Transformer la dette en espoir : En route vers Ottawa - Rassemblement en ligne

I feel the heavyness you carry. I see the weight. It's hard to breathe. The weight of the past prevents your hope and liberty. I hear the faithful call of justice. The spirit is moving for you now. crying aloud that death must be released somehow. Set free. Jubilee, rejoice, rejoice. May that be the sound of your freedom. Rejoice. The spirit is on me. to join the voice of peace. May captives be released in this year of Jubilee. All of our names have a prayer behind them. All of our voices rise in song. This is a vision that has roots so deep and strong. Set free to believe. Rejoice. May that be the sound of your freedom. Rejoice. The spirit is at hand to guide returning land. So on their feet they stand in this year to believe. 100,000 days is a prayer for this day. I hope rejoice. Rejoice. May that be the sound of your freedom. Rejoice. The spirit is on me to join the voice of peace. The captive be released in this year. The spirit is on me to join the voice of peace. May captives be released in this year. Jubilee. Hello everybody and welcome welcome to turn debt into hope the road to Ottawa. My name is Luke Stalking and I am the director of public engagement at development and peace keritas Canada. want to start by just sharing a few details before we get started on interpretation. Uh we do have simultaneous uh interpretation between French and English for our main speakers. And as your guide, I'll indicate when the interpretation is option and ready. And a warm welcome and thank you to Isabelle, our interpreter tonight. Um so a few details. You have to be joined via the computer audio to participate uh in the interpretation session. Within the Zoom window, look for the interpretation icon. It's a little globe usually in the toolbar located at the bottom of the window. And if you don't see the interpretation option in your toolbar, try clicking the more button to look for the interpretation icon. Uh once the interpretation button is clicked, you'll want to select the language you want to listen to the webinar in French or English. Um and it's as simple as that. Ottawa Canada. Zoom interpret participate. Okay. Um, so just for your information. Also, the webinar is being recorded. Um, and once we get started, we will mute the participants throughout. Um, but you can use the chat at any time and please go ahead and use it now to say hello if you wish. Um, we'll just we'll turn the chat off during the main presentations, but mostly it will be on. Uh, at this point, I'm going to invite Shannon to lead us in a land acknowledgement. Over to you, Shannon. >> Thanks, Luke. uh this some of the words that I am using have been adapted from words shared by my colleague Connor Sarisen. So before we begin I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting today on the traditional territories of the indigenous people across Turtle Island. We thank them for allowing us to meet and learn together on their territories. I live on the territory of the dish with one spoon wampom belt covenant that makes me part of the covenant. I acknowledge this to the original caretakers of this land, to all that was here for thousands of years before us across Turtle Island. We honor the struggles and the lives of those who gave themselves for it. For all those here today, we acknowledge the ancestors beneath our feet and the land on which we stand. With our ears to the ground, we can hear them. The Cre Nation, the Matei, the Deni, the Inishnab, the Dakota and Lakota nations, the Inuit, the Blackfoot, the Inu, and all the nations that came before us and those yet to come. An infinity of footsteps of those who long called this land home. The unfolding of bundles, the undoing of colonization, and the opening of this land to allow treaty to come alive. We affirm our relationship to each other and to the land. We acknowledge and pay respects to the indigenous nations and ancestors of this land where I am particularly honoring the Hiron Wendat Senica and Missagas of the Credit Indigenous Peoples. the Luke Magnificat. Exalt. Sonra disperse. Israel. Amen. organiz campaign transform Canada to eventual calendar. directed campaign Canadian Pyros really had its beginnings in the millennial jubilee of 1998 to 2001. 10 coalitions with their overlapping church memberships all supported that phenomenal campaign run by the Canadian ecumenical Jubilee Initiatives. And in 2001, 25 years ago, those 10 coalitions became Cyros, Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. In two in 2024, a good look at that history and the biblical mandate of Jubilee helped us to see that this campaign, the Jubilee turn debt into hope campaign, touched on all of the Chyros work areas and is about so much more than debt cancellation. It is about right relationships between people and between people and the land for the flourishing of all life. >> Council of churches was a leader in serving as the institutional home for the Millenn Millennial Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative and with the endorsement of the Commission on Justice and Peace, we are happy and have been happy to support the 2025 Jubilee turn debt into hope campaign. We have been keen to bring the message of debt justice to all of our 25 members. Our membership represents 85% of the Christians in Canada and we are here in solidarity with the biblical call for justice. The office of religious congregations for integral ecology or C is where the Catholic religious are working together to increase impact on policy change seeking a renewed dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. Part of that conversation, a big part of this campaign is about ecological debt. Pope Francis has said, "Another heartfelt appeal I would make is directed to more affluent nations. I ask that they acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and determined to forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay. Together, we