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Faith and public life: Back to basics

Trucks gather for protests in Ottawa. (Image by Ana Krach/Pixabay)

As protests continue in our nation’s capital, there are many things I would like to see less of (intimidation and hate symbols, for instance), but there are also a few things I would like to see more of.

One thing I would like to see more of is the use of that very Canadian phrase, “peace, order and good government.” The phrase comes from the Constitution Act of 1867, and it’s long been held as one of the articulations of Canadian political values that distinguishes this country from others.

Winnipeggers take to the street in support of Nakba survivors

Around a hundred people gathered at a busy intersection in Winnipeg on May 15, 2018, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nakba. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)

Protesters held signs with the names of villages that were destroyed when the State of Israel was created. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)

Around a hundred people gathered at a busy intersection in Winnipeg on May 15, 2018, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic. The Nakba refers to the dispossession of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands that followed the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Questions of conscience

Last month, a Canadian Mennonite was arrested—for following his conscience. In the tradition of our 16th-century Anabaptist ancestors, civil disobedience was an expected path. But nowadays, we don’t see things so clearly.

Mennonites join in Kinder Morgan pipeline protest

Steve Heinrichs, Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous-Settler Relations coordinator, is pictured while being arrested on criminal and civil charges for contempt of the order and injunction by the B.C. Supreme Court during a protest of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline by religious leaders in Burnaby, B.C., on April 20, 2018. (Photo by Jennifer Osborne)

Three Mennonites were among the faith leaders who blockaded the entrance to Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C. for several hours on April 20, protesting the planned expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline system.

Canadians join Women’s March on Washington

Canadian Mennonites Marlys Neufeldt, third from right, and her daughters Siena Armstrong, second from right, and Thea Armstrong, right, take part in the Washington Women’s March on Jan. 21, along with Mennonite marchers from the U.S. (Photo by Doreen Martens)

Pictured from left to right wearing their symbolic pink ‘pussyhats’: Siena Armstrong, Thea Armstrong, their mother Marlys Neufeldt, and Doreen Martens pause for a selfie during the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2017. A friend made their hats and gave them extra ones, which they shared with people in Washington. (Photo by Doreen Martens)

Siena Armstrong holds up a sign she and her sister Thea made for the Women’s March on Washington. It quotes the lyrics from a Janelle Monáe song: ‘Electric ladies: Will you sleep or will u preach?’ Monáe performed at the march with shout-outs to black women and the mothers of black women who have been previously shot by police. (Photo by Doreen Martens)

Doreen Martens took part in the Women’s March in Washington, along with other friends from Canada. (Photo courtesy of Doreen Martens)

With the U.S. Capitol building in the background, Washington marchers rest at the end of a full day. Estimations are that more than a half-million people participated in the Women’s March on Washington. D.C., on Jan. 21. (Photo by
Doreen Martens)

Canadian Mennonite women were among millions who peacefully made their voices heard for justice, equality and a host of social causes at the Women’s Marches that took place across Canada and every continent on January 21, 2017, the day following the Donald Trump inauguration.

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