1998

• Link to article on the Launch of the Jubilee Debt Campaign in Canada (September 1998)

Yesterday's announcement that Canada will unilaterally cancel the $600,000 owed to it by Bangladesh is good news on the eve of the millennium, says the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative. "Canada deserves high marks for taking this action without the rest of the G7 and without imposing punitive economic restructuring measures," says John Mihevc of the Jubilee Initiative.

The Jubilee Initiative is a church-led organization which has been campaigning for the complete and immediate cancellation of the debts of the world's most impoverished countries and the replacement of G7-imposed Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) with sustainable social and economic development policies. Last year it collected the signatures of 1 in every 50 Canadians on a petition in favour of these measures.

"We are glad to see that Canada is finally moving on the Debt Initiative it announced in March," says Mihevc. "The task now is for Canada to fulfill the rest of its promises, and to expand them to other countries which cannot pay these unjust debts."

New Year's at the IMF

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) invites others to join with them in proclaiming 2000 the year of Jubilee in a Public Witness in front of a key temple of economic power, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C. From Dec.26, 1999 through Jan.1 2000, CPT's Jubilee team of 7 will maintain a public presence at the IMF from 7am to 7pm, witnessing to the good news of our Jubilee faith through daily vigils and symbolic actions. Three Canadians are participating: Anita Fast from Vancouver, Lisa Martens from Winnipeg, and William Payne from Toronto.

CPT seeks wide participation from people of faith for a daily, noon hour witness to the burdens of debt weighing down poor nations around the world. The Christian Peacemaker Congress, also in D.C. Dec.27 to 30, will join forces in a major Public Witness on Dec. 29. A procession will leave from Luther Place Memorial Church (site of the Congress) at 11:30 a.m. and walk one mile to the IMF carrying empty bowls signifying the hunger and poverty which result from debt bondage. Songs, prayers, and bowls will be offered to IMF officials.

CPTers will be fasting throughout the week leading up to the Jubilee celebration. Churches are encouraged to observe a day of fasting and prayer from sundown Dec.30 - sundown Dec.31st in preparation for announcing the Jubilee Year on Jan. 1 2000 (see Lev.25: 8-10). At midnight the trumpet will sound, the chains will be broken, and the empty bowls will be filled for a Jubilee Feast that will include people from the street, and guests from wherever they may wish to come. The new Millennium presents a unique opportunity to awaken the Jubilee spirit and release the poorest nations from debt bondage. Those unable to participate in the Jubilee feast in D.C. may wish to organize a similar ceremony locally.

Toronto, November 8. For immediate release.

As the new millennium approaches, Canada must apportion its budgetary surplus justly, says the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (CEJI), a coalition of 32 national churches and church-based organizations. The projected budgetary surplus provides an opportunity for Canada to redistribute its wealth and ensure a new beginning for the 20% of Canadian children who live in poverty and the 1.3 billion people around the world who eke out an existence on less than a dollar a day.

"The growing gap between rich and poor in Canada and around the world does not portend a secure future for anyone," says the Rev. David Pfrimmer, chair of the Canadian Council of Churches' Commission on Justice and Peace (a participating organization in the CEJI process). "The Jubilee Initiative calls on the federal government to make the 2000 budget a 'Jubilee budget' by using our common resources for the common good." Pfrimmer is a member of the CEJI delegation which will make a submission to the House of Commons Finance Committee in Mississauga this afternoon at 4:00.

The Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative's vision of social and economic justice for Canada and the world is rooted in the biblical notion of Jubilee that calls for periodic corrective action to redress economic inequalities which develop over time and undermine community. Every fifty years, Jubilee calls for rest for the land, freedom for those in captivity, cancellation of debts, and redistribution of land and wealth which have accumulated in the hands of the few.

The Jubilee Initiative's budget submission proposes redistributing the budgetary surplus towards the cancellation of debt owed to Canada by countries in the developing world, increases in Official Development Assistance, and elimination of poverty in Canada.

