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,

We hope you're finding some time for rest this summer and that maybe you've been able to safely reunite with loved ones as vaccination rates in Canada climb higher and higher (your f/Friendly newsletter editor is now fully inoculated and is...well, mostly running errands, actually, but they feel more exciting than they used to.)

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!

Sign up

Canadian Yearly Meeting 2021 is ONLINE from August 8-14

CYM in session is just around the corner! As I write we have 127 registrations and counting. If you are already registered you can update your choices and volunteering by going back to the registration form.

The interactive (online) portion of the program will be hosted on the video conferencing platform Zoom. If you are unfamiliar with that platform or need help accessing technology needed to participate, please contact your local meeting for support.

The children’s programming will consist of 30 minutes of Zoom activity in the morning before adult programming begins, with accompanying offline activities to complete during the day. Youth 13+ may choose to participate in Canadian Young Friends Yearly Meeting (CYFYM) programming. Please invite young people in your life or meeting to register (a separate registration is required).

Several published Canadian Quaker poets will lead a retreat that is meant to be thoughtful, inspiring, and fun, and will bring us together across our enforced distances. Four options (in two sessions) will have us thinking and feeling about nature, learning about minimalist poems, writing from present experience, exploring rhyme and metre, and no doubt more, as participants bring their own ideas to the sessions. Please complete the separate registration by August 5th.

All are welcome to join worship sharing, just check the box in the registration form. Participation may not be possible for CYM registrations received after August 5th.

Finally, the annual Sunderland P Gardner Lecture on Sunday August 8th will be given by Monica Walters-Field on a theme of Love and Justice, Hope and Imagination. Winnipeg Meeting and Janet Ross will co-lead us to understand the depth of meaning in the Things that are Eternal through the daily Quaker Studies.

For all the details, including the full schedule, to register, to pay, and most importantly, to join the #CYM2021 online sessions please visit the website, below:

 

 More details
Monica Walters-Fields, a Black woman with short purple hair, grins at the camera, wearing a colourful tank top.

Children's program at CYM in session

We've been working hard on preparing an exciting children's program for this year's CYM in session. While keeping screen time to a minimum, we'll be running a number of fun and meaningful activities, including: collaboratively telling a story together about confronting fear and uncertainty, creative music activities including playing and group songwriting, exploring the experience of Spirit in children's lives, and learning a bit about the environments that things come from by constructing stories of objects that children have in their lives.

We'll also have some programming for Young Friends (13-18), including a Meeting for Musical Worship Sharing, where participants will be invited to listen as well as contribute when you feel inspired, with both musical and verbal sharing, led by an interning music therapist and other musicians. Yes, it is possible to make music together out of the silence over Zoom – and no music experience required! Please bring any instruments or noise-makers you have access to (even if you don't know how to play them), as well as your voice and an open mind.

Any and all children and young folks are welcome to join us. We ask that you please register at this link. Please help us make sure everyone who might like to participate has a chance to do so by sharing this information with young Friends and families and extending them a warm invitation to be part of CYM in Session on our behalf! If you have any questions, please reach out to the children's program coordinator Simon at CYMChildrenAndYouth2021@gmail.com.
Two pale children with short-hair, one wearing green and one wearing navy, do an activity. (Maybe a craft or a game?)

CYM fringe website

Attending CYM in session online but missing some of the informal joys of CYM in session in person? Don't worry - a fringe site has been set up to provide a place to share information on CYM-related, but unofficial, events (such as those coming out of special interest groups). Beyond events, you might feel led to link to websites or videos, share art...or something we haven't thought of yet! Friends can email cymfringe@gmail.com with more ideas, and can visit the website at the link below.

See more
Two thin pale people with long hair sit on swings, chatting.

NeeKauNis availability

NeeKauNis is up and running, in a pandemic-y way. If you're interested in spending some time up at camp, this is the availability as of July 20th:

  • July 26-Aug 1st: available
  • Aug 2-8: fully booked
  • Aug 9-15: fully booked
  • Aug 16-22nd: mostly available
  • Aug 23-25: available
  • Aug 26-29: fully booked
  • Aug 30-Sept 2nd: available

If you're seeking to come, email neekaunis-clerk@quaker.ca and fill out the pre-registration form below. Fees have been modified for the pandemic context.

Pre-register
A view of sunset over the bay at NeeKauNis, as seen from the hill, with silhouettes of trees around.

CYM Contributions Corner

Did you know it's easy to donate monthly to CYM by direct withdrawal from your bank account? Or directly online through CanadaHelps? We hope Friends discern what option is right for them - you can see them all by following the link below.

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

"Sweet Home Monteverde" viewing

Canadian Friends are invited to watch a special viewing of Sweet Home Monteverde, telling the story of 40 Friends who moved to Costa Rica in 1951 to oppose the peacetime military draft in the U.S. The documentary shows both the challenge these brave Friends faced and how their mission and values live on today in the Monteverde Friends Meeting and its Friends School. The film is available for Canadian Friends to view on August 6th and 7th at the link below (Password: Monteverde Friends).Those interested in hearing more about the Monteverde Friends School are invited to join the Monday, August 9 Special Interest Group as part of the Canadian Yearly Meeting. Canadian Friends who are ongoing volunteers for the school will share what inspires them to keep returning.

Watch the film
A sepia toned picture of a pale short-haired person standing beside a large truck, maybe headed down a hill or possibly slightly stuck.

Cours en ligne: Introduction aux quakers

Réservez un peu de temps cet automne pour le premier cours en ligne en français sur le quakerisme au Canada. Le cours « Introduction aux quakers » va avoir lieu le samedi et il s’étendra sur 6 ou 7 semaines à partir du 11 septembre de 12h30 à 14h30 heure de l’Est.

Que vous soyez en mesure de suivre ce cours ou non, puis-je vous demander de partager cette publication Ă  toutes les personnes francophones et francophiles qui souhaitent approfondir leurs connaissances du quakerisme?

Voici le PDF du cours que Jean-Louis Demers du groupe de Québec a mis beaucoup de temps à traduire en français (merci Jean-Louis!).

Exprimez votre intérêt et vous pouvez aussi poser vos questions à david@montreal.quaker.ca. Il y aura un formulaire d’inscription plus officiel en août 2021.

P.S. : Partagez svp!

P.P.S. For those who don’t read French, the message above is an invitation to join an introduction to Quakers course happening in French this fall, 2021. Please forward a personalized message to anyone you think might be interested in discussing Quakerism with other francophones and francophiles. A message will go out to all meetings and worship groups soon.
A number of pale, bundled-up people hold a banner reading "Quakers pour la paix."

Maison Quaker fall programming

Maison Quaker, in CongĂ©nies France, currently has space available for autumn music and art programmes, and are taking reservations and deposits. This year, all deposits are fully refundable for cancellations made for any reason, including travel restrictions.

Read more
A picture of the Maison Quaker, a light-coloured, low building with a red roof.