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The Manitoba government has appointed Judge Alvin Hamilton and family lawyer Jennifer Cooper to study the issue of adoption by same-sex couples. Justice Minister Gord Mackinnon said his intention is to bring in legislation based on their recommendations at the next session of the legislature. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, The Globe and Mail
About 1,000 indigenous people from various parts of Colombia gathered in Tierralta, Colombia, in mid-June to protest injustice and conduct a symbolic search for the abducted leader of the Embera–Katio indigenous group. Ultra-right-wing paramilitary forces allegedly kidnapped Kimy Pernía Domicó June 2; he has not been heard from since. Paramilitary groups responded to the protest by circling the demonstrators on motorcycles and shouting threats. Indigenous groups, who make up 3–4% of Colombia’s population, are resisting advances by multinational corporations into their traditional territory in northeast Colombia, including construction of the Urra hydraulic dam mega-project, partially funded by the Canadian government. The dam threatens the ancestral lands and livelihood of the Embera–Katio. Kimy made numerous visits to the US and Canada to raise awareness about multinational business encroachment onto indigenous territory and denounce human rights violations. Many community leaders had been killed or abducted prior to the protests, and two more were assassinated afterward. Mennonite Central Committee intern Janna Bowman participated in the protest. – Mennonite Central Committee
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution Aug. 15 to encourage school boards to provide materials for students that reflect “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender realities”. The materials would include such things as storybooks that discuss same-sex families and lifestyles, in hopes of ensuring that children of same-sex families do not feel excluded in classrooms. It would be up to the individual teacher to request the material for students. – The Ottawa Citizen, National Post, EFC
The Dwight Moody Wiebe Endowment Fund is a new scholarship for former Mennonite Central Committee volunteers who are enrolled in graduate programs. The scholarship was established by Margot Wiebe of Dallas, Tex. in memory of her husband Dwight Moody Wiebe, who died in January 2000. Wiebe served with MCC during the 1950s, including four years as Europe director of MCC’s Pax program for alternative military service. During the Korean War, he acted as a group leader for about 150 conscientious objectors in the Chicago area. Following his work with MCC, he was Christian service director for MBMS International in Hillsboro, Kan. for 15 years. A minimum of $390 is available to candidates who fulfill the requirements. More information is available from Carol Eby-Good, phone (888) 563-4647, e-mail ceg@mcc.org. – MCC
In wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US, Mennonite Central Committee made a one-time delivery of MCC-donated clothing and wash cloths for rescue workers in New York City. Mennonite Disaster Service quickly made plans to assist Mennonite pastors in the area with grief counselling and peacemaking skills through a project called Restoring Hope. In Afghanistan, people fleeing a potential US military strike are massing in refugee camps already filled with over 2.5 million people who have fled a four-year drought and more than 20 years of war. MCC is planning to provide food for refugees through the Iranian Red Crescent, the Muslim equivalent to the Red Cross. Since 1995, MCC has given $6.2 million in aid to Afghans. – MCC
Frank Albrecht and Elizabeth Soto are Mennonite Central Committee’s first long-term workers in Colombia. Recently, MCC made the decision to open an office in Bogotá. Previously, the couple served in Colombia with the Colombian Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church’s Commission on Overseas Mission 1993–96. Their new four-year assignment will involve working with a Mennonite congregation in the small town of Armenia and with the rebuilding project Mennonites began in the wake of a devastating 1999 earthquake. – MCC
South Point Community Church in Leamington, Ont. has a new mailing address: c/o 718 Mersea Rd. 6, R.R. #5, Leamington, Ont. N8H 3V8. The phone number is the same: (519) 322-1858. The congregation meets Sunday mornings at Margaret D. Bennie Public School in Leamington. Pastor couple is Brad and Dianne Wilson. – South Point Community Church
New Tribes Mission has concluded that three American missionaries kidnapped in 1993 in Panama were shot by their captors near Acandí three years later as Colombian troops closed in. NTM is basing that conclusion on multiple guerrilla testimonies after conducting a thorough investigation. On Jan. 31, 1993, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) seized Dave Mankins, 43, Rick Tenenoff, 36, and Mark Rich, 23, in the eastern Panama village of Púcuro, near the Colombian border. The three missionaries were planting a church among the Kuna Indians when the gunmen snatched them from their homes. Their wives, who witnessed the abduction, later returned to the US. The Colombian government and the FBI will continue to pursue the case. The remains of the three men have never been found. – Compass Direct
The number of volunteers in Canada dropped from 7.5 million in 1997 to 6.5 million in 2000, according to the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. The 87-page report, released in August, noted that in 1997, 31% of the population aged 15 and older contributed 1.053 billion hours – the equivalent of 534,000 full-time year-round jobs, assuming a 40-hour work week. In 2000, 27% of the population aged 15 and over contributed just over 1 billion hours – the equivalent of 506,000 full-time year-round jobs. That means there was a drop of 28,000 volunteer “jobs”, which the Globe and Mail (Aug. 18) called “a staggering ‘job loss’ for Canada’s 80,000 registered charities”. – Canadian Mennonite