are amplifying this call." Citizens for Public Justice, or as many of you know as CPJ, seeks human flourishing and the integrity of creation as our faithful response to God's call for love and justice. We envision a world in which individuals, communities, societal institutions, and governments all contribute to and benefit from the common good. By now, I hope that you all know the calls of the global petition, which are to cancel unjust and unsustainable debt, reform the financial system, and build the debt framework at the UN. But do you know the related asks of the Canadian government? There are as follows. One, initiate a review of all bilateral debts held by Canada and cancel those identified as Canadian debts without any conditions. Two, advocate for global financial reform and the UN framework convention on sovereign debt in multilateral forums like the G7 and G20. And finally, increase the grants portion of Canada's bilateral climate finance. And this third ask is particularly important to us at CPJ since we have been advocating for grant-based climate finance for years now. And we've been happy to support this larger coalition to work for fair climate finance in the context of global financial reform. >> We're going to look a little bit at network engagement. Hearing from these five organizations, we have a good reason to celebrate. An objective common A structure in parform. Foreign Juan Manuel. Medina from Montreal, Parish of St. Richards. We have second witness is Mariana Hala Joanna Kate Mariana from Mother Teresa Secondary School in Ontario. And the third witness we have tonight with us is Ellen Papa. Uh on mercenar Fore Don't kill Don't set on the gross debt. paper. Contract Mercy on a collabor. discourse on the Mother Teresa. Say Mariana Alla Joanna Kate Mariana. >> Hello everyone. Thank you so much for having us. We're going to talk a little bit about what this campaign means to us. So we all have a little bit of something to say. So in the fall I had the privilege of attending the Ontario Conference of Faith Meets Pedagogy. At this conference I had the opportunity to watch and speak at the development and peace presentation about the turn debt into hope campaign. This campaign is so special to me because it has shown me that people do care and that students are passionate and open to change. Sometimes in today's world, it's easy to forget that people still care. It warms my heart to see all these people gathered together fighting for a real cause that impacts so many people. This campaign has inspired me to keep educating myself and others on the influence we have. Even if our actions seem little, they can make the biggest impact. Hi everyone, my name is Joanna and I'm so happy to share with you all my experiences with the transforming debt into hope autumn 2025 campaign. Alongside advocating the campaign with my peers to our school and community, I was involved with the development and peace club's many events to promote the campaign such as our women's day bake sale and our swap party used item exchange. To me, this campaign revealed the power of the community on a mission. Every cookie we sold and every hoodie we exchanged for a t-shirt was a statement, was a protest, that we refuse to accept a world where debt and injustice continue to leave marginalized populations in vulnerable situations. This campaign reminded me that there is hope in all of us and when someone lights a match through action, that hope is rekindled. I hope moving forward we can continue to keep this beacon of change alive. Hello everyone. My name is Hala and I was actively involved in the turn debt into hope lent campaign by helping raise awareness and encouraging others to support the cause. I played a major role in creating the posters and making sure that they were clear and visually engaging um and effectively explained why debt relief for poor countries is so important. This helped grab people's attention and made the message much easier to understand. I also went to the church with my friend Kate, who's here with us today. um to help promote the campaign and spread awareness to to within the community, encouraging people to get more more involved and support the petition. Being part of this campaign made me feel like I was contributing to something meaningful and supporting fairness and global justice in a real and effective way. Thank you. Hello everyone. My name is Mariana Moreno Flores and being part of the turning debt into hope campaign with development and peace has been incredibly meaningful to me. Through our social justice club, we've led outreach in our school and we were able to collect hundreds of signatures. But what impacted me the most was seeing how deeply students cared once they understood the issue as well as their eagerness to help a cause like this. In September, I was invited to speak at a webinar with Development of Peace as well as other partners and had the privilege to share the work we've done at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School. That moment showed me that our efforts could inspire change beyond our own community, but that it is also a responsibility as human beings to stand up for what is right. To me, this campaign isn't just about signatures, but about giving people a voice and realizing that even small actions can be part of something so much bigger. Hello everyone. My name is Miranda Kubijos and I was involved in the transforming depth into hope autumn 2025 campaign by advocating for it in my school and my community speaking with students and encouraged them to sign petitions. Also, I rose I raised awareness about the need for de justice. Beyond what I did, what this campaign meant to me was much deeper. It opened my eyes to the struggles faced by countries burdened by injust and showed me how even small actions can contribute to real change. It also connected me more deeply to my Catholic faith, reminding me of her call to compassion, seek to seek justice, and stand with those in need. Being part of this movement made me feel like I was contributing to something greater than myself. A global effort supported by organizations like this to bring hope, dignity, and fairness to others. To me, it was a step forward in the right direction, allowing me to live out my Catholic graduate values in solidarity with like man likeminded individuals and be a part of meaningful change. Hello. I'm going to invite the last uh witness for tonight. Her name is Ellen Paplas and she's from Laval from La Peris, St. Rose. for oil. Transform Federal development development. Carol is eliminated. Canada. Fore Madame Michelle Bash uh Greenspan president. etc. International. