Today members of the UCV Social Justice Committee and Environment Team took part in a rally to let Kinder Morgan know that we are STILL against bringing tar sands to the West Coast. While we were happy to see the rains return to our parched city, we were equally happy that it held off for today’s event.
The march started at the Vancouver Art Gallery then continued up Georgia, Burrard, and then Thurlow ending up at Sunset Beach. We walked with folks from the North Shore Unitarian Church, a big group of UBC C350 (divest) students, and many people carrying beautiful artwork of marine animals or pushing large sculptures of pipelines.
Creativity rules at rallies! We even boogied (ok, maybe just nodded our heads) to the chants, raps and music from a band of musicians! At Sunset beach there were First Nations activists, elders and others who spoke of supporting each other and staying strong.
Feedback to CUC requested from member congregations
The CUC Board is seeking thoughts from members across the country on three main subjects for further discussion this fall. The three subjects are as follows: a) CUC vision implementation suggestions
Vision – “Our interdependence calls us to love and justice.”
Suggestions: Can we do better at fostering interdependence amongst non-Unitarian organizations or other faith communities that share some of our values (e.g. groups focussing on climate action, environmental protection, civil liberties, affordable housing, global peace, animal rights, democratic practices…) b) consideration of revising the CUC Sources statement similar to what UUA did and perhaps changing the Principles statements as well.
Sources – In Source #2, should we replace “women and men” with “people”?
Principles – In Principle #1 should we replace “person” with “being”?
What do we think of the proposal to add an eighth principle opposing white supremacy?
c) identification of social justice issuesthat are inspiring the attention of our congregations.
Does our congregation have a common social justice focus? Do we wish to have one? Do we have the structure, skills, resources, and time to develop a consensus about a common focus, or should we not try to prioritize social justice issues?
Send your thoughts to keith@cuc.ca
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Four strategic priorities
In addition to exploring member answers the above questions, the CUC Board is encouraging congregations to work on improving performance in support of the four strategic priorities approved at the 2017 AGM:
1. Financial Sustainability –
The CUC raised its annual program contribution (APC) from $93 to $100 per congregant for 2018. This is the first increase in quite a few years and brings us up to the inflation rate for this period. The increase will enable CUC to pay all of its staff at an appropriate level. Investment income, donations to Friends of the CUC, and event fees are the other primary sources of funds for conducting national UU work.
2. Improved Communication Capacity –
A lot of value has arisen in the past two years from video-conferencing using the zoom platform. With zoom we can see and hear each other across the country, talk to each other in a group context, and let others see our documents by sharing our computer or tablet screens. Some special interest groups and individual congregations are using zoom to reduce travel time for meetings.
CUC staff have used zoom for formal webinars and informal roundtable discussions on special topics. The CUC board meets 8 times a year via zoom and some ministers use zoom for their meetings. Individuals can set up their own zoom conversations with local or regional teams, committees, or groups of friends to discuss anything at all. The chief limitation to using zoom seems to be lack of experience in setting up a call. Here are some options about how to set up a zoom meeting.
Create your own zoom account
Use one of CUC’s 3 zoom accounts
1. Google zoom or click here and create your own account. It’s free, but your meeting times are limited to <1 hour. You can upgrade to a more robust service for a fee.
2. Follow the tutorials on how to use your microphone, speakers, camera, and chat features.
3. Determine a date and time for your call.
4. Create a meeting and send the meeting ID number to a friend to chat.
5. Invite other people using the same process.
6. Yakety-yak yakety-yak!
1. Determine a date, time, and duration for your call.
2. Ask the CUC office to set up a zoom conference for you at that date and time. The office will do that and send you a meeting ID number. Email the CUC office:info@cuc.ca or phone Ahna DeFelice, the new CUC Organizational Administrator toll free at
1-888-568-5723
(Learn more about Ahna here)
3. By email invite those you want to participate in your discussion and send them the meeting ID number. All they have to do is click on the ID number and follow the prompts. If they don’t have zoom on their laptop they’ll be prompted to download it. They should do that. They can also join by phone without video, but it’s nice to see friendly faces.
4. Sign in to your meeting early and study how to use your microphone, speakers, camera, and chat features.
5. Manage your meeting.
Advantages of your own account:
Set up meetings any time at your convenience – just like using a telephone.The zoom and CUC tutorials are pretty good so if you start small, you may find it isn’t too hard.Disadvantages of this option:
You’re on your own!
You may run out of time in a meeting unless you purchase the upgraded service.
Advantages of using the CUC account:
CUC sets up the meeting link for you.
No fees involved for you.
More time available.
Sessions can be recorded for later access offline.Disadvantages of this option:
There may be a time lag between your request and the meeting set-up.
Note that the CUC office is only open from 6:00 am – 1:30 pm Pacific time, Mon-Thu.
3. CUC support for truth and reconciliation between indigenous peoples and other Canadians –
One of 18 granite sidewalk medallions by Susan Point on West Broadway. There are another 18 medallions by local Greek artists.
This third priority is likely to be one for a long time. What are the issues and what can we do about them?