The Christ Church Jubilee Committee of Christ Church Flamborough (Anglican) in Greensville, Ontario has become Canada’s first Jubilee Community!

On September 29, it signed the Jubilee Pledge, committing to local action through the St. Matthew’s House Food Cupboard and increased Social Action education.

Nationally and globally, Christ Church has pledged to take part in 3 of the 8 "Redistribution of Wealth" campaigns lifted up in the Jubilee pledge:

• The Jubilee 2000 Campaign for debt cancellation, rejection of Structural Adjustment, and the creation of just international financial structures and processes;
• The World March of Women 2000, which advocates for specific strategies to eliminate women’s poverty and for policies and programs to end all forms of violence against women;
• The "Let’s Invest In Canada’s Children" Campaign to eliminate child poverty in Canada and to promote children’s well-being.

Christ Church has also pledged to increase its commitment to development work through the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, and to engage in a twinning project with Cuba.

The Jubilee Pledge is a way for us to signal our commitment to building a just and fair world. There are many areas for and different levels of action. It involves a process of reflection, the chance to commit to local and national/global actions, and a call on the Canadian government to live up to its internationally-made promises of economic justice. To learn how you can become a Jubilee Community, read and download the pledge process from the website. Let us know about the progress of your Jubilee community!

Because of these links, and because this first budget of the millennium presents a real opportunity for a new beginning, the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative will be making a submission to the consultation process. We would like to see the "Millennium Budget" written as a "Jubilee Budget," with appropriations for debt cancellation, improvements in the Official Development Assistance spending, adjustments in military spending, and particular budgetary consideration of measures designed to eradicate child poverty, women’s poverty and violence against women.

The submission will take place in November, and we would like Jubilee activists from across the country to follow it up in a variety of ways:

• constituent visits/letter writing to MPs;

• letter writing to the Minister of Finance;

• letters to the editor and Op/Ed pieces in local newspapers

The Jubilee Budget Action Kit will contain all the information you’ll need:

• a "Values for Budget Choices" workshop to help your community focus on the issues

• a copy of the Jubilee submission to the budget consultation

• background notes on the issues

• points for letter writing to MPs, Mr. Martin, and newspaper editors

• a sample Op/Ed piece which you can submit to local papers and newsletters "as is," or with adaptations

• tips for MP visits – how to get them and how to conduct them

The Jubilee Pledge, "We Are A Jubilee People!" is the common action of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative's program of reflection, education and action for 1999-2000. Communities and local churches are being urged to adopt the pledge between October 17, 1999 and March 31, 2001, thus declaring themselves Jubilee Communities.

Best known for its work in the last year on the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt cancellation, CEJI, a collaboration of more than 30 national churches, ecumenical coalitions and church organizations, now invites communities to deepen their commitment to justice at both the local and global level. Using the theme "Redistribution of Wealth," people are asked to envision a world where there is enough for all, and to commit to a local justice action and one or more of a number of national/global actions which seek, in the Jubilee tradition, to redistribute God's generous gifts fairly among all.

Copies of these community pledges will then be sent to the Prime Minister in advance of the Five Year Review meetings in June 2000 of the World Summit on Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). In both these fora, the Canadian government made a number of global commitments towards a fair redistribution of wealth. Canada's Jubilee Communities will hold our government accountable to those promises.

Theologian Ched Myers has said that "in God's economy, there is such a thing as 'too much' and 'too little.'" Jubilee Communities are one step towards righting these extremes.

• Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign (Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice)
• Let's Invest in Canada's Children ­ campaign to end child poverty (Citizens for Public Justice)
• Campaign for the Protection of Migrant Workers (Canada Asia Working Group)
• Global Fair Share ­ campaign to increase the quality and quantity of Canada's foreign aid (Inter Church Action)
• Closing the Gap Between Rich and Poor (Ten Days for Global Justice)
• World March of Women 2000 ­ campaign to end women's poverty and violence against women (Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada)
• Campaign 2000 for the Redirection of Security Spending (Project Ploughshares)
• Campaigns for Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace)

For more information, see the Pledge Section of this Website or contact Dennis Howlett, Chair of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative's Pledge Campaign, at 416-463-5312.

