Brown background with text reading "Quakers in Canada: News from around Canadian Yearly Meeting." Most of the text is yellow, but the Q is pale green.

Dear Friends,

Look, it's still June!! If just barely!!!

Thank you for reading Canadian Yearly Meeting's monthly electronic newsletter—we're glad to have you! If you know others who might like to receive this, please feel free to forward this message so that other friends can subscribe at the link below. Your help in connecting Friends across the country is deeply appreciated!

If you'd like to contribute to the newsletter, email newsletter@quaker.ca by the 15th of the month. We may not be able to fit all contributions in, but we'll try!

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CYM 2022 is just over a month away! (August 7th-13th)

The online Canadian Yearly Meeting-in-session for 2022 (August 7th-13th) is now a little over one month away! Registration, payment, and participation (volunteer and needs) are now all available (quaker.ca/yearlymeetinginsession/registration).

Public events

The week begins with Meeting for Worship on Sunday Aug 7th at 8 a.m. PDT (9 a.m. MDT, 10 a.m. CDT, 11 a.m. EDT, 12 p.m. ADT, 12:30 p.m. NDT). Registration is not required to attend, and individuals and meetings are invited to join.

Our Sunderland P Gardner Lecture is being given by JoLee Sasakamoose. Her lecture, “Guided by Ancestors: Integrating Ojibwe teachings with Quaker Testimony for social action,” will draw on her indigenous and Quaker upbringing. Registration is not required for this public lecture on Sunday Aug 7th at 11:30 a.m. PDT (12:30 p.m. MDT, 1:30 p.m. CDT 2:30 p.m. EDT, 3:30 p.m. ADT, 4 p.m. NDT).

Links for the public events will be on quaker.ca/yearlymeetinginsession/ when the time comes.

CYM Gathering events (registration required)

Pre-CYM retreat: “Supporting One Another in Faithfulness (Marcelle Martin)”

The pre-CYM Retreat will be in three sessions:

  • Friday Aug 5th from 5-6:30 p.m. PDT (6-7:30 p.m. MDT, 7-8;30 p.m. CDT, 8-9:30 p.m. EDT, 9-10:30 p.m. ADT, 9:30-11 p.m. NDT)

  • Saturday Aug 6th from 7 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. PDT (8 a.m. - 10:30 MDT, 9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. CDT, 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EDT, 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. ADT, 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. NDT)

  • Saturday Aug 6th from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. PDT (12:30 p.m. -  2 p.m. MDT, 1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m. CDT, 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. EDT, 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. ADT, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. NDT)

Bible Study: “The Transforming Power of Mercy (Colin Saxton)”

The Bible Study will be at 11 a.m. PDT (12 p.m. MDT, 1 p.m. CDT, 2 p.m. EDT, 3 p.m. ADT, 3:30 p.m. NDT) daily Monday Aug 7th to Friday Aug 12th.

One other date to keep in mind:

We need some time to organize some parts of the event. Please register children and youth and register your interest in joining a Worship Sharing Group by July 24th.

Learn more

Headshot of JoLee Sasakamoose, a pale-skinned person with shoulder-length curly hair.

Reminder: Camp NeeKauNis 90th anniversary + registration open for summer Camp NeeKauNis programs

Camp NeeKauNis' 90th anniversary celebration is coming up from July 29th - August 1, 2022. Come join for the birthday celebrations! Register on the Camp NeeKauNis website, and RSVP to: neekaunis_90@protonmail.com.

You can also register for other programs at Camp NaaKauNis:

All programs: https://www.neekaunis.org/news/2022/camp-neekaunis-2022-programs

Info on working or volunteering at Camp this summer: https://www.neekaunis.org/workingforcamp

Learn more

Posted for the Camp NeeKauNis 90th Anniversary; it's too small to read, so the text is in the body of the email, but the poster is a transparent white-and-green layer over top of a picture of a beach, with some pictures of Camp NeeKauNis in circles around the design.