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! Fore it's important. Yes. Hello. Thank you so much, Kim. Yes. Thank you so much everybody. Uh that was a really hard act to follow. Um but I hope that you find uh uh what I have to report rather inspiring. Um because a lot has been happening on the advocacy front. My name is Cheryl McNamera and I work with Cairo Canada and I'm helping to facilitate the advocacy part of Turn Debt into Hope. So way back in 2025, uh the Turn Debt into Hope Coalition uh raised its voice boldly for debt justice. Uh together, church and Christian leaders across Canada sent letters to the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister urging action for countries facing unjust debt. And that same year, our members brought this call international and global advocacy spaces through the civil society 7 and the women's seven processes. Our recommendations on debt justice were included in communicates presented to the G7 sherpa ahead of the summit, the G7 summit in in Alberta. and across the country, uh, people like you helped collect tens of thousands of signatures for the global turn debt into hope petition. These signatures did more than show support. They helped educate Canadians about the sovereign debt crisis and its deep connection to ecological debt. Thank you. In 2026, we took the next step. We launched a campaign to engage members of parliament directly and put the sovereign debt crisis firmly on their radar. That has included meetings with members of parliament on an online letterw writing campaign uh that you're going to learn about in a few minutes and a parliamentary paper petition. Already more than 15 uh meetings with members of parliament have happened with several more scheduled. We've had productive and encouraging conversations as you heard with MPs whose portfolios are especially relevant to this issue and several MPs have also agreed to present the paper petition in parliament. In addition, we have submitted a request to the standing committee on foreign affairs and international development to study the sovereign debt crisis. And several key committee members have expressed support for this request. And in just two weeks on April 28th on Parliament Hill, MP Robert Olivant, who is the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and a former UCC minister, will co-sponsor an educational panel on the debt crisis for MPs. And on that same day at the public rally at 100 p.m., he and other MPs will also symbolically receive the final Canadian signature. uh count for the global petition. As for the uh letter to MP campaign, um 449 letters have already been sent to their MPs. Uh this is 449 voices calling for justice. And this is how change grows. One letter, one meeting, one petition, one public witness at a time. Uh if you have not sent your letter to your MP, no worries. This is now your opportunity uh during this rally right here, right now. Uh we'd like to uh like you to use say another device or open up another window with the link that has just been placed in the chat. Um and that is the link to the letter that you can send to your MP. and we're going to give you just a few minutes to read it uh and fill out fill it out uh while we play another original song written for the debt uh turn debt into hope campaign. And this song is by George Johnson and Ben Johnson uh who are with intensive care and also with the generous support from the Ross Styles Legacy Fund of Cam Loops United Church. Uh if you've already sent your letter to your MP, thank you. uh please open up your email or your social media and send it to three of your friends with a simple message uh which is going to be placed in the chat. And now time for the video and time for you to start writing your MP. millions living in gap beyond belief. We can change this. Bring relief. Cancel those loans so people can cope. Live the darkness. Turn that into hope. Turn that into turn into home. Turn into home. Health is suffering. Education gone. Not enough food. It's simply wrong. Climate is worse. Saving no money to fix. Lost homes and crops. A deadly mix. Turn dad into home. Turn dead into home. Turn dead into hope. Millions living in death beyond belief. We can change this. Bring relief. Cancel those loans so people can cope. Live the darkness turns into hope. Turn dad into home. Turn into Until now we won't be free. We're all connected to sing. Turn that into turn into home. Oh, turn death into hope. Put the human back in humanity for each other. Stuff is insane. It's simply so others can simply live. We owe them that it's time to give. Turn dad into home. Turn dad into turn into ho. Turn that into great. Thank you. Um and uh a huge uh thanks to George and Ben for that wonderful uh uh song and and the music video that they provided. Um huge shout out to them. Um and for all of you, thank you for uh sending a letter to your MP. I noticed that last check about 10 have already signed and and it's growing. So, thank you so much. And with your help, you know, we are really building uh momentum for Canada to play a meaningful role in advancing sovereign debt judice. So, thank you so much for helping us to turn debt into hope. Kim, back to you. >> You know, the Canadian network is not alone in this