The following comes from Peter Noteboom, who attended a meeting with Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin which took place at the Headquarters of the World Bank on Septmeber 25. Peter works for the Canadian Council of Churches' Commission on Justice and Peace and is a member of CEJI's Steering Committee. For more information on the lead-up to the meeting, see Canadian Church Activists to Meet with Finance Minister Paul Martin.

Zoom in. Washington DC, 1818 H Street, World Bank Headquarters, 12th floor, Office of the Canadian Executive Director, Board Room. Sitting at the table are John Dillon of the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice and Peter Noteboom of the Canadian Council of Churches representing CEJI, and three representatives from our sister organisations, the Halifax Initiative and Results.

We are discussing debt cancellation for the poorest countries in the world. Some of the issues being discussed are: whether or not there should be any conditions put on debt cancellation, what the relationship between good governance and poverty alleviation is, the present performance of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and whether or not children in Zaire or South Africa should be making payments on debt incurred under governments that repressed them.

Minister Martin is congratulating the churches in Jubilee 2000 for raising the problem of debt internationally explaining that, without that campaign, debt would never have got onto the agenda in Köln and at these IMF/World Bank meetings as they are now. He is also issuing an impassioned call to the churches to broaden their focus on poverty and debt to support wealth creation and stimulating economic growth in Africa.

In these face to face discussions we are improving our understanding of one another's convictions and moving forward the project of a debt-free start for the world's poorest people in the next century.

Thought you'd like to know. Your support for debt cancellation through members of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative make this dialogue possible. Thank you.

» See also the statement released by Jubilee 2000 campaigns after the IMF-World Bank meetings.

Dear friends,

Attached I send some pictures that will give you an impression about the demonstration and the concert that were organised on Saturday, 18th of September 1999 in Maputo to fight for a debt cancellation for Mozambique and other HIPC countries.

Around 1000 participants representing different groups from the Mozambican civil society, churches, unions, peasants, NGOs, participated in the event. They marched in two columns to the independence place in the city centre where the final gathering was held. The program included various cultural performances like dancing, singing and theatre play. Some of the plays, that were especially prepared for the event, talked about the suffering of the people and the country. Bishop Mandlate, the main speaker, emphasized in his speech why a debt cancellation is needed and why it is just to cancel the foreign debts. In the afternoon a public concert for debt cancellation was organized.

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The march was organised by the Mozambican Debt Group as part of the Jubilee 2000 activities. One objective was to reiterate the call for a debt cancellation and to influence the decision makers that will participate at the forthcoming annual meeting of World Bank and IMF. The existing debt initiatives (HIPC, Cologne-Initiative) is not considered as sufficient by the members of the Mozambican Debt Group to support economic and social development in the HIPC countries. Debt service will remain high and will continue to exceed in many HIPC countries the public expenses for health and education.

Richard Brand (Christian Council of Mozambique)

According to the 1999 United Nations Human Development Report, the 3 richest people in the world have more wealth than the 600 million people who live in least developed countries.

Economic globalization is driving a deeper wedge between rich and poor countries and rich and poor people within many countries. The gap is growing as poor countries pay more in loan interest to rich countries than they receive from them in aid; as they earn less for the goods they export to us – like coffee and sugar – than they must pay for the goods they import; and as the Southern workers who make many of the brand name products we consume are not paid a living wage. Here in Canada, the gap between rich and poor continues to grow as a result of fewer jobs, lower pay and benefits, and less government involvement in the economy.

