Development and Peace — Caritas Canada launched its new national campaign, Recovering together, with a webinar on Saturday, September 12. This national campaign is focussed on global solidarity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic has put our human family in crisis. Severe malnutrition and extreme poverty are increasing around the world as people get sick, jobs are lost and markets are closed. Vulnerable people including refugees, women and Indigenous peoples face the worst impacts of the pandemic., which began while we are facing another global threat—the global climate crisis.
Together, we have to tackle these global challenges of the pandemic, climate change and extreme inequality that have come to define our era. How we respond right now will determine the future of life on our planet. This critical moment is our opportunity to create the greener and more just world that we have always dreamed of.
Our greatly reduced travel has temporarily reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Government programs such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit have shown how a universal basic income could reduce poverty. These changes prompted by the pandemic have demonstrated that another world is possible. At the same time, the pandemic has exposed the extreme inequalities of our current economy. In his Urbi et Orbi message this Easter, Pope Francis called on us to put people and the environment first in the response to the pandemic, encouraging “political leaders to work actively for the common good, to provide the means and resources needed to enable everyone to lead a dignified life.” In his Easter letter to popular movements, the Holy Father reminded us that “now more than ever, persons, communities and peoples must be put at the center, united to heal, to care and to share.”
Our 2020-2021 campaign, Recovering together, is a response to Pope Francis’s call. It is part of a global movement for a green and just recovery.
Here in Canada, climate, development and social justice organizations, including Development and Peace, have come together to define Six Principles for a Just Recovery to guide the response to the complex crises we face. Canadian churches and faith-based organizations, including Kairos, have also come together for an ecumenical initiative called For the Love of Creation, and have launched a parliamentary e-petition calling for climate action, Indigenous rights, and global solidarity.
If you missed the webinar, you can watch it here:
Join our Recovering together campaign to support a green and just recovery that will build the resilience of communities and address the global climate crisis. Watch the campaign launch webinar and visit the campaign microsite to learn how can help raise awareness and funds and to download campaign resources, including the Campaign Guide.
