Starting in January, 2019, there will be one or more cross-country book groups meeting using Zoom technology.
This idea was initiated by Mary Maler of the Montreal congregation. Email Mary Maler to learn more, make suggestions or read further for other ways to share your ideas.
Mary Maler was looking for online book clubs and noticed that the European Unitarian Universalists have a book club. Because of time zone differences, they met at a time that was inconvenient for her. She proposed through the CUC e-news that we start one in Canada.
For now we’re sticking to the winners of the Governor General’s Literary Awards for the past ten years. CUC will provide a Zoom link for the groups.
We suggest each group have a maximum of 8 people, possibly starting with five or six and then adding people once the group has worked out their guidelines.
To be on the call you should have read the book, be prepared to participate and have registered in advance. Confirmation of participants, book title and date/time will be sent out on the googlegroup.
From the response so far it looks like there may be three different popular time slots: Sunday 4:30pm Eastern; Saturday 1pm Eastern and a weekday at 4pm Eastern.
Keith Wilkinson will share a format for the one-hour conference including a 15-minute period before the start of the book discussion for anyone who is unfamiliar with zoom to get online and some tech support.
Over time, each group will develop their own time frame, guidelines and likely rotate responsibility for facilitating the book discussion as well as someone else who will handle the technical part of setting up the zoom conference and assisting people with the technology.
Here’s what went out in the CUC e-news in early December.
Canadian Unitarian Online Book Club
Winter has arrived in Canada, and wouldn’t it be nice just to curl up at home and discuss a good book with like-minded folks, without having to brave the weather? Mary Maler from the Unitarian Church of Montreal is proposing an online book club that could meet every month or so via Zoom at a time convenient to those interested, possibly Sunday at 4:00 ET, to discuss some of the classics of Canadian literature. Please contact Mary Maler if you’re interested.
Mary Bennett from UCVancouver has helped to set up a survey to help choose the initial books to be discussed and polling people as to their preferred time.
We’ve narrowed the choices to the winners of the Governor General’s Literary awards for fiction in English over the past ten years. If this idea proves as popular as we think it will be, specific groups may form for discussion of YA fiction; non-fiction or other genres.
We’ve put several possible times (each session will be an hour or more if the group wants) as well. That will help us narrow it down.
Decisions for the January book and date/time will be made by Dec. 28 and announced by Jan. 3.
Welcome to the Canadian Unitarian Book Group. Our intention is to meet monthly online using zoom for an hour each time. We will choose a time and date as well as selected books for discussion by voting online. We hope you will introduce yourself and contribute to the discussion here. The intention is that this email group/forum supplements the online zoom discussion so is primarily for people who intend to be online for the monthly discussions.
Here’s a link to past winners and finalists of the Governor General’s Literary Awards. To browse through the lists, you can choose various options, such as fiction only, English only, winners only .https://ggbooks.ca/past-winners-and-finalists
CUC December eNews – The CUC Enews is getting better and better, (19 pages in this issue!)
In January 2019 it will be coming out weekly, so be sure to subscribe! (See bottom of CUC Homepage.)
Ontario – selected UU winter/spring lineup…
Livestream on YouTube Most Sundays, 7:30 AM Pacific time, First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto complete worship service. [And afterwards you can attend a live service with a BC congregation!]
30th Annual Midwinter Retreat 1-3 Feb 2019 – “Connecting our Stories.” YMCA Cedar Glen Retreat Centre, Bolton, ON — in case you’re planning to be in the area.
The North Shore Unitarian Church has sent along this invitation.
Amahl and the Night Visitors”is a truly magical one-hour opera for all ages by Gian Carlo Menotti which tells the story of a young shepherd boy with wonderful imagination who experiences the magic of Christmas in a life-changing way. It includes a heartwarming story, comedy, and beautiful music.
The cast includes NSUC congregation members and a young singer from Bowen Island as Amahl.
