Bearing witness
Fr Jacques Nzumbu and CJI Executive Director Jenny Cafiso raise the issue of corporate accountability at a CJI parliamentary press conference in Ottawa, October 31, 2022. Photo: Victor Reyes/CJI
An overview of CJI’s education and advocacy outreach
Canadian Jesuit International’s (CJI) work in Canada draws inspiration and direction from the work of our international Jesuit partners. We connect with faith-based and secular groups in Canada such as Jesuit schools and social apostolates, NGOs, Catholic schools, and parishes. We work in partnership with Catholic Boards of Education in Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton. This work is rooted in the belief that peace and justice will reign only if we work on building just relations locally and globally.
Our annual fall campaign connects our supporters across Canada with our Jesuit partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America through speaking tours, webinars, and visits. Past guest speakers include Fr Nawras Sammour SJ from Jesuit Refugee Service Middle East and North Africa, Fr Lalit Tirkey SJ from the Darjeeling Jesuit Province, and Dr Sunita Narain from the Centre for Science and Environment. COVID-19 forced us to go online in 2020 and 2021. While restrictive, it allowed us to increase our national and international reach.
Y4O (Youth for Others) is a key initiative that includes social justice days, school retreats and the Y40 Advocacy Symposiums. In the fall of 2022, we invited Fr Jacques Nzumbu SJ, a Jesuit from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to talk about the impact of the green energy transition, and the activities of multinational and Canadian mining companies in the DRC. Students were encouraged to sign an online petition or meet with their Member of Parliament to voice their opinions on the issue. In November 2022, Jenny Cafiso, CJI Executive Director, and Fr Jacques held a press conference on Parliament Hill to underscore the gravity of the issue.
In 2021, as part of an international campaign to raise awareness and solidarity for Fr Stan Swamy SJ, an Indian Jesuit priest who was imprisoned on unsubstantiated charges, CJI asked supporters to send him a birthday card through the Indian High Commission in Ottawa.
CJI voiced its support for Fr Ismael “Melo” Moreno Coto SJ, director of ERIC-Radio Progreso, who was the object of countless death threats in 2019 because of his prophetic activism in Honduras. As a member of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA), CJI has campaigned for legislation that will require Canadian companies overseas to exercise due diligence with respect to human and environmental rights.
Together with our international Jesuit partners, we will continue to bear witness and to educate Canadians about the devastating impact that our actions and political and economic policies may have on people from the Global South.