Growing and persistent inequalities, such as we see in our country and our world, destroy human community and lead to suffering, conflict and ecological harm. We are called to recognize the injustice of these inequalities and to take action at many levels from local to global, to restore community through redistribution of wealth.

Between 17 October 1999 – International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – and 31 March 2001, your church or group is invited to engage in the Jubilee Pledge, a process where groups declare themselves Jubilee communities and commit to one local and one or more global actions that seek to "close the gap," living out Redistribution of Wealth.

On October 17, engage your church or group in the Jubilee Pledge — a process where groups declare themselves Jubilee communities and commit to one local and one or more global actions that close the gap, living out redistribution of wealth. Copies of the pledge and animation process are available on the CEJI website (here), or though the Anglican, Presbyterian, and United Church bookstores, the CEJI office, and TEN DAYS for Global Justice. (See the Publications page for information on the Year 2 Leadership Guide and ordering information.)

This past August, the Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) formally signalled its support for the work of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative. The Friends’ endorsement reads in part:

"The aims of this initiative, to set people and nations free from the bondage of poverty and debt, to lessen the disparities between rich and poor, and to foster the healing and renewal of our earth by reducing our human assaults on her, clearly converge with Friends’ testimonies, especially our witness to simplicity and equality. It shares with Friends the spiritual dimension of these aims."

Representatives of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (CEJI) will be among a delegation which meets with Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin at the World Bank in Washington, DC on Saturday, September 25. Mr. Martin is attending the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to discuss implementation of the Cologne Debt Initiative on the global debt crisis.

For the past two years, CEJI has led a Canada-wide advocacy campaign urging the Canadian government and its G7 colleagues to cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries and to implement sustainable economic development policies. While CEJI acknowledges a number of progressive positions taken by the Canadian government in its debt relief strategy of March 25, it sees the Cologne Debt Initiative as a failure to address the magnitude of the debt crisis. CEJI awaits implementation of the Canadian policy and is now looking for Martin and Canada to lead the G7 beyond the limits of the Cologne Debt Initiative.

CEJI's representatives in Washington are John Dillon of the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice, John Mihevc of the Inter-Church Coalition on Africa, and Peter Noteboom of the Canadian Council of Churches.

September 23 1999 marks one hundred days before the year 2000 – a symbolic moment in the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt cancellation.

In 1996, indebted countries of the South sent back $187 billion more to Northern creditor countries than they received in aid. This flow of resources from poor to rich countries stems from the foreign debt that burdens the developing world, debt that is in the words of the Latin American Jubilee campaign, "unpayable, illegitimate and immoral:"

• unpayable because over two years of attempts to address the debt crisis have proven it is impossible to pay;

• illegitimate because in some cases it was contracted by dictatorships, in others for failed projects or programmes, rarely to benefit the people now responsible for paying it back;

• immoral because in order to pay it back, governments in poor countries are creating a huge social deficit in terms of people’s health, education and nutrition.

Through Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), countries of the South are being forced to starve their children to pay their debts. Despite the calls of 17 million global citizens who signed the Jubilee 2000 petition, the G7 nations did little at their Summit in Cologne, Germany to address this problem, and so the campaign continues.

On September 23, raise your voice in the growing chorus demanding justice. Now is the time for renewed action by the 635,000 Canadians who signed the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative’s petition. Demand that the lending nations and international finance institutions seize the moment to end this global crisis. You can do this by:

• Signing and mailing CEJI’s postcard to Finance Minister Paul Martin before he goes to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings at the end of September. The postcard is available here.

• Hosting or participating in a public event on September 23 to raise public awareness and build pressure for action – it can be as simple as a prayer vigil!

Father Albert Suatengco of the Philippine-Asia Jubilee Campaign Against Debt (PAJCAD) visited Toronto in late July, after being in Cologne at the G7 meetings. He was hosted by the Canada Asia Working Group, one of the national ecumenical coalitions participating in CEJI. PAJCAD’s work has been assisted with a grant from Inter-Church Action’s Southern Partners Jubilee Fund.

