Work, Women and COVID-19

International Women’s Day

In a recent survey, “Gathering Women’s Voices for a She-covery,” women in the London region told us about their work experiences during the pandemic. 

Mothers of young children reported needing to reduce hours, move to part-time work, take a leave of absence, or leave their jobs entirely to care for their children. Their comments fit closely with a Royal Bank report (Dawn Desjardins and Carrie Freestone) from November 2020 which noted that, although mothers with children under 6 made up only 41% of the labour force in Feb. 2020, they accounted for two-thirds of the workers leaving the labour market.

But it’s not just about the care of young children.  Some women spoke of deep concerns for the mental health of their teens; others felt the need to invest more time in helping their children with their education.  As I read their survey comments, it seemed clear that women have been plugging the holes in our poorly funded social systems: inaccessible child-care, lack of mental health supports, weak elder care systems and educational supports.  And too many women have been paying the price with lost hours of work and high levels of stress.

As London thinks about how to improve our labour participation rates, it’s not enough to think in terms of matching jobs and skills.  We need to look deeper, to open our eyes to the ways in which weak social protections are effectively pushing women out of the labour market.

-Sister Sue Wilson | Office for Systemic Justice, Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada

The Survey was sponsored by Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, Brescia, London Food Bank, Coalition to Empower Gender Equality, London Coordinating Committee to End Women Abuse, Pillar, and United Way.

For the Love of Creation

The Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada are part of a coalition of 35 Canadian churches and faith-based organizations mobilizing an unprecedented, months-long campaign of personal environmental action coupled with federal climate advocacy. 

For the Love of Creation's faith-in-action campaign mobilizes people across Canada to reduce their household greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and demonstrate support for increased federal climate action by writing letters to key federal Cabinet Ministers on a range of climate justice issues: climate ambition, a just transition, Indigenous rights, and support for the Global South. 

Take Four Actions Now!

Make a personal pledge to reduce your GHG emissions and engage in acts of solidarity with justice-seeking communities!

 Make your personal pledge!

Share your pledge and call on federal Cabinet Ministers to commit the Government of Canada to:

A. Increase our national GHG emissions reduction target and invest in a just transition to a fair, inclusive, green economy.

Sign Letter A: Emissions & Transition

B. Implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including, but not limited to, the right of free, prior, and informed consent.  

Sign Letter B: Indigenous Rights

 C. Commit equal support for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in the Global South.

Sign Letter C: Adaptation & Mitigation

Statement from our Federation Office for Systemic Justice

Public Statement re: Vaccines for COVID-vulnerable people in prisons    

The Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada commends the federal government’s decision to offer vaccines to 600 elderly prisoners and those with pre-existing conditions. This decision is an affirmation of the dignity of each person, a foundation of morality.

The first wave of the pandemic showed that prisoners are much more likely to get COVID-19.  According to Correctional Services Canada, as of January 6th, there have been 1,196 total positive cases with 167 active and 3 deaths. Furthermore, a CBC analysis indicates that infection rates are five times higher in provincial jails and up to nine times higher in federal facilities than in the general population.  As this data shows, the prison context itself creates significant vulnerabilities to COVID-19 infection.

The guiding principle for decision-making for vaccine distribution should be the equal human dignity and worth of every person.  Human dignity is not something that is earned. It belongs to each person and is not forfeited or forgotten due to specific circumstances or behaviours. It is the task of governments and institutions to protect the human dignity of each person, without exception.  With regard to vaccines, respect for human dignity means the same two criteria, risk and vulnerability, should be used for the prison population as for the general population.

By design, prisons marginalize people from full participation in the community for a period of time.  But this must never leave people marginalized from what is theirs on the basis of their basic human dignity. 

Early access to a COVID-19 vaccine for at-risk persons in prison and other detention facilities is a simple question of human dignity and fairness.  We diminish ourselves as a society if we do not honour these values in our collective decision-making.

  - Office for Systemic Justice, Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada

We Write for Rights - #Write4Rights #W4R20

Sister Olga, faithfully writing at 97 years of age

The Sisters of St. Joseph have been friends of Amnesty International for decades.  We’ve delighted in the annual visit of its well-known former Secretary General for Canada, Alex Neve, and his workers throughout the last fifteen years. Besides contributing monetary donations, Amnesty’s yearly Write for Rights initiative is an advocacy opportunity we’ve embraced since 2012.  This year was no different.

On the appointed December 10th, a group of our senior Sisters armed with pen and paper wrote 140 letters to various leaders throughout the world, pleading for amnesty and justice for their people who have been illegally incarcerated for standing up for human rights and justice in their countries.

140letters~ in the mail!

We read the cases of six specific men and women whose lives have been disrupted due to their support of others whose water, lands, and forests have been devastated and razed by companies seeking to advance their own financial largesse. The fact that our letters matter is evidenced by the success that has resulted for victims through the pressures our writing has exerted on various countries’ leaders.

I sensed a blessing descend upon our home as Sisters wrote impassioned pleas to repressive governments to right the wrongs of advocates unjustly treated for working on behalf of humanity.  There is no better way to live these Advent weeks than to raise our voices against injustices.  It is a powerful practice in preparing the way of the Lord.

-Sister Jean Moylan

"Tensions and Tragedy": World Day Against The Death Penalty

On March 15, 2018, the State of Georgia executed Carlton Michael Gary, for the crimes of rape and murder. The case against Gary was based on the flimsy and conflicting evidence of an “eye witness” and a claim that he had confessed although no documentation of the alleged confession existed. Ultimately, it was shown that a dental mold ordered by lawyers, the size of a footprint found at the scene of the crime, and DNA evidence excluded Gary. In Gary’s unsuccessful petition for clemency, Gary’s lawyers stated that “we are not talking about questionable recanting witnesses who came forward long after the trial, but hard physical evidence of innocence.” Nonetheless, the execution of Gary went ahead.

October 10 marks the 18th “World Day Against the Death Penalty” (capital punishment). The day, supported by numerous world governments, the European Union, the United Nations, Amnesty International, and many NGOs, calls on all people to oppose the death penalty, globally and in all cases.

The following reasons are given by those who call for the abolition of the death penalty:

• The inherent possibility of mistakes being made by the justice system whereby innocent persons may be condemned to death. The example of the case described briefly above illustrates this point. Globally, there is compelling evidence that wrongful executions occur and not infrequently. There is also evidence that confessions are often derived from torture.

• The practice is inhumane and rather than bringing justice for brutal crimes it perpetuates a cycle of violence.

• The act is irreversible, leaving no possibility for repentance or forgiveness.

• The death penalty is ineffