Mainline Canadian Christians were given a sackful of coal by the federal government just before Christmas when Stephen Harper’s Tories abruptly cut funding from Kairos, the ecumenical justice coalition supported by 11 Christian groups, including the Presbyterian Church.
After a 35-year relationship and a rigorous approval process by Canadian International Development Agency staff, at the eleventh hour International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda refused to sign the papers releasing $7 million in cooperative and matching funding.
That’s $7 million of your dollars to be used by your church for poverty relief, support for orphans and abused women, human rights and environmental advocacy.
Both CIDA and the minister’s office have refused to clarify why Kairos’s funding was cut, instead referring obliquely to changed federal priorities – priorities that changed a month or so before Kairos got approval from CIDA staff. Priorities that no one has been able or willing to explain how Kairos’s work doesn’t fit within.
Kairos also received an excellent, independent evaluation done for CIDA.
Given that, and given that Kairos has a long history with Ottawa and that CIDA staff gave Kairos’s final application a solid stamp of approval, there are only three possibilities: CIDA staff are incompetent, CIDA staff weren’t told about the changed priorities or Bev Oda, presumably under instruction from the command-and-control Prime Minister’s Office, refused on political grounds.
Take your pick – and I seriously doubt it’s the first two – it all falls down to the minister’s responsibility for her department. So, Minister Oda, why? In detail, please. Our pages are open for response.
Because here’s the thing. We deserve an answer. It’s our money.
Until some reasonable and detailed answer is given, we have to draw our own conclusions.
A public clue comes from Federal Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Minister John Baird who said that his party had opposed anti-Semitism as far back as 2001. It’s oblique, but the reference to anti-Semitism is telling.
Let’s be clear. All eight denominations behind the 11 groups that support Kairos (Anglican, Christian Reformed, Evangelical Lutheran, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Quaker, United and Roman Catholic) are on record as opposing anti-Semitism in any form. As is Kairos.
Abroad, Kairos has been clear that it opposes violence of any sort in the Middle East. It supports the work of peacemakers in that region. That makes it a convenient target for those who pretend that all Palestinians support the violent factions and actions of Hamas and Fatah. And those who torque any criticism of the government of Israel into anti-Semitism.
In that complex maelstrom, Kairos has partnered with Jewish, Muslim and Christian peacemaking and development organizations. In past years, they have included groups providing primary care health clinics in Gaza, safe places for abused street children in Beirut, a facility for mentally challenged children in the Bekaa valley, advocates for democracy in Palestine and Jewish and Arab women in Israel who try to build bridges in civil society. I’ve been there. I’ve seen their work.
Prime Minister Harper and ministers Baird and Oda: It is not an option for Canadian Christians to work to alleviate poverty and inequality and to raise environmental concerns and to advocate for the downtrodden and voiceless. It is a command from Jesus who himself reiterated the message of the prophets of his people, the Jews, before him.
There is one overriding theme in both the Jewish and Christian scriptures: God is outspokenly concerned with and opposed to economic and political injustice. From Moses to Micah and Job to Jesus the message is the same.
Restore Kairos’s funding. We’ll forgive you. We’re Christians.
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On a completely different (and happier) note, I want to introduce you to two new columns. The first focuses on the Presbyterian Church’s missionaries, mission projects, and congregational mission trips. This is an area of growing interest, especially in congregations, and we hope to be able to share many engaging stories with you. See page 19.
The second is a monthly letter from Presbyterian World Service and Development staff, which we hope provides a glimpse into their travels as they visit countries to monitor projects supported by the church’s relief and development agency. See page 21.
As always, we welcome your comments on these and any stories in the magazine and online.
