Dear Friends, Spring is springing and Quakers are busy! You'll find below invitations to online courses, events at other meetings, CYM events...plenty of options to help you avoid spring cleaning (no, I am absolutely not typing this as a way of avoiding window-washing, why would you ask that.) 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! Sign up | Save the date: CYM2021 will gather virtually this August 8-14th The Sunderland P Gardner Lecture will be given by Monica Walters-Field, and Quaker Studies will be facilitated by Janet Ross. There will be many opportunities to worship together, to celebrate our community, and to look forward in hope. More details | | "Uh oh, was that a leading?" online course Quaker facilitator Jackie Bonner will be leading an online 6-week session called “Uh-oh, was that a leading?” Sponsored by the Education and Outreach Committee of Canadian Yearly Meeting, the course will run on Saturdays from April 10 to May 15, 2021. Register by April 9th to participate in this course. Early Friends believed in leadings of the Spirit but their writings only give a general sense of what that might mean. What is a leading? How do we know when we’re being led? And how can we know when we are definitely not being led? Although there are no simple answers to these questions, the very least we can do is put our heads and hearts together and share our experience as we live our lives. The course will run for 1.5-2.0 hours each Saturday, from April 10 to May 15, 2021, beginning at the following times: 2:00pm Newfoundland/Labrador, 1:30pm Atlantic, 12:30pm Eastern, 11:30am Central, 10:30am Mountain, 9:30am Pacific. The cost is $30, with the option of waiving the fee in cases of financial hardship. More details | | April 9th: Calgary Monthly Meeting book event Calgary Monthly Meeting invites Friends to join us, together with the B'nai Tikvah Temple, for a book event: we’ll be celebrating the publication of the book Shedding Our Stars: The Story of Hans Calmeyer and How He Saved Thousands of Families Like Mine, written by lifelong pacifist Laureen Nussbaum. This event will take place on April 9, 2021, starting at 7:30 MST, and will be part of the Friday Shabbat service, which has been graciously made open for Friends to attend. This book publication is of special interest to Friends for several reasons: Laureen has long connections with Quakers, through her own education, activism, and community-work. And the story itself, relayed compellingly through memoir and history, is one that gets to the heart of the meaning of pacifist commitments during times of fascism. (Laureen was close friends with Anne Frank and the Frank family in Amsterdam; this book tells the amazing story of how Laureen and her family were able to remain safe, during the war-time in the Netherlands). These themes of courage, pacifism, and conviction also lend themselves to inter-religious community-building; we’d love to see you at this event, as we build connections between Quaker and Jewish communities in Calgary. To attend the book talk, send an email to office@bnaitikvah.ca with the name that appears on your Zoom account and they will send you the link. You can visit the Laureen Nussbaum survivor page of the Holocaust Centre for Humanity for photos, videos and more. | | April 17th: Change and Sustainable Transformation event We invite all Friends to join with members of the Change and Sustainable Transformation (CAST) working group to explore what we want CYM to be. Where do we need to focus our efforts to create meaningful change with regards to future sustainability? CAST proposes the following areas: - New Technologies Integration
- Communication
- Youth Engagement
- CYM in Session
We will meet via Zoom. You will be asked to join a breakout group to discuss one of these areas. Please come with your thoughts and ideas. The Zoom link can be found on the CYM Calendar in the Business Section of quaker.ca and below. Topic: Zoom - CAST Event for CYM Time: Apr 17, 2021 02:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8671213216?pwd=VlRCRHhpSFFhRHllS2dBcHNnc1kvdz09 Meeting ID: 867 121 3216 Passcode: CYM1955 One tap mobile +16132093054,,8671213216#,,,,*5144807# Canada +16473744685,,8671213216#,,,,*5144807# Canada | | Food Coop Greatest Hits: Your Photos The Canadian Friend is looking for your photos of the food coop over the years, for inclusion in an article. Send favourite photos to editor@quaker.ca by May 15th so we can all remember together. | | Addressing Conflict amongst Friends resource Canadian Friends Service Committee and Continuing Meeting of Ministry and Counsel are pleased to jointly release a new resource Addressing Conflict amongst Friends. Read more | | Reminder: it's nominations season! Have you been thinking of a skill you'd like to develop or wishing you could think of another way to give back? Nominations Committee is looking for Friends to serve on CYM committees, which can be a great way to connect with Friends across the country. Nominations take place through your Monthly Meeting, so please reach out to your local nominations committee to discern a leading to serve or to suggest that another Friend has gifts to share. Learn more | | FGC early registration opens April 15th! The Friends General Conference Gathering is being held on lineagain this year from June 27 - July 3, 2021. This is a rare chance to join with a large group of Friends without having to travel, and registration fees are "pay as led." Early registration will open between April 15-29, and registering during this window gives the best opportunity to get into your preferred workshop. Among the dozens of workshops being offered are: Clerking (5 days), Couple Enrichment, Growing a Monthly Meeting, several arts-based workshops, and more. Because of its size, FGC is able to offer much more in the way ofprogramming than we can in Canadian Yearly Meeting. The Gathering will also be offering programs for Junior Friends and high school/teens, as well as Young Adult Friends and other "affinity groups." Minor children must be registered by June 13. Learn more | | #NoWar2021 conference: Save the Date World BEYOND War’s #NoWar2021 conference is going virtual! Save the date for June 4-6, 2021. #NoWar2021 is a unique event that brings together a global grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations around the topic of CANSEC and the global arms trade. As North America’s largest weapons expo, CANSEC typically brings together 12,000+ government and military officials and weapons industry reps from 55 countries to Ottawa each year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and pressure from our coalition, CANSEC 2020-2021 has been postponed to 2022. But that doesn’t mean our work is over. Instead of pouring trillions into weaponry, the world must invest in a just recovery from the pandemic and a green new deal that includes a just transition for arms industry workers. #NoWar2021 will bring together key international allies to not only assist Canadian efforts to permanently #CancelCANSEC but also to share expertise from similar campaigns worldwide in the global struggle for war abolition. Read more | | | | | |
