April 2007 e-newsletter
Inter Pares' E-Newsletter
Nurturing life, Promoting Vitality
In this e-newsletter:
- Letter of Introduction
- From our annual report:
- Nurturing Life, Promoting Vitality
- Nurturing a Politics of Life: How we do what we do
- Uniting for Action
- Learning and Knowledge in Action
- Organizing for Social Change
- Educating for Social Justice
- Mobilizing Resources
- What is Inter Pares?
- Inter Pares' Supporters
- Staff, Board and Supporters
- Inter Pares' Audited Financial Statements
- Publications:
- The Canadian Muslim Network Tribute to Civil Liberties in Canada
- Deadly Investments
- Video: Human Rights Situation of Indigenous People in Colombia
Links
Abonnez-vous à la version française
Inter Pares Web site
PDF version of this Annual Report
This Annual Report on the Web
Send an e-card
Dear friends,
I am pleased to attach the Inter Pares 2006 Annual Report, including our financial statements, and to provide you with a glimpse of some of the programs you are supporting. This report, entitled Nurturing life, promoting vitality, shares some of our achievements in the last year; I hope you enjoy it, and are as inspired as I am by the courage of ordinary people who are working for a better world for all of us.
I would also like to encourage you to join us in urging the Canadian government to permanently ban Terminator seeds, seeds that are genetically modified to be sterile after first harvest, from ever being planted, field-tested or commercialized in Canada. Through signing and mailing a postcard or writing a letter, you will join thousands of concerned Canadians in demanding our government support forms of agriculture that nourish life and rural self-sufficiency. Please click here to learn more about how you can help.
The Ban Terminator campaign is part of Inter Pares' broader work of promoting food sovereignty by encouraging sustainable agricultural practices, and promoting the management of land and natural resources to benefit surrounding communities. As part of this campaign, in March 2006, we organized a public forum where Terminator technology was put on trial. Speaking in favour of life-affirming agricultural practices, alongside renowned scientist Vandana Shiva and activist-farmer Percy Schmeiser, was Canadian activist and farmer Colleen Ross, Women's President of the National Farmers Union.
On that evening, Colleen spoke passionately about the importance of our agricultural heritage and rural self-sustainability, both in Canada and abroad.
I've been to India, I've seen the amazing biodiversity they have there. ... I've seen the women, and the farmers and the crops that they grow, and how they grow everything to meet their own needs. They don't need this technology; they have no use for this technology at all. It will ruin their lives. It will cause starvation and poverty.Close to a thousand people voted "no" to Terminator that night. In doing so, they joined over a hundred thousand Canadians who have opposed this technology, including Canadian farmers who use conventional genetically modified (GM) seeds. And they joined a global movement to promote sustainable agriculture and biodiversity, a movement that includes hundreds of thousands of scientists and farmers who have petitioned the international community, as well as Brazilian and Indian legislators who had already banned Terminator technology in their countries.
Inter Pares' advocacy work on biodiversity is the outcome of decades of supporting small-scale farmers around the world. Over the years, they have told us that they are not interested in purely technological "solutions" imposed to address their agricultural challenges, nor in the Canadian government's promotion of GM agriculture in the South - they want public policy that supports farmers' traditional practices and their ability to innovate in ways that they choose for themselves. Inter Pares' role, here and in so many other advocacy spaces, has been to bring the voices and experiences of people directly affected by Canadian government policy to decision-makers and to the public.
Your support allows Inter Pares to engage in such vital, yet at times slow-moving and sensitive work. Through joining with thousands of other Canadians, you are making long-term commitments to communities that outlast the changing tides of short-term government priorities.
In a world where suffering, environmental destruction, and injustice are widespread, it is all the more important to seek out inspiration and hope. More than financial sustenance, your commitment is a real message of moral support and solidarity to people nurturing life and dignity for all.
Thank you for your enduring trust and solidarity.
Sincerely,
Molly Kane
Executive Director
Nurturing Life, Promoting Vitality
The future is not something you predict and wait for. It is something you invent daily through your actions. - Rebecca Solnit
As we look back at 2006, it is difficult not to feel despair with the deepening militarism and violence that haunt the planet. The world seems caught in a politics of death from which there is no respite.
Click here to read the rest of this article
Nurturing a Politics of Life : How we do what we do
Inter Pares collaborates with people in Canada and in over twenty countries to promote peace, democracy and sustainable livelihoods. We do this through the depth and intimacy of our relationships with our colleagues, people of integrity and courage who have built organizations, movements and networks based on social justice values that we share. With them, we discuss, analyze and plan our work together. And with them, we nurture new organizations, build coalitions, create knowledge, educate for change and generate the resources necessary for action. Here are a few examples of how Inter Pares celebrates and nourishes a politics of life, inventing the future daily through our actions with colleagues around the world.
