In 2026 Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC) and Winnipeg Friends will bring forward a proposal for Friends nationally to make an annual payment of reparations to Indigenous Peoples, in response to living on and benefiting from Indigenous Peoples’ lands. This would be a natural progression of Friends’ reconciliation work. Friends’ early history with Indigenous Peoples…
by Canadian Friends Service Committee
Latest articles
Are we backsliding on civil liberties in Canada?
Canadian Friends are likely familiar with news from the US, UK, and elsewhere in the world about eroding civil liberties and the criminalisation of dissent. We’ve seen stories on deportations, mass surveillance, and trampling the right to protest all becoming more common—and frighteningly—more accepted. Of concern to Friends in the US, for example, has been…
Transformative justice is happening in Indigenous courts
It was 1991 when the groundbreaking Aboriginal Justice Inquiry (AJI) report was released in Manitoba. Following two years of interviews with a huge range of people—remote communities in the North, legal officials of courtrooms in Winnipeg, family members of people who had died due to violence, incarcerated people—Justices Murray Sinclair and Alvin Hamilton rendered a…
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki: an invitation to peace
When you walk into a quiet church and see posters depicting the aftermath of an atomic bombing, what do you feel? For Debbie Grisdale, and for the 300 visitors who came to St John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Ottawa this past May, it was a powerful mix of sorrow, curiosity, and hope. They gathered…
Friends on the move
Jennifer Preston, Jeremy Vander Hoek, and Rachel Singleton-Polster travelled to New York and Geneva again this year for UN meetings on Indigenous Peoples’ human rights. Once again, these were amazing spaces to connect with partners from around the world! Indigenous peacebuilding was a major focus in New York. CFSC co-sponsored two side events, hosted a…
Keeping up with Friends
Joining hundreds to protect rights We joined almost 200 organizations in calling for the withdrawal of Bill C-2. We called for Canada to reject the US-style anti-migrant and anti-refugee agenda, ensure equal rights, fair treatment, and non-discriminatory access to permanent resident status for all, stop scapegoating migrants and refugees for the housing and affordability crisis,…
Bringing peace into politics: why Canada’s next government should adopt a peace lens
As the Canadian federal election approaches, we’re offered a crucial opportunity to rethink not only the outcomes of our political system but also the lens through which we shape public policy. At a time of growing social division, global insecurity, and domestic challenges, many Canadians are looking for leadership rooted in something deeper than partisanship.…