We’re offering two performances in our Sanctuary: 2 pm on Saturday, Dec. 15th and 3 pm on Sunday, Dec. 16th. Adult tickets are $20 if purchased ahead of time, or $25 at the door. Children are free, but please bring a pair of mitts, or socks, or even a gently used sleeping bag for the downtown shelters.
All proceeds go to the North Shore Unitarian Church.
“EUT 2019 is a 4-day retreat and conference centered about the theme:
Vielfalt – Würze des Lebens? Variety – Spice of life?
We intend to explore the many faces of diversity: its challenges, its benefits and its potential for a better Europe. The event will be simultaneously interpreted into at least English and German.”
A curious history of the Unitarian Church, – from the Khasai Hills in NE India, 2016. I found it hard to find a current link to the Khasai Hills Unitarians, except through a partner church, even though there are more Unitarians there than in Canada, and even though they helped to host (in Nepal) the 2018 gathering of the International Association of Unitarian Universalists.
Some national UU social justice actions you can join
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice – CUSJ is active on a wide range of social justice issues. Past action areas have included democracy, climate change, environment, peace, health, human rights, criminal justice, and more. And you can keep helping out in these areas. Check out CUSJ current action areasand the CUSJ Archives of past actions.
CUC National Social Justice Team – email: Erin Horvath, CUC Social Justice Lead – Bringing together under one umbrella UUs across Canada who have been active in the CUC’s various Monitoring Groups (e.g., criminal justice, environment, racial justice, affordable housing…)
Highlights: New CUC Youth Observer, Board brainstorming using De Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”, “Shining Lights” and special CUC Funding Programs, CUC Liaison role revived, Young Adults monthly zoom get together, other Roundtables & Webinars…
Download theCUC eNewsfrom the communications page on the CUC website.
Articles include: • Update from the Board President – Read about the September board & staff retreat held in Guelph, ON. • New Youth Observer to the CUC Board (YOB) – Meet Liv Gardiner, our new YOB!
Liv writes: “I’m 19 years old, and am from Winnipeg, where I attended the First UU Church of Winnipeg for 14 years. I’m in my first year of University at Dalhousie in Halifax…”
• 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM)– The upcoming AGM is scheduled for May 11, 2019, and will be hosted by the Unitarian Congregation of Mississauga. Review information about submitting motions.• Planning for the AGM – Tips for delegate selection (due by April 1). Learn how to register your delegates. • CUC Liaison Role Revived – The CUC Liaison is the bridge between your congregation and the CUC. Read about their responsibilities. (Currently at UCV this is Keith Wilkinson with help from Lynn Armstrong, Emilie Adin, Olivia Hall, Kiersten Moore, and Neal Cameron. Contact Keith if you’d like to help out.) • Canada and Cannabis – The CUC has a long history of advocacy for the legalization of marijuana reaching back to the 1960s. • International News – The International Women’s Convocation Fall 2018 newsletter is available now. • News from Our Congregations – The Westwood Unitarian Congregation has become Canada’s First FreeThinker FriendlyUU congregation. • Shining Lights – The deadline for the 2019 Shining Lights nominations is coming up on December 15. • Stories from the Nominees for the 2018 Shining Light Award – Learn more about Community Conversations at the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough. • Grants and Subsidies – The CUC manages a variety of grants and subsidies to support congregational outreach, innovation, and seminarians. • Job and Volunteer Opportunities – Openings are available for CanUUdle staff, Unicamp is looking for a new Executive Director, and the First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo is searching for a part-time consulting minister. • Upcoming Events – Besides our CUC roundtables and webinars, the Eastern Regional Fall Gathering is happening on November 17. Register now!
• Gathered Here – A new program of monthly zoom chats for young adults
2018 – November 12, December 10
2019 – January 14, February 11, March 11, April 8, May 6, June 10, July 8, August 12.