When Europeans first came to this continent they did not uniformly treat indigenous peoples with respect. There were many failings — there was blatant racism, indigenous peoples were treated as less than human, and treaties negotiated in good faith between First Nations and European powers were disregarded by successive Canadian (American, British, French, Spanish, and Mexican) governments. In too many situations European actions were directly and intentionally harmful to indigenous people. Indigenous peoples were killed, their land taken, indigenous languages, and cultural and spiritual practices banned, exclusionary racist policies enacted, and children taken from families and put in residential schools where many were abused and neglected. Many Canadians, and the Canadian government, now recognize that these actions were wrong, and that contemporary Canadians have an ethical obligation to do their best to correct these wrongs. This is going to take a lot of effort, by many people, over a long time, so where can we start? Following are some ideas.
Listen to what indigenous peoples are saying about land claims, environmental protection, and the impact of residential schools, and respect their views. If you can, follow their lead.
Consider what we may need to do as individuals to give land back to indigenous people.
Study aboriginal spiritual teachings. Talk with aboriginal leaders to learn if any of these can be incorporated into UU services without being considered to be cultural appropriation.
Acknowledge the gifts of knowledge, skill, patience, and sharing of resources that indigenous peoples offered to European settlers and continue to offer in our current multicultural context.
Take part in one of the age-appropriate study sessions about colonialism and residential schools developed by a CUC task force as Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Reflection Guides. The adult course based on these guides is a series of eight, 2.5 hour sessions (20 hours). Sessions for other age groups are under development. See details of the adult THR program here: Overview of the eight 2.5-hour study sessions for adults
Learn more about other aspects of the CUC’s truth and reconciliation program and fall and winter 2017 training programs here.
Following are a few more resources related to reconciliation:
Horses in the Stein River Valley. Picture from a UCV history field trip by members in 2015. (The trip was arranged as a service auction item.)
The Kairos Blanket Exercise is an experiential learning process developed by Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives to help non-indigenous people understand the impact of colonization. It is offered independently by a range of sponsors, and as part of CUC’s truth and reconciliation program. Visit the Kairos Blanket Exericise Resource Centre site for information about additional resources.
Land rights – Here are links to an interesting website and related podcast from BBC World Service “South Africa and the Land Question”, released Jun 30, 2017. Audrey Brown’s documentary Give Back the Landtells the story of a white Western Cape vineyard owner attempting to make reparations for the land his family “stole” 6 generations ago. Land rights and reparations remain contentious in South Africa 23 years after the end of apartheid, and are close to the heart of Audrey, whose family come from this area. (Image: Solms winery in South Africa Credit: Solms Delta Estate.) A similar act of reconciliation in Canada related to The Esk’etemc First Nation (Alkali Lake B.C.) is describedhere. (Credit: CBC Radio, As it happens, Friday May 12, 2017. ‘Reconciliation in its best form’: B.C. rancher gives land back to his First Nation neighbours.)
Photo of a community church in Penticton, BC. UCV is also a community church!
4. Encouraging young adult membership in our congregations –
What is UCV doing in this area? Attention to this demographic group isn’t new to the UU movement, but it seems like a realm of chronic uncertainty. In 2016, UCV and CUC both provided special funding to stimulate work for young adult ministry nationally and locally, but proponents have provided limited communication back to the congregation about that work. Can anyone out there bring us up to speed?
Asha Philar is the CUC staff member devoted to youth and young adult programming and is available and eager to talk with congregational leaders and young adults about this area of work in Canada. Contact Asha at 519-900-2995 or asha@cuc.ca .
The CUC website also lists links to some supports for young adult ministry, though many of the links appear to be dated. (The same is the case for web pages at other congregations across Canada.) There is a UU Young Adult Facebook group that appears to be active, but it’s a closed group, so you’ll have to ask to join. Inter-generational work doesn’t appear to be a current focus.
CUC’s international initiatives
Heavy luggage at YVR
Next report I’ll aim to provide some information about CUC’s international initiatives, notably information about work with theUUA’s UU-United Nations Office (UU-UNO) and the International Council of Unitarian Universalists (ICUU). ICUU is scheduled to meet in northern India 11-15 Feb 2018. If you’d like to go to India or sponsor someone from an emerging UU group in another country to attend, please get in touch with me!
Some thought on “False Equivalence” (Rev. Steven Epperson)
Given what many of us have been reading/seeing in the media this past week regarding events in Charlottesville, Virginia , I wanted to share some thoughts. On Tuesday, August 15th, the sitting President of the United States said: “You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent.” Subsequently, I’ve read the expression “false equivalence” to describe his remarks.
When I hear the expression “false equivalence,” the first thing that comes to mind is messed up ways of thinking/reasoning. False equivalence is a mistaken belief that since two very different things (or arguments) may share a common trait that means they are basically similar/equal.
Examples:
1) A dog race is about to start. The two hounds running (a greyhound and a dachshund) are equal favorites to win. Ridiculous? Yes. That’s false equivalence at work where sharing a trait—dogs that are hounds—means there are no other essential differences between them. Under false equivalence, each has an equal chance to win the race.
