Page 8 - Presbyterian Connection Fall 2025

8 FALL 2025
ConnectionP R E S B Y T E R I A N
presbyterian.ca
Hope, Justice
and Action
KAIROS at the
G7 People’s Forum
By the Rev. Laurie McKay,
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
in Calgary, Alta.
In June, KAIROS Canada proudly
joined civil society partners, faith
communities and global justice
advocates at the G7 People’s Fo-
rum in Calgary, Alta. This power-
ful gathering—hosted on Treaty
7 territory—brought together
voices from across Canada and
around the world in a unified call
for economic justice, climate ac-
tion and Indigenous rights.
Held in the lead-up to the G7
Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis,
the Forum featured faith and In-
digenous dignitaries, global part-
ners, community-building, learn-
ing, prayer and public action in
support of global and ecological
debt justice. As part of the local
arrangements committee of the
People’s Forum, I happily brought
greetings from the Rev. Jeffrey
Murray, Moderator of the 2025
General Assembly. The Presbyte-
rian Church in Canada is a mem-
ber of KAIROS and contributed a
grant to sponsor this important
conference.
Highlights from the event in-
cluded: a pre-conference youth
forum, an opening interfaith wor-
ship led by the Calgary Interfaith
Council and interactive work-
shops. Guest speakers included:
Cardinal Pedro Barreto from Peru,
President of the Ecclesial Confer-
ence of the Amazon, who pre-
sented on ecological and human
rights in the Amazon; Salome
Owuonda from Kenya, Executive
Director at the Africa Centre for
Sustainable and Inclusive Devel-
opment; and Tarek Al-Zoughbi
from Palestine, Project and Youth
Coordinator at Wi'am: The Pal-
estinian Conflict Transformation
Center, based in the West Bank.
The event also educated us
on the Stoney Nakoda Medicine
Wheel in a talk from the Rev. Tony
Snow, a member of the Stoney
Nakoda First Nation and a minis-
ter in the United Church of Cana-
da. Participants were also able to
join in a G7 march for economic
justice in downtown Calgary with
Participants of the G7 People’s Forum rallied together in Calgary to support Jubilee 2025 and demand urgent debt
cancellation and global financial reform. The conference was held at Ambrose University and supported by the PCC.
hundreds of other protestors. This
was the first march I had ever par-
ticipated in! Together, we stepped
out with courage and faith that
God will use our small, informed
actions to change the world.
At the heart of KAIROS’ pres-
ence was the “Jubilee 2025: Turn
Debt into Hope” campaign. With
banners raised and voices united,
participants declared their sup-
port for debt cancellation and
systemic reform, urging G7 na-
tions to heed the moral and eco-
nomic call for justice. The forum
served as both a strategic mo-
ment and a moral witness, ampli-
fying the urgent need to address
the global debt crisis. This isn’t
just an economic crisis—it’s a
moral one. Debt cancellation is
rooted in the Biblical concept of
Jubilee—a time of liberation, land
restoration and justice for the
oppressed. KAIROS affirms that
today’s debt systems, shaped
by colonial extraction and global
inequality, must be transformed.
In many countries, debt repay-
ments far outweigh spending on
health, education or addressing
the impacts of the climate crisis,
standing in the way of sustain-
able development. For heavily in-
debted countries, public debt has
grown so large that repayment is
impossible, burdening future gen-
erations.
Meanwhile, wealthy countries,
including Canada, and corpo-
rations exploit resources from
heavily indebted countries and
from Indigenous communities,
causing human rights violations
and severe ecological harm.
This creates an “ecological debt”
owed to those countries and to
Indigenous peoples.
This can change. Public, pri-
vate and multilateral creditors
must cancel or reduce debts,
and political leaders must sup-
port a multilateral framework for
debt resolution. This would be a
transformative shift for billions of
people, moving us from a model
focused on profit and enriching
creditors to one that prioritizes a
just society, centring people and
the planet.
With over 40,690 global sup-
porters already signed on, our
Elder Ruth from Stoney Nakoda
Nation and Gloria Snow leading
opening prayers at KAIROS G7 Peo-
ples Forum.
goal is to gather 200,000 sig-
natures worldwide by the end of
2025. Join us! Add your name to
the Jubilee 2025 petition today
and help us turn debt into hope.
Visit kairoscanada.org/jubilee-
2025-canada to sign and share.
Worship resources, slide pres-
entations and preaching aids are
also available in the Animator’s
Toolkit. Together, we can build a
future of justice, dignity and sus-
tainability for all.
The G7 People’s Forum march for economic justice in downtown Calgary.
A visit to Stoney Nakoda First Nation with the Rev. Tony Snow.
Making the Dream a Reality
for Families with Autism
Photos from the Exceptional Family
Ministry at Amberlea Presbyterian
Church.
By Shelly Wedge, Exceptional
Family Ministries Coordinator,
Amberlea Presbyterian Church in
Pickering, Ont.
Over 15 years ago, our family
was looking for a place to wor-
ship, but unfortunately there were
no programs that would support
our children on the autism spec-
trum, specifically our son, who
struggles with many more chal-
lenges. Our family wanted to
worship God within a faith-based
community, but it was extremely
difficult with the barriers that our
children faced. For us, we were
concerned about how our son
might respond to others, and
how they might respond to him.
We would always drive two cars
to church, so that if one of us had
to leave, the other one could stay
and worship. In the beginning,
one of us would go downstairs
for KidZone (children’s worship)
with our son to keep him on track
and to support him in his learn-
ing. Eventually, we hired one of
our son’s therapists to come on
Sunday mornings so that both of
us would be able to worship.
According to the Autism Alli-
ance of Canada, there are current-
ly 1 in 37 children diagnosed with
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