• Organizational Tip – Check out the advantages of role-specific email addresses for leaders. • Contact Us – A full listing of CUC Board and Staff contact information.
If you have information you would like to contribute or are interested in writing an article for the eNews, please contactcommunications@cuc.ca.
You’l like the Parliament Website.
And, if you’re near Toronto, register soon!
Join 10,000 other participants!
But, if you’re in BC, visit the street art along Main Street in Vancouver instead and find this mural!
Upcoming UU regional, national and international action: – Referendum on BC Electoral Reform, before 30 Nov;
– CUC AGM, 11 May 2019 in Toronto;
– BC Interior UU Spring Gathering – “Creating Theology Together”, date & location TBA
CUC 2019 Annual General Meeting – Sat 11 May 2019 (weekend before the long weekend), online and live from Toronto. Participate online — being easy on the environment is part of the plan!
We suggest pre-reading and discussion in the fall of 2018 on this topic:
“Proportional Representation: Assessment of alternative models” – What national, regional, congregational, and individual action plans can we create in support of proportional representation? CUC may propose actions for approval under democracy resolutions endorsed by members at the 2013, 2005 and 2003 AGMs. Therefore, prepare early!
The Vancouver Westside Unitarian Neighbourhood Group (WUNG) discussed this topic at its October 2018 meeting. Here are some links related to those discussions.
Rural Urban Proportional Representation Model – A system proposed specifically to serve BC’s (and Canada’s) geography by combining a) a Mixed Member Proportional system (rural areas) & b) a Single Transferable Vote system (urban areas).
“The Rural-Urban PR model proposed by the Attorney General for BC builds on the work of previous commissions and assemblies, combining Mixed Member Proportional and Single Transferable Vote to meet the challenges of BC’s geography. A model like this was proposed federally in 2016 by Canada’s former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley, and something very similar to this is used in Sweden, Denmark and Iceland.”
BC Interior UU Spring Gathering 2019 – Joan Carolyn, Congregational Life Staff Team – Regional Lead, Western & B.C. will be leading discussions with a planning group for a BC Interior UU gathering on the theme “Creating Theology Together”.
CUC 2020 Annual General Meeting & Conference, 15-17 May 2020, online & live from Halifax. Plan ahead! Put it in your calendar now. Reduce carbon emissions! Take the train or drive an electric or hybrid vehicle. Participate online! Compare stones from West and East coast beaches!
Pride in Vancouver happens right smack in the middle of the summer. So although we at UCV are very proud of the fact we were officially certified as a Welcoming congregation for BGLTQ folk way back in 1995, we sometimes forget about planning to celebrate Pride Week. Last year when we did a vision survey, one of the comments struck me as significant: How would anyone visiting know about our positive support of queer issues?
We have a tasteful certificate hung in the sanctuary, but even if you notice it, it’s pretty subtle. Unless you’re already in the know, you wouldn’t know that “Welcoming Congregation” status had anything to do with awareness and support of diverse genders and sexual orientations.
North Shore Unitarians with the poster they created for their entrance way. They’ve generously shared the template and advice for when we decide to make something bigger.
Recently the Board supported an initiative to work with the other three Metro Vancouver congregations to recertify as Welcoming Congregations and share ideas and commitment around celebrating Pride.
We’ll be submitting an application to the West Bequest for financial support to produce and print a brochure and inviting speakers on educational topics into our congregations. To this end, we plan a couple of gatherings to share our own stories and discuss ways in which UCV can move forward.
Our UCV group is just getting started, but I’m pleased to say that along with myself, Mary Bennett, Martha Saunders and Leonie Armstrong have joined our team. If you’d like to be involved or have comments or suggestions, please send to me for forwarding to the team.
This year the South Fraser Congregation celebrated with bubbles at Surrey Pride.
UCV Congregational photo that was sent to Orlando, Florida, showing our support.
Because, as mentioned, the term “Welcoming Congregation” doesn’t mean much to any one who hasn’t already been involved in the Unitarian religion, we are considering a new and more explicit name for our team. Many schools and universities use the term Gay-Straight Alliance, but since “gay” often has a more specific meaning than the umbrella term “queer”, I found on wikipedia that some “GSA” groups are now using the term “Genders and Sexualities Alliance” and one (Christian) school in Alberta–probably others–use Gender and Sexuality Acceptance.
Beacon at New West Pride 2018.
We will be doing some preparatory work over the fall, and expect to offer some workshops and presentations in 2019.
Please do contact me with your suggestions or questions.
Monday, August 20th at noon
The Canadian Unitarian Universalist Women’s Association (CUUWA) is sponsoring a free online presentation, and we’re all invited!
Presented by Catherine Strickland, a Non Violent Communication (NVC) practitioner, this session will apply the NVC lens to privilege in its broadest sense, covering the ways in which we create power-over dynamics and systemic oppression. After her presentation, the group will be open for discussion among participants.
Contact Catherine with questions. To join the presentation via Zoom, go HERE a few minutes before the presentation with your device’s sound turned on.
Here are some resources if you want to do some (optional) reading in advance
UUCC (you you see see) – UCV’s National & Global Connections Committee
Update – 5 July 2018 – from Keith Wilkinson, Committee Chair
This posting summarizes some of the national and global activities in which Vancouver Unitarians have been engaged over the years. Activity in various areas ebbs and flows as members and issues change. If you are curious about possibilities in this wider UU community, these entries can serve as starting places.
Vancouver has participated actively in national Unitarian work for many decades. Our Bylaws require that we be part of the national movement and we have had many members serving on board and staff of the CUC including:
Founding member, the late Rev Dr Phillip Hewett in the 1960s;
Mary Bennett, Executive Director, 2000-2008;
Leslie Kemp, Board member, 2009-2015;
Keith Wilkinson, Board member 2015-2018, and immediate Past President.
Following in this tradition of involvement, UCV’s Director of Religious Education, Kiersten Moore, has just begun her first three-year term as a CUC Board member (2018-2021) and is serving as CUC Board Secretary. Rev Debra Thorne, a former UCV member and Lay Chaplain and now Parish Minister at Beacon Unitarian Church in New Westminster, is UUMOC’s Minister Observer to the CUC Board.
Read more about the CUC Board, see their pictures, and read about the May 2018 Conference in the June 2018 CUC eNews.
COMING UP NEXT:
2019 CUC AGM – The UCV Board will need to select and prepare delegates for the 2019 CUC AGM. This will be conducted person to person in Toronto and online across Canada using zoom. Typically, the CUC Board will meet in Toronto with Greater Toronto congregational delegates who wish to attend in person. Others across Canada can sign in electronically. UCV will be entitled to 7 or 8 voting delegates depending upon official membership numbers in September 2018. If you’re a UCV member and would like to be considered to attend as an official delegate, please speak to someone on the UCV board.
The official CUC AGM will probably be on the weekend before the Victoria Day long weekend, that is, on Saturday 11 May 2019. (Victoria Day is 20 May 2019.) AGMs are open to all members and friends, but only formally appointed delegates can speak to and vote on resolutions.
There will probably also be an informal sharing of ideas at a Cross Canada Dialog on the Friday evening of 10 May 2019. These dialogs are open to all members and friends and are often lively and respectful exchanges of views about controversial, critical, and emerging national and global issues. These sessions are sometimes set up as resolution plenary sessions if formal resolutions are being presented at the AGM.
The CUC’s National Conference in 2020 will take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia from May 15 – 17, 2020. Once again, the 2020 AGM will be available face-to-face or globally online.
(Note that CUC AGMs in even years are usually on the Victoria Day weekend and in odd years are on the weekend preceding the Victoria Day weekend.)
The Parliament of the World’s Religions was created to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.
To accomplish this, we invite individuals and communities who are equally invested in attaining this goal.
UU-UNO Spring Conference New York City, 11-13 Apr 2019.
The UU-United Nations Office is a program that connects the UUA to United Nations work. Canadians have been participating in a variety of ways including donations and youth visits to the UN.
LONGER RANGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT
ICUU – International Council of Unitarian Universalists
Organized under the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA)
Encourages emerging UU groups globally. Approx 30 members and emerging national groups from Africa, Australia, Europe, India, Phillipines. Canada has had members serving on the Executive for many years.
Last gatherings were in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2016 and Kathmandu Nepal in 2018; next gathering TBA
The CUC makes charitable donations annually for ICUU work that meets the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Vancouver Unitarians have a special relationship with the UU congregation in Brassó, Romania and often arrange to visit that congregation. For info about the UCV Partner Church Committee contact Alison Pearson alisonpearson1@shaw.ca
The Vancouver Partner Church program is one of 186 partnerships facilitated by the UUA’s Partner Church Council.
The central organization for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) religious movement in the United States. Over 1,000 member congregations.
In 2001 the CUC and the UUA agreed that many services for Canada should be organized through the CUC. (An important exception is the training and certification of UU ministers.) A few Canadian congregations remain members of both the UUA and the CUC.
UUA continues to develop many resources that can be of value to Canadians. In 2016 the CUC Board identified these as opportunities CUC should pursue.
UU-UNO – A program that connects the UUA to United Nations global work. In past decades, Canadians have been active participants in this program and the CUC still makes charitable donations annually for designated global projects that meet the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The next UU-UNO Spring Conference in New York City is 11-13 Apr 2019.
Regional gatherings – The CUC is organized into four regions, currently BC, Western, Central, and Eastern. A range of gatherings are regularly scheduled for different age levels and interests.
Check the websites of BC’s 12 congregations or the other 34 congregations across Canada for local events. Visit them when you travel.
CUC Background:
The CUC was formed in 1961 operating with support from the American UUA.
On 1 July 2002 the Canadian Unitarian Council became the main association and service provider for Unitarians and Universalists in Canada.
In 2018 there were 46 member congregations of the CUC.
Visit the CUC website to learn more about the programs and services supported by the CUC.
Funding for CUC’s operations come from the following sources:
Annual Program Contribution (APC) from all members congregations – currently based on membership size, but an alternative may be recommended in 2019.
Approx CUC income in 2017 from this source: $366,000 (43%)
Donations toFriends of the CUC and tospecial CUC projects and joint projects of CUC and other groups like the UU Ministers Association of Canada (UUMOC). Special projects in recent years have included Sharing Our Faith, Northern Lights, Shining Lights, and the Theological Education Fund. Approx CUC 2017 income from this source: $314,000 (37%)
Investment income – the CUC has reserves invested in ethically and environmentally screened enterprises. Approx CUC 2017 income from this source: $126,000 (15%)
Event registration – Many CUC programs and conferences include a revenue component to help them be self-sustaining.
Approx CUC 2017 income from this source: $36,000 (4%)
Other income – Approx CUC 2017 income from this source: $17,000 (2%)
CUSJ describes itself as “A national faith-based organization that supports Unitarian values through action”. It has a number of very active campaigns and publishes a newsletter regularly.
CUSJ is a not for profit non-charitable national organization that operates independently from the CUC so that it can take political action beyond what would be allowable for the CUC as a charitable organization.
CUSJ was formed in 1996 has regional chapters including Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands, West Coast Region, Southern Alberta, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Ottawa, and Quebec.
Mission:Encounter promotes religious literacy and informed understanding of cultural diversity.
Approach:Encounter is an educational organization that blends academic and experiential learning to foster encounters with the four P’s of religious communities: their people, places, practices and philosophies.
Operates from Guelph Ontario. Has conducted sessions at CUC Conferences.
UUCC (you you see see) – UCV’s National & Global Connections Committee
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