The Canadian government held a “by invitation” inter-faith memorial service on Sept. 27 for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. The House of Commons recessed so that MPs could attend the service, which was held in the West Block of Parliament Hill. Prayers were led by the Ottawa Inter-Faith Council and included Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Mi’qmag and Christian prayers. Christian prayers were offered by ministers from the Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Churches. The federal government was criticized for the absence of religious perspectives in the memorial service on Sept. 14. – EFC
A number of Christians were among those named to the Order of Canada in 2001. Included as members of the OC were Catherine Nicoll, Henry Hildebrand, Gerald Vandezande and Ray Speaker. Those promoted to Officers within the Order included Ben Heppner and Murray McCheyne Thomson. Henry Friesen was named Companion, the highest designation within the OC. Nicoll worked for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Pioneer Camps and is known for her leadership training work that helped young people to appreciate the environment, music, literature and excellence. Hildebrand, who founded the Briercrest family of schools in Caronport, Sask., and is now a member of Central Heights MB Church in Abbotsford, B.C., was noted for his role in Christian education. Vandezande helped found Citizens for Public Justice, where he has worked for 35 years, first as executive director and now as national public affairs director. Originally a banker and an accountant, he was executive secretary of the Christian Labour Association of Canada, and has been active in the Christian Reformed Church and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Speaker is a long-time Alberta politician who served under premiers Ernest Manning, Peter Lougheed and Don Getty and later joined the Reform Party of Canada. Before embarking on a singing career that made him a famous tenor, Heppner was a youth pastor in a Christian and Missionary Alliance church. Today his concerts include benefits for organizations such as Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). McCheyne Thomson is a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers). He is co-founder of Project Ploughshares, Peace Brigades International and Peacefund Canada. Dr. Friesen headed the former Medical Research Council of Canada in Ottawa for many years. In Ottawa, he was a member of an Alliance church. He lives in Winnipeg and teaches at the University of Manitoba. – Lloyd Mackey, Doing Politics Christianly
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, acting on complaints from two lesbian couples, has ordered the Vital Statistics Agency to amend its forms so that same-sex couples can both register as parents on a child’s birth certificate. Specifically, the tribunal decided that when a woman has a child using sperm from an anonymous donor, her lesbian partner may also register as a parent. Previous to the ruling, the birth mother’s partner had to adopt the child to become a legal parent. – EFC, CBC, The Globe and Mail, Lifesite Daily News
MCC photo by Mark Beach |
Women in western India’s Kerali village receive wheat as payment for their reconstruction work. Mennonite Central Committee and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank are providing wheat for residents of Kerali and five other villages in Gujarat State destroyed by the Jan. 26 earthquake. The Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action, an Indian relief agency, distributes the wheat through its “food for community development” programs. MCC’s contributions to the disaster total $809,000.
“Don’t ya ever take a bath?” Children attending Steinbach (Man.) MB Church’s DVBS program Son Creek Junction, July 16–20, learned that God loves everyone, even smelly Dusty Dan (played by pastor Abe Klassen). Each day, the 45 church and community children attending were encouraged to grow in the family of God. The program included singing with a country flair, Bible memorization, crafts and a snack, including roasted bannock over a campfire.
Twenty-two youth and 6 adult leaders from Hepburn, Sask. participated in a Mennonite Central Committee SWAP (Sharing With Appalachian People) program in Kentucky. The group left Hepburn June 28 and then spent five days with two other youth groups from Massachusetts doing some basic housing rehabilitation in Harlan county, a region suffering from severe poverty. The groups reroofed a house, revamped a bathroom, painted, installed windows, did electrical work and cleaned up garbage.
Four Canadian couples say farewell to friends at the San Pedro Sula, Honduras airport Aug. 28 after completing a trans-denominational retreat for pastor couples, sponsored by Family Life Network of Winnipeg. Pictured are (l-r) Honduran pastor Jorge Luis Trejo, FLN Spanish producer Ernesto Pinto, Marina Pinto, Rosario Cruz, driver Jorge Espinoza, Mauricio Cruz, Eastview Community Church pastor Lorne Pearson, Jennifer Pearson, Honduran businessman Martin Cruz, Kathryn Balzer, FLN associate producer David Balzer, Connie Pauls and FLN board member Stan Pauls.
Victor Derksen, Habitat for Humanity project manager, and Betsy Hiebert, communications/publicity manager, stand in front of the house that McIvor Ave. MB Church in Winnipeg built as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. The church raised $60,000 for a house in the Ed Schreyer Work Project Blitz Build, July 7–13. Planning, hard work and the pounding of hammers help create a simple, affordable home for a family of eight. Church and community volunteers held hands, circled the house and sang a blessing for the family and their new home.
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Last modified November 13, 2001.
© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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