The Christmas season is rich with song and symbol. Today being the 9th day of Christmas as we count along to the feast of the Epiphany, a dancing image emerges in 9 ladies dancing. (8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle-doves and a partridge in a pear tree!!!)
It is the dancing image that attracted me today, because there is reason to rejoice. We received word from our Office for Systemic Justice through Sue Wilson, CSJ, that it is a time to celebrate. In my words it is a time to dance. Why? Because there is a little bit of justice and peace being born in our world. In the midst of darkness light is radiating hope.
The darkness is the environmental and human-rights abuses that occur in countries where our Canadian-owned mining companies are operative.
The light: in December 2017, a spokesperson for Canadian Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced that the Ombudsperson’s Office will open in early 2018 – something many of our Sisters and Associates/Companions have been lobbying for by joining the wider collective of concerned citizens who have urged the Canadian government to implement an Ombudsperson for the extractive (mining) sector in Canada. This office will have an “advisory and robust investigative mandate”.
Many Canadians have been writing letters, and attending meetings to raise their concerns about the lack of accountability for these injustices.
With projects in over 100 countries, Canada is home to half of the world’s mining and mineral exploration companies. The current mechanism to address issues is ineffective in that the participation of the extractive-sector companies is voluntary and complaints are never made public. This new Ombudsperson would investigate allegations, make recommendations to the mining companies and the Canadian government. The Office would be independent of political or corporate influence and accountable to Canadians through public reporting.
Numerous Canadians have been urging the government for this change recognizing that the current policy does not reflect our Canadian values. As one bishop has stated: “We cannot accept the unethical way Canadian mining companies have been operating in Latin America or other regions of the world, taking the absence of effective regulatory schemes as a reason to shirk their ethical responsibilities.”
So the news of the early 2018 Office opening is indeed cause to dance. And this dance reflects the energy and movement of not a beautiful soloist, but that of a multitude of persons, joining together in effort to create a new pattern of hope.
It is stated that the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” held a hidden message for persecuted people in the 16th and 17th centuries. The number 9 represented the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.
So on this 9th day of Christmas, we rejoice that many of these 9 fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, have shaped our character and values, bringing light into the darkness. And so we dance in the light of Christ, rejoicing in a micro-incarnation of peace and justice on earth.
Sources:
www.kairoscanada.org/what-we-do/ecological-justice/open4justice
www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/statements-a-letters/4773
Sue Wilson CSJ, Office for Systemic Justice
Blogger: Loretta Manzara, CSJ, musician striving to affect change in the world, one hymn at a time.