By Dean Dettloff, Research and Advocacy Officer
In the picturesque resort town of Kananaskis, Alberta, immediately preceded by Israel’s attack on Iran and Iran’s retaliation, world leaders invited by the Government of Canada met at the G7 Summit to discuss what they saw as the most significant issues of our time. Yet, secluded in the Canadian Rockies, the summit met far away from civil society, causing many to wonder whether leaders could hear the voices of the people to whom they are accountable.
Whether or not they could, we made sure to give them every opportunity. In the days leading up to the G7, a creative and global community gathered in nearby Calgary for the G7 Jubilee People’s Forum, a time to meet, share strategies, educate one another, work creatively, and discuss what we saw as the most significant issues of our time. Organized by KAIROS, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada (DPCC), the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology (ORCIE), the Canadian Council of Churches, and Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), the forum hosted participants from Kenya and Palestine to Washington and Whitehorse.
G7 Jubilee People’s Forum: interfaith and interconnected
Our forum began with an interfaith service, organized by the Calgary Interfaith Council, where representatives from First Nations, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Bahá’í, Buddhist, and Christian communities all spoke about how their tradition relates to the themes of Jubilee. In a time of so much division, it served as a miraculous proof that a desire for true justice and liberation unites us through, rather than in spite of, our differences.
Among the speakers was Cardinal Pedro Barreto from Peru, a solidarity visitor of DPCC. At one point, a rabbi blew the ram’s horn, or “jobel,” in Hebrew, from which we get the term “Jubilee.” The evening ended with a langar meal generously and beautifully offered by the Sikh community in Calgary, ensuring everyone left with a full belly along with a full heart.
Cardinal Barreto spoke again in the morning, remarking on the wildfire smoke that had enveloped Calgary as we began to meet, bringing a message to G7 leaders and those gathered at the forum to end ecological destruction, especially in the Amazon. KAIROS partners Tarek Al-Zoughbi of Wi’am: The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Centre in the West Bank and Salome Owuonda of the Africa Centre for Sustainable and Inclusive Development in Kenya also spoke about the impacts of economic and ecological debt on their own countries and across the Global South.
Throughout the forum, participants attended workshops on a variety of topics, including Indigenous spirituality, organizing and advocacy, and how to envision a better future. There was a palpable sense that the diverse problems of our world are truly interconnected.
As DPCC vice-president Tashia Toupin put it, the topic of debt “can seem overwhelming and complicated, with many moving pieces, political, economic, cultural, and ideological. One of the purposes of this gathering was to help people understand and be able to talk about how so many countries, particularly in the Global South, have ended up in a seemingly hopeless situation. Yet our presenters also showed the theme of our campaign, to Turn Debt into Hope.”
Among the highlights of the forum was a unique pilgrimage to the medicine wheel on Stoney Nakoda territory, where elders welcomed us and shared their wisdom. A significant theme was that the Creator is always with us, no matter what is happening in the world, a theme that sustained us as we continued to process the complex structural causes of injustice.
Brenda Arakaza, a DPCC national council member and past president, reflected that “at the People’s Forum, I felt a deep clarity: this is a moment of convergence. In a circle with Indigenous leaders, Global South partners, interfaith allies, and youth, I witnessed the sacred power of collective purpose. The Stoney Nakoda ceremony reminded me that truth requires courage, and healing begins with humble listening.”
Our forum concluded with a commissioning that sent participants out into eight churches of various denominations in Calgary with petitions in hand. After gathering fresh signatures, we met up again downtown, where we joined a peaceful rally including many other groups raising grievances, hopes, and messages for the G7.
The Jubilee campaign’s contributions to the rally included a rousing speech from CPJ’s Maryo Wahba about economic and ecological debt, the performance of a skit illustrating the debt crisis, and smashing piggy bank pinatas created by a team of young people during the forum, symbolizing liberation from the dominance of debt. Carrying many cardboard flames with our hopes written on them like a huge relay of light, we marched through the streets to show the G7 that the people are ready for action.
The G7 dodges the debt
Energized by the forum, I made my own way up the mountains to Banff, where the C7, a G7 engagement group representing civil society, was present among media observing the G7 meetings. The scene was strikingly different. While the Jubilee banner was being taken through the streets down in Calgary, up in Banff civil society was largely relegated to the sidelines, ignored by media and politicians for whom the spectacle of G7 intrigue and gossip overshadowed the many concerns raised by movements and organizations around the world.
The final statements of the G7 Summit treat many issues, and forum participants looked for news related to the themes we discussed together.