work. Throughout this campaign and even before it, we've been collaborating with people around the world. So Kim and Beth are going to share a few connections. Fore certain aspect economic Foreman, transparent, integ. campaign organiz mobiliz. Certain revenue positive. Manifage organized. One of my favorite images of the global campaign was an image of advocacies advocacy officers in K of Kitas Internationales meeting with the president of the World Bank and also the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. I thought to myself, what good could happen in this kind of meeting? Uh and in this meeting, uh we asked for um the we asked that the cost of servicing debt could be brought lower. So those payments, those regular payments uh towards debt could be below 10% of a particular country's revenue from their gross domestic product. Below 10%. This would go a long way to help countries, for example, like Ethiopia with a whopping 44% of debt payments eating up their revenue from their agricultural products produced. >> Thank you, Kim. Um, those are some wonderful moments and there's been so many moments over the last year where debt justice uh brought communities together showing the power of grassroots action to demand change. And we saw that in the streets at the G7 rally in Calgary um during the relay of hope um across the country and in other countries worldwide um and in some of the events that Kim mentioned uh in Spain. Public pressure and moral clarity from advocates and faith leaders has helped open political spaces for change. Um, as Kim mentioned, the fourth international conference on financing for development didn't show maybe quick enough progress, but really governments there acknowledged the scale of the debt crisis and there was um a call for reform. In July, Catholic bishops, this is something that Juan mentioned earlier, uh the Catholic bishops in the global south released a call for climate justice and our common home, urging the global north to pay its social and ecological debts. At the Africa Climate Summit in September, faith leaders came together to declare that debt relief is not just economic pol policy. It is a moral imperative for climate justice. At the end of October, Scottish Parliament announced its support of the Turn Debt into Hope campaign and the First Minister of Scotland stated, "In the face of global debt injustice, I am convinced that Scotland must continue to lead with compassion and conviction." This momentum was carried into the global decision-making spaces in November like the G20 and at COP 30 where the turn debt into hope campaign handed over the global petition signatures to the president of COP 30 bringing the voices of communities bringing your voices worldwide into the heart of climate negotiations at the African Union. Uh in February, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Maloney put forward Italy's proposal for climate related debt suspension for African countries, showing that solutions movements have long called for are gaining traction. Canada too is building these clauses into new bilateral loans and has been encouraging its G7 partners to adopt them. Now, we can be honest with ourselves and kind of notice that progress can feel slow and we are still waiting for deep systemic changes needed to truly transform the global debt system. But these things that we've mentioned tonight, this is real momentum. Step by step, voice by voice, pressure is building from grassroots movements to global institutions. And together, we are moving closer to a world where countries can invest in people and planet, not just in debt payments. Thanks Beth and Kim. The MP meetings, the potential standing committee debrief, the conversations with Finance Canada, it all started with a petition. The largest single petition Cyros has hosted this decade. Now, do you want to know how big it has grown? At the end of 2025, the year closed with 56,000 signatures. Was that all? By the end of January, there were 64,000 signatures. By the end of March, actually early March already, we had 67,000 signatures for hope. And today, still growing, there are 70,527 signatures for turn debt into hope. I think that's reason for applause. 70,527 signatures and still climbing. That's fully onethird 33% of the global petitions to date. Not too bad for a country whose population is 0.5% of the world's. And then there are the MP letters that have risen too while we were talking. Do you remember what Cheryl said? 449 and now I'm seeing 478. Thank you so much for adding those letters to our campaign and sending them off to your MPs. And so we are going to have these online signatures and letters growing for another week yet. But take note, now is the moment to send in your global paper petitions. You can mail them or you can email paper petitions so that they arrive at Development and Peace or Chyros by Monday hopefully. So if you're going to do it by Canada Post, get it done tomorrow. Uh we want to see those petitions so that we can count them all up and have them ready for when we go to Ottawa at the end of the month. So, I want to give you a little picture. Just make sure that that uh those instructions for Ottawa. Excellent. For the for the petitions, check the chat if you need to a reminder as to where those paper petitions need to go. We'll be watching for them. Now, I want to give you a little picture of what will be happening in Ottawa at the end of the month. On April 27th, your faithful ambassadors will roll into Ottawa and trains and cars and gather at St. Peter's Lutheran Church by midafter afternoon. There we will finish a couple dozen piggy banks. I know that in June at the people's forum, you were probably seeing all kinds of pictures of piggy banks as piñatas. This time we'll use them a little differently as we show the scales of justice on Parliament Hill. So the Monday before we'll finish up our piggy banks. We'll create some handheld signs. We'll compi combine our petition