Uniting for Action
When people come together on the basis of shared values and a united commitment to work for change, the impact is almost always more far-reaching, creative and effective than what we can do alone. For these reasons, a key strategy of Inter Pares and our counterparts is to help build and sustain coalitions, both internationally and in Canada.
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Learning and Knowledge in Action
The struggle to eradicate entrenched inequalities and injustice in Canada and around the world requires constant innovation and fresh ideas. Inter Pares creates opportunities for people to come together to think "outside the box," develop new ideas and strategies, and form relationships of common cause.
Click here to read the rest of this article
Organizing for Social Change
Over the course of 31 years, Inter Pares has helped establish and accompany scores of organizations that have become leading voices for social justice around the world. Inter Pares provides seed funding to develop new organizations. And Inter Pares staff participate as advisors, steering committee or Board members in the stewardship of organizations and in the day-to-day accompaniment of groups and individuals who dare to dream of a better world.
Click here to read the rest of this article
Educating for Social Justice
Education nurtures and promotes public understanding of social justice dilemmas, and encourages personal and collective action for change. Education is at the heart of vibrant social movements. In 2006, Inter Pares and our counterparts organized public fora, researched and wrote articles and opinion pieces, and participated in parliamentary hearings, contributing our analysis to debates on social justice and policy change.
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Mobilizing Resources
Generating resources to support social justice action is an integral part of Inter Pares' work. We have learned through experience that modest amounts of money, used strategically and wisely, can help people to strengthen their own organizations and nurture creative initiatives for change. We describe some of those organizations and their courageous work in this report and in our Bulletin throughout the year.
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What is Inter Pares?
Inter Pares is a Canadian social justice organization working in Canada and around the world to create understanding about the causes and effects of poverty and injustice, and to support actions that lead to positive social and economic change.
Click here to read the rest of this article
Inter Pares' Supporters
Inter Pares' social justice work is an expression of values shared by most Canadians - of one standard of dignity and equality for all, of international cooperation and solidarity. For over thirty years, thousands of Canadians have expressed these values through financial contributions to Inter Pares. Without this support, our work would not be possible.
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Staff in 2006
Board
Supporters
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Inter Pares' Audited Financial Statements
Click here to read Inter Pares' audited financial statements
Publications
"The Canadian Muslim Network Tribute to Civil Liberties in Canada," by Dr. Tyseer Aboulnasr, February 2007 (pdf)
Dr. Tyseer Aboulnasr, Member of the Order of Ontario, spoke at a dinner paying tribute to civil liberties in Canada. Canadian Muslim organizations from across Canada, along with civil liberties advocates and more than 60 MPs and Senators, attended the dinner held to honour Monia Mazigh and Maher Arar. Proceeds from the dinner were donated to establish the Arar-Mazigh Human Rights Scholarship at the University of Ottawa. With clarity and passion, Dr. Aboulnasr describes the threat to civil liberties in Canada, while paying tribute to Canadians from all faiths that refused to accept injustice as the price for security. For the complete speech, please click here.
"Deadly investments,"op-ed by Peter Gillespie published on April 5, 2007, in the Toronto Star
Cluster munitions are abhorrent instruments of war, responsible for killing and maiming thousands of civilians. Peter Gillespie reveals that Canadian banks and pension funds finance companies who manufacture cluster bombs, despite the Canadian government's agreement to ban their use and production. Please click here to read the full article.
Video: Human Rights Situation of Indigenous People in Colombia
This 45-minute video presents excerpts from the field visit of international delegates during the International Verification Mission organized by the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) in September 2006. Please click here for more information.
Subscribing / Cancelling / Back issues
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Abonnez-vous à la version française
Inter Pares Web site
PDF version of this Annual Report
This Annual Report on the Web
Send an e-card
Inter Pares
221 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6P1
Phone (1-613) 563-4801 or (1-866) 563-4801 (toll free) Fax (1-613) 594-4704
With the support of thousands of Canadians, Inter Pares works in Canada and around the world with social change organizations who share the analysis that poverty and injustice are caused by inequities within and among nations, and who are working to promote peace, and social and economic justice in their communities and societies. Charitable registration number (BN) 11897 1100 RR000 1.
Please re-distribute this e-newsletter to anyone you think would enjoy it, in its complete and original form only. Copyright 2007 Inter Pares. All rights reserved.
Financial support for the E-Newsletter is provided by the Canadian International Development Agency.
| Reviewed April 30, 2007 |  |
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