2) “Gang bangers cover their heads with hoodies. Nuns cover their heads with habits. Therefore, nuns are no better than gang bangers.” Just because both cover their heads does not necessarily mean they are equally as likely to rob a gas station at gunpoint.
3) Racism says other races are essentially different. Anti-racism says other races are not essentially different. False equivalence states both are absolutist claims. Therefore, there is no difference between them. Put simply, this mistaken way of thinking/arguing claims apples and oranges are the same fruit simply because they both have seeds.
Examples of false equivalence are seemingly without end (e.g. “creationism and evolution both explain how we got here, so teach both sides,” etc, etc.). False equivalence is contributing to a slippery world of BS and “truthiness.” In fact, far-right protesters went to Charlottesville primed for violence in word and act; most counter-protesters adopted an entirely defensive posture. An adult should know the difference.
Let’s value and use our Unitarian Principle of a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning;” that search means knowing there’s a difference between an apple and an orange, a neo-Nazi and an antifascist, and that the difference means something; that it matters.
The Overdose Prevention Society is the organization receiving funds from our Outreach Opportunities Fund from the beginning of June until the end of September.
OPS was founded in September 2016 by three women who were concerned about how little was being done about the growing fentanyl crisis in Vancouver. In potential violation of the law, they set up a drug injection site in an alley in Vancouver’s downtown Eastside to combat the many overdose deaths and have saved hundreds of lives. Their peer-based services are beneficial to the health authority, to the community, and to the participants themselves and ensure access to health and welfare services to excluded, vulnerable and marginalized people.
One half of all Sunday morning offerings are sent to the organization chosen by the Outreach Opportunities Fund Committee.
Come and enjoy a hyggelei (cosy) potluck dinner with a few other Unitarian church members and friends at the home of Melody Mason (in Kitsilano) this coming Thursday, June 29th. RSVP to ucvhygge@gmail.com
The evening will include a salon-style discussion about civil liberties.
Melody is on the board of the BC Civil Liberties Association. She’s concerned about, among other things, collection and retention of data by governmental agencies, the state of our prison system and privacy issues especially as it relates to the internet.
She’s interested in both sharing her own knowledge including BCCLA’s stance on these issues and also hearing from you about your take on these important issues and how UCV can engage with these issues.
The BCCLA’s policy director, Michael Vonn, has spoken at UCV Forums including the assisted dying issue.
BCCLA’s current priorities are working on solitary confinement, reforming the assisted dying act and data privacy and retention of data by government agencies. Also an issue Melody feels would be of interest to you is Anti-SLAPP legislation. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (“SLAPPs”) are when Big Resources (private or public sector) sue Little Resources (individuals, non-profit organizations) in order to silence them.
Melody feels Unitarians will be interested in the work of BCCLA in protecting ciil rights and hopes we might support some of the issues through actions such as letter writing to senators and members of parliament.
Come and discuss. It’ll be an interesting evening!
Melody is on the Environment Committee and ushers on the first Sunday of every month.
You can hear Michael Vonn on CBC IDEAS in the afternoon next Monday.
Monday, June 26 POLICING: OLD COPS, NEW EXPECTATIONS Counter-terrorism, fighting cybercrime, policing highly diverse societies:
Can the police do it all? Should the police do it all? Do the police want to do it all? Cal Corley, CEO of the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance, and former Assistant Commissioner with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Inspector Shawna Coxon, Toronto Police Service; Micheal Vonn, Policy Director, B.C. Civil Liberties Association; and moderator Ron Levi, Director of the Munk School’s Global Justice Lab, weigh the implications, the challenges and the trade-offs for the police, for justice and for all of us.
There were maybe a dozen or so of us gathered under the Unitarian Church of Vancouver banner as we listened to the moving speeches before the march began.
We marched in solidarity with all women, of all races, religions, gender identities, and all oppressed, in Vancouver, in Canada, in the US, and around the world. I’ve said, the March was a continuation of a fight, a fight for equality. And a fight that we will follow up on.
I’m glad to be a member of the Unitarian Church, where I know I can gather with other like-minded people, and we can mount campaigns to change the world, and we can make a difference. Thank you. Theresa Marion, UCV
Above: Anjali Appadurai from West Coast Environmental Law shares her experiences from the perspective of a younger generation of environmental activists
On January 20, 2017, over 80 activists from across the ages shared a meal and their experiences in Hewett Centre.
Older activists, including speaker Karl Perrin, shared experiences going back to the 1960’s, while younger activists, such as speaker Anjali Appadurai from West Coast Environmental Law, shared more recent experiences and concerns.
Everyone talked of the challenges in organizing and taking action in today’s world. The takeaway lesson was that we all realized how much we have in common whatever our age.
We hope these intergenerational conversations will continue in future gatherings.
Feedback to CUC requested from member congregations
Please join me at the anti-racism rally at City Hall this Saturday sponsored by Stand Up to Racism Metro Vancouver. The rally begins at 12:45 pm.
The evening will include a salon-style discussion about civil liberties.
Counter-terrorism, fighting cybercrime, policing highly diverse societies:
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