or other important units of biological diversity, considered to be at risk in Canada. To do so, COSEWIC uses scientific, Aboriginal traditional and community knowledge provided by experts from governments, academia and other organizations. Summaries of assessments are currently available to the public on the COSEWIC website ( www.cosewic.gc.ca) and will be submitted to the Federal Minister of the Environment in late summer 2010 for listing consideration under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). At that time, the full status reports will be publicly available on the SAR Public Registry ( www.sararegistry.gc.ca).