PAJCAD is one of a number of Jubilee projects in the Philippines. It brings together a wide variety of groups and individuals representing the church, youth, universities, students, teachers and peasants. For a complete report on the event, go to "If we want to change this global system, we need to do this together."

Canadian Government's Proposal on Debt Relief

On March 25, 1999, the government of Canada announced its strategy for debt relief in a speech given by the Prime Minister in Winnipeg. After analyzing the policy documents released by the Finance Minister and the Minister for International Cooperation, the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative prepared a press release (go here) and a detailed analysis (go here) of the proposal which contains both some positive steps forward and some notable limitations. Our  analysis explicates the Canadian proposals and highlight the initial reaction of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (CEJI) to these proposals. We would be interested in receiving feedback from our Jubilee partners around the globe, including reactions from your governments. Feedback can be provided to the Canadian Jubilee Office at .

For more details see:

• The PM's speech to the Canadian Club in Winnipeg

• The policy paper and press statement from the Finance Minister's Office

• The press release of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative issued March 26, 1999

• A detailed analysis of the Canadian Government's Proposal prepared by the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative

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Letter to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien by Church Leaders

Eight prominent Canadian church leaders made public a strongly-worded joint letter sent to Prime Minister Chrétien calling for "integrity" and 'bold leadership" in ensuring the 1999 federal budget responds to the basic needs of the world's poor.

In the upcoming budget, "we are calling for outright cancellation of the outstanding bilateral debt owed to Canada by the 50 poorest, most indebted countries," states the letter signed by the Most Rev. Barry Curtis, President of the Canadian Council of Churches; Most Rev. Michael Peers, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada; Most Rev. Francois Thibodeau, Chairman of the Commission for Social Affairs of the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops; Right Rev. Bill Phipps, Moderator of the United Church of Canada; Rev. Dr. William Klempa, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada; Ray Elgersma, Director of the Canadian Ministries Board of the Christian Reformed Church in North America; Helmut Harder, General Secretary of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada; and Rev. Telmor Sartison, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

The church leaders signed the letter on behalf of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative, a coalition of more than 30 Canadian national churches, ecumenical coalitions and church organizations whose members are participating in a fast-growing global movement working to bring about cancellation of the debt of the world's most impoverished countries by the year 2000. Among others, this goal has been endorsed by Pope John Paul II, the Bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion who gathered in Lambeth, England last summer and by the eighth assembly of the World Council of Churches in Harare last December.

» Complete Press Release    

» Letter to PM Chrétien

The Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative has released three new fact sheets, available free of charge from the CEJI office. (Also available on-line here, see hyperlinks.)

#8 The Tegucigalpa Declaration of the Latin American and Caribbean Jubilee Coalition

#9 The Gauteng Declaration of the Southern Africa Jubilee Debt Summit

#10 The "Freedom From Debt For All" Declaration of the Philippine 2000 Debt Campaign

• The Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice (ECEJ) has released its latest Economic Justice Report, entitled "Jubilee Movement Shifts the Ground Under G-7 Debt Plans" (16 pp). It is available for $5.00 from ECEJ, 416-462-1613.

• Finally, CEJI will be producing a "think and do" poster and, with Ten Days for Global Justice, a new leadership guide, both on the theme of Redistribution of Wealth. Available in late summer!

Two significant dates are on the horizon. September 22 is the International Day for the Eradication of Debt, while September 23 marks 100 Days to the Year 2000.

CEJI will be calling for action around this time, and asks local groups to keep their schedules clear and ears open, and to start thinking of action ideas. More information to follow.

The international Jubilee 2000 campaign calling for the cancellation of the unpayable debts of the world's poorest 50 countries has gained incredible momentum and broad public support. Jubilee 2000 Campaigns are now active in 39 countries including many countries in the South.

