***French version follows – La version en français suit***

St. John’s Anglican Church South March, is a small, well-maintained limestone church on the periphery of Ottawa, Canada that was first established in 1832. It is located on a large parcel of land and has an adjacent heritage cemetery as well as a newer one. Now it is located in the midst of suburban Kanata. Large sugar maples were planted in the old cemetery many years ago and they help to create a park land that is a peaceful place to walk. Many of the graves are lovingly tended.  

^{Commissioner, Dianne Saxe}

Climate change. It’s worse than we thought. That was the message we heard from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Dr. Dianne Saxe, who joined us on three separate occasions over the past months — a June event in Hamilton and September events at Church of the Incarnation in Oakville and the Jaffari Community Centre in Thornhill.

Participants in the St. Jamestown Market, an example of Community Based Action

At Faith & the Common Good, we’ve been giving tremendous thought to the extreme weather events taking place globally. We are thinking about what we, as faith communities can do to prepare ourselves, here in Canada, especially vulnerable communities. Our ED, Lucy Cummings, along with Sheila Murray of Toronto CREW and Chris Winter of Climate Action Canada wrote an article on the issue, that was published as a guest post on the Environmental Defence website. Here’s an excerpt:

^{Getting down and Dirty: Manor Road “Messy Church” Youth}

As with the First Peoples who inhabit this vast land, native plant species are the originals. This was the theme at the Faith & the Common Good (FCG) and Ontario 150 native garden plaque presentation, “First Peoples, First Plants,” held on September 29, 2017 at Manor Road United Church in Toronto.

Brainstorming around the table

People who live in the St James Town apartment towers in Toronto’s inner city don’t have air conditioning. But if the power goes out, they’ll suffer more than most. Many residents are seniors or use mobility aids to get around. As the most diverse neighbourhood in North America, language can be a barrier, social connections may be weak, and most residents don’t have incomes that allow them to store extra supplies of food, water and cash.

Tucker House is one of three youth gardens in Ottawa participating in Faith & The Common Good’s “Growing Community” Garden program funded by Ontario 150 Youth Partnership Program. Tucker House is located in Rockland, ON. This centre focuses on environmental teaching and host Summer Camps for kids and teenagers. Over spring and summer, the kids learned about, created and took care of the gardens. Below is the testimonial of one of the young gardener, Erin Whittingham.

— Les élèves du comité du jardin – Photo Credit: K. Forster —

Le projet d’une classe catholique française pour l’élaboration et la construction de leur propre jardin surélevé.

“Climate justice is core to my faith but cycling to church is not just transportation; it’s meditation, the real beginning of my worship,”

- Christine Boyle, United Church Minister, Vancouver Chapter Organizer, and Director of Fossil Free Faith.

In June, over the duration of two weekends, Faith & the Common Good offered faith communities across Canada a challenge: leave the car behind when traveling to worship in favour of a “low carbon” mode...