We must all learn to practise peace for a better world

An article by Marjory Reitsma-Street, a member of Vancouver Island Monthly Meeting, has been published in Victoria's daily newspaper, the Times Colonist.

"Winners in a war justify their violence. Countries claim victory for democracy while burying loss of life, theft of land, and destruction of cultures. This year the Russian government argues war in Ukraine is necessary to preserve its empire. How could both the Allies and the Germans expect God to be on their side in World War II? A quote from Tolstoy’s novel Resurrection poses this ethical contradiction. “Why and by what right does one class of people lock up, torture, exile, flog, and kill other people, when they themselves are no better than those whom they torture, flog and kill?

"It is the peace witness that brought me to Quakers, formally called The Religious Society of Friends [...]"

Read more

Two pale brown birds sit close together on a tree branch.

July 23rd: Quakers & Disabilities

Quakers & Disabilities, a new group of Canadian Friends, has begun to meet regularly, with the purpose of giving the opportunity for those who have a Concern regarding disabilities to gather in worship and sharing. This group is not under the care of any Meeting, but thanks Vancouver Island Monthly Meeting for offering their Zoom account for meetings. 

The group plans to meet on the 4th Saturday of the month at 11:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. MDT, 1:00 p.m. CDT, 2:00 p.m. EDT, 3:00 p.m. ADT, and 3:30 p.m. NDT). The next meeting will be Saturday, May 28th. If you'd like to be on the email list for this Meeting, please email David McKay dwmckay@sympatico.ca

Join meeting

A computer sits open on a table, with an open notebook in front of it. A carafe of coffee, a white mug, and a vase of flowers are off to the right.

July 6th: Canadian Friend Service Committee Event at the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is meeting in Geneva at the beginning of July. CFSC will be present alongside many partners, and will be helping with the event "The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act: Implementation in Canada."

The event will take place on July 6th at 1:15 p.m. CEST, which is 4:15 a.m. PDT, 5:15 a.m. MDT, 6:15 a.m. CDT, 7:15 a.m. EDT, 8:15 a.m. ADT, and 8:45 a.m. NDT.

The panel will be moderated by Professor Sheryl Lightfood, North American Representative to EMRIP, and the panelists will be Chief Wilton Littlechild, former EMRIP Chair and Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner; Paul Joffe, Legal Counsel for the Grand Council of the Crees and the Cree Nation Government; Celine Henry, Counsel, Aboriginal Law Centre, Department of Justice; Sashia Leung, Director of Communications and International Relations, BC Treaty Commission.

Learn more

Canadian Friends Service Committee text, with the black and red CFSC logo/star next to it..

CYM Contributions Corner

Did you know that CYM provides Quaker representation at the national level, including the Canadian Council of Churches?

Donate

An acorn sits on a pale palm, with an out-of-focus sidewalk in the background.

Reminder: 2022-2023 Nurturing Faithfulness Program

The nine-month Nurturing Faithfulness program includes two in-person residencies at Woolman Hill retreat center in Deerfield, Massachusetts (four nights in Sept 2022 and four in May 2023), an online winter retreat, and monthly webinars. The program teaches practices that help open one's heart to the power of God, as well as skills in discernment; methods to offer and find spiritual support; and ways to ground one’s faithfulness in a home meeting or spiritual community. Participants will form local Faithfulness Groups that foster spiritual openness and support members over time in following calls and leadings. Information about the Nurturing Faithfulness program can be found here or through the New England Yearly Meeting website. Applications are preferred by June 1st, with rolling applications possible throughout the summer.

Here's a video in which the core teachers, Marcelle Martin and Hilary Burgin, speak about the upcoming 2022-2023 program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qobrlGlIT0

Here's a video in which prior participants speak about their experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQQZZnXJM8

Read more

A group of six fairly young people stand with their arms around each other in front of a misty field.