In Canada, activities ranging from a 24 hour vigil in Edmonton at the beginning of March to speaking tours by Third World Jubilee partners, workshops, and church services on the theme of Jubilee have generated media attention and heightened public awareness on the crippling scourge of debt of Third World countries.

In the UK, Jubilee 2000 and calls for debt cancellation were the focus of the Brit Awards, the major British music industry awards. David Bowie and Bono from the music group U2 called on musicians to put "drop the debt" on all CD covers. There are even rumors of another "Live Aid" type rock concert being organized on the eve of the G7 Summit in Cologne, Germany in June.

A common feature of all the Jubilee 2000 campaigns in different countries is collecting signatures on a petition which is hoped will be the largest petition in world history. It will be presented to leaders of the G7 countries when they meet in June.

The Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative, which is spearheading the Canadian debt cancellation campaign, reports that they have collected over 330,000 signatures to date and hope to surpass their target of 400,000 by the end of April. (NOTE: If you have any signed petitions still in hand, please send them in immediately.)

But even before these petitions are delivered to world leaders, the public pressure is already being felt and leaders are responding. On March 25, Prime Minister Chretien announced Canada's strategy for debt relief. The Canadian government called for 100 % cancellation of bilateral debt for a limited set of about 30 countries and indicated it was prepared to proceed unilaterally if other creditor countries do not agree. Canada also called for changes to the Highly Indebted Poor Country initiative that would shorten the qualification period, allow a few more countries to qualify and increase the amount of debt forgiveness provided. (For a full analysis of the Canadian proposal by CEJI, go here.)

The Chancellor of Germany, who is hosting the next G-7 leaders in Cologne, has called for a "Cologne Debt Initiative" and proposed that debt cancellation be a key agenda item for the meeting in June 1999. The British, French and Italian governments have also supported action on debt. And recently President Clinton made a key speech where he endorsed the call for action on debt. A significant feature of his speech was his call for debt cancellation for 50 countries (the number the Jubilee campaign has identified as needing immediate debt cancellation), rather than the 41 that are currently eligible to be considered under the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative.

The question is now not whether there will be some kind of debt cancellation initiative but how far it will go. The key issues now are whether there will be 100% cancellation of both bilateral and multilateral debt of the 50 countries Jubilee campaigns have called for, and whether debt cancellation will be conditional on imposition of structural adjustment programs.

The Jubilee campaign has called for 100% cancellation in order to provide a new beginning in the spirit of Jubilee for countries burdened by debt. Some creditor governments seem to want to retain some control over debtor governments and their economic policies, and therefore want to keep them in debt, even if at a much lower level. That is why several world leaders including US President Clinton and German Chancellor Schroeder are talking about 90% cancellation so they will still have some strings they can pull on debtor countries.

The current debt relief program called the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative requires that a country submit itself to 6 years of structural adjustment programs, usually involving cutbacks in government spending on health and education and promotion of exports (often at the expense of food production) in order to be considered for debt reduction. Structural adjustment programs which put the burden on the poor are one of the most important issues as far as Southern Jubilee partners are concerned. It is an issue that also affects more than just the 50 poorest countries that have been the focus of the Jubilee campaign for debt cancellation.

As the Latin American and Caribbean Jubilee 2000 platform agreed upon at a meeting in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, last January, says: "The debt is also used as justification to maintain neo-liberal policies, including Structural Adjustment Programmes, as institutional mechanisms to perpetuate dependence. Bailout programs by creditors, with the support of the IMF and the World Bank, including the HIPC initiative, have only served to ensure continuity for mechanisms to keep countries in debt."

The challenge for the Jubilee debt campaign now is to keep the momentum going and translate it into really meaningful policy changes at the political level and not be content with token measures that don't really ensure a new beginning for the world's poor. There is a real opportunity now to try and force a change in direction away from neo-liberal economic policies that have led to a growing gap between rich and poor and begin moving towards closing the gap.