A short paragraph on debt appears in the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan. On the positive side, the statement acknowledges “the challenges faced by developing countries with mounting debt levels, including to finance infrastructure,” and the leaders committed to supporting those countries. Yet there were no details on how the G7 intends to do this, except for improving the G20 Common Framework, a process established in 2020 to restructure debt that has not yielded any meaningful results over the last five years. The objectives of the Jubilee campaign’s petition, endorsed by both the C7 and the Labour 7, to cancel unjust debt, change the financial architecture to prioritize people and the planet, and establish a mechanism for debt resolution at the United Nations were all absent from the statement. Absent, too, was language reflecting the on debt drafted by the C7.
Issues related to climate appear in the statements, though without a recognition of what Pope Francis and many others have referred to as the “ecological debt” owed by the Global North to the Global South. There is welcome language in the Critical Minerals Action Plan statement noting that obtaining critical minerals raises real concerns around labor practices, corruption, consultation, and the pollution and degradation of land. This language feels hollow, however, as many G7 countries, including Canada, continue to resist passing corporate due diligence legislation that would compel companies to respect human rights and the environment. If the G7 is serious about corporate responsibility, participating countries will show it by inscribing it into law. Canada can start by passing legislation modeled already by the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability.
Beyond debt, the G7 also missed the mark on other items that featured prominently in the Jubilee People’s Forum, especially related to peace in the Middle East. In a statement on escalation between Israel and Iran, there is no mention of Israel’s responsibility for provoking the conflict by first bombing Iran, following months of aggression toward other nearby actors like Lebanon, nor Israel’s culpability for the ongoing atrocities and human rights crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. These omissions repeat in Canada’s summary of the meeting, raising concerns about the G7 leaders’ commitment to international law, human rights, and sincere, lasting peace and justice. Missing, too, was a commitment to international aid and development assistance, while there was clear cooperation on increasing military funding, a sign that global leaders are investing in war at the expense of peace.
You must be here next to me
It would be reasonable to look at the results of the G7, a meeting of world leaders fractured among themselves working far away from the people, and feel disappointed and cynical. The Jubilee Year, however, calls us to be pilgrims of hope, and our faith-filled People’s Forum created that hope.
In our commissioning service before participants went out to churches, an elder told us he began his prayers by saying to the Creator, “You must be here next to me.” An observation rather than an invitation, this single sentence provided a potent reminder that the Creator is indeed next to us all the time.
Looking at political statements, economic charts, climate emissions data, policy proposals, and the flurry of media reports, it can be easy to forget that reality. We have built a world that is so complex and contradictory and so full of injustice that seeing the Creator can feel impossible, even gullible or foolish. Yet as the sage smoke wafted on the Alberta wind over a community of hopeful people from all around the world, the elder’s reminder felt as real as the paper mâché on a piggy bank pinata, the borrowed bed in a dormitory, or the chickpeas on a langar tray.
As we continue on our pilgrimage in this Jubilee Year, no matter the victories or disappointments, let’s keep telling ourselves that simple and profound reminder:
“You must be here next to me.”
And let’s build a world without unjust debt, climate destruction, armament, and colonization, a world where such an observation comes more naturally. Let’s Turn Debt into Hope.
Read and watch more about the Jubilee People’s Forum and the G7 in the media:
- June 24, 2025 – The Catholic Register: Migration, mining buried in G7 headlines
- June 17, 2025 – The Catholic Register: G7 must hear that migrants aren’t the enemy, advocates say
- June 16, 2025 – The Catholic Register: March to protest G7 leaders draws hundreds to downtown Calgary
- June 16, 2025 – The Catholic Register: Debt 101: youth get crash lesson at G7 People’s Forum
- June 14, 2025 – Yukon News: Whitehorse churchgoers in Calgary call on G7 leaders for debt cancellation
- June 13, 2025 – Le téléjournal Alberta: Interview with DPCC Interim Executive Director Luke Stocking (10:30) French only
- June 13, 2025 – The Catholic Register: Debt payments ‘nation-crushing,’ KAIROS forum told
- June 13, 2025 – The Catholic Register: Faiths unite to launch pre-G7 summit in Calgary
- June 13, 2025 – Présence: Tenue d’activités œcuméniques avant le Sommet du G7 (French only)
- June 10, 2025 – CTV News: Cardinal who worked closely with Pope Leo XIV travels to Canada to support G7 demonstrators
- June 10, 2025 – The Catholic Register: Peru Cardinal hopes to inspire change within G7
- June 9, 2025 – CHHA Radio: Foro Popular del Jubileo del G7 con el Cardenal Ricardo Barreto (Spanish only)
- May 29, 2025 – The Catholic Register: Faith groups seek a ‘Jubilee world’ from G7
- April 9, 2025 – Livewire Calgary: Interfaith community offers alternative conversation on economy during G7