boxes and decorate them with the final numbers. You watch and see if it's bigger than uh what I just said. 70,527. And then Tuesday we head to Parliament Hill. The wisdom of the House says that the time to talk to the MPs is 9 a.m. in the morning. So that is when our panel of experts from our coalition will be lining up to present to the hopefully brighteyed MPs. Um, so they'll have an hour to be able to lay out the case of turn debt into hope. And your letters that you just sent will be helping to get them into that meeting. Soon after, some of our team members will gather back at the church. We'll pick up our signs and our piggy banks, our information cards to hand out to people, and we'll start walking down Wellington Street, informing the public and building that momentum. I'm sure there will be lots of excitement when the students arrive. You were I'm sure you felt it even with the five of them here tonight. There's a whole bus full of Catholic high school students that will be coming from Toronto and joining us perhaps a hundred people gathered on the lawn of Parliament Hill with our piggy banks stacked on the scales showing the injustice and showing how the movement to justice could be. There'll be prayers and speeches, chants and movement to show the justice we want to see. In the end, the petition boxes will be handed over to MP Rob Olphant, who is the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and hopefully other MPs will be joining him there. that work is still in progress and there'll be many cameras flashing and videos rolling. You will see it all via your favorite social media. Some in that moment and some in the days to follow. So do watch social media on Tuesday, April 28th. We think there'll be all kinds of media there. we just heard. It'll also be a budget update and we will work hard to link our requests to that budget update. So like our social media posts, share them, keep the momentum going, and tell your friends what's going on at Parliament Hill that day. April 28th is just two weeks away. And so I would invite us now we are nearing the time to send off the ambassadors. I would invite everyone on the call first of all to turn on your cameras and I would invite those who spoke today all of the students and our um all the volunteers who shared today. If you put up your hand for a moment, if you know where your reaction button is and your raise hand, students, if you put up your hand for a moment and put on your cameras, >> brings you on to the first page. >> Um, and we're going to take a picture for all those are who are willing. So, if you don't want to be in the picture, turn your camera off. But if you're ready to be in a picture, we're gonna do a little countdown and John's gonna take a picture for us. Um, so three, two, one. But we have to stay a little bit and smile because there are several screens. And just hold on. Turn debt into hope. Thank you so much for doing that. Now, I'm going to ask you to all turn take your hands down and I'm going to ask for hands for something else. Could those who are going to be in Ottawa in person on April 28th, put your hands up. There are a few of us that are staff from the coalitions and a few others. And so everyone, I would invite you to hold us in your prayers and to think about the message that you would like to send to Ottawa through this group of people. And so I'd invite you to put a word in the chat. Um, if you put just one or two words, we will make a word cloud out of them. If you want to put in a sentence or more, that's good, too. And we will read them and we will save them. And so what is your word of encouragement to those who are going to be in Ottawa or a word that encapsulates what this campaign means to you? So I see we had one already just peace. Excellent breakthrough. What is your word that encapsulates this campaign to you? While you are thinking of your word or your thought that you want to share with the group, I also want to give one a shout out to the endorsers of this campaign. At the beginning of the session, you heard about the five core organizations who have been really organizing all the work of the campaign over 16 months. But I'd also like you to recognize all of these endorsers. So check it out. All of these different organizations are helping us to share the word about turn debt into hope. If you're part of them, if you know them, give them a thanks. Give them a like on social media. Um, and share the news. All right. So, how's the chat going there? We are just about ready for the closing prayer. Um, thank you for your words of encouragement. Thank you for being with us. And now I will turn it over to Tanya, the executive director at Chyros to give us a closing prayer that has been used throughout this campaign. And so one more time, the gracious words. Tanya, please. Thanks so much, Shannon, and thanks so much to everyone for being here. It's it's really quite inspiring to see how many of you showed up this evening to support us. So, thank you. And thanks to the all of the people who've been coordinating this work. It is not a small effort. And so I'm very very grateful. And now to close us out, a prayer. Loving and gracious God, help us understand that we have the power and the duty to act against the injustices that bind people in poverty and debt. Grant us the courage to challenge the structures that perpetuate these conditions and the strength to work tirelessly for a world where every person can achieve their full potential. Inspire our hearts with your compassion and justice. Empower us to be bearers of hope and agents of change. Together, may we help bring forth solutions rooted in fairness and equity, economic systems that uplift and create hope for the downtrodden, and a future where every nation can walk the path of sustainable de development, free from the burdens of debt. May we be instruments of your peace, secure in the faith that through our collective effort, poverty can be overcome. Amen.