Having been made more aware of the struggles related to this issue by the "UN Declaration for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty” on Sunday, Oct. 17, perhaps we could share an update on why this is considered so critical at this time. As part of JPIC Atlantic, I participated in a worldwide Webinar related to this issue: it featured 1,000 participants. Of course, I didn't hear input from that many, but heard from such areas as Bangladesh, Uganda, Brazil, Guatemala, the USA and Canada, to name a few. Some spoke of being "fracked and gridded" out of existence by the oil and gas and coal mining industries; others spoke of 1800 people living under tarpaulins for two years because of the inability to control the flooding related to climate change.
This is the latest in a wave of experts ringing the alarm – the climate crisis is here. In a couple of weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is going to COP26 [The 26th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC] — the world’s biggest climate summit, where world leaders will decide how to tackle the climate emergency. We have no time for half-measures and empty promises.
As more and more Canadians accept the challenge to read and reflect upon the Truth and Reconciliation Report and its Calls to Action, we remember people in our country, people among us, who were ahead of their time in fostering warm and caring relationships with our indigenous neighbours. One person who comes to mind for some of us who knew her well was Sister Gertrude Corbett in Miramichi, New Brunswick.