January 15th, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel was alive with CND sisters, associates, friends, and supporters as we celebrated St. Marguerite Bougeoys’ feast day.
Archbishop Christian Lepine presided over our celebration of the mass and spoke of Marguerite’s history and her impact on the beginnings of Ville Marie. He emphasized, over and over again, that the source of her strength was her life of prayer, especially prayer to Mary and to Eucharist. Her life is a model for, not only the CND community, but for all believers. A life dedicated to following Jesus in the accompaniment of Mary.
January 18-25 – Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – an annual ecumenical celebration. This is a time widely recognized as an opportunity to join with Christian people around the world to pray for Christian unity. The theme for this year is Reconciliation - The Love of Christ Compels Us (2 Corinthians 5:14-20). Many churches and faith communities offer special services during his week.
Since its beginning 10 years ago, JPIC (Justice Peace and Integrity of the Creation) has been coordinating the Congrégation de Notre-Dame Visitation Province advocacy on mining and extractive sector justice. See below for a summary of our past work. Many will remember our extensive work to support MP John McKay’s Bill C-300 for mining justice,that was narrowly defeated in the House of Commons in the fall of 2010. Following the failure of the Bill to pass, mining justice was severely weakened by the years of the Harper government. Justin Trudeau made promises during the election campaign to re-introduce legislation for strong ethical practices for Canadian mining companies operating overseas.
We have a new opportunity, right now, to help make this happen. Sources have confirmed that the Liberal government will be creating an extractive sector Ombudsperson in early 2017. It is important that we remind the Minister and Prime Minister of the components that are needed to make this position truly independent and effective for those seeking justice from the actions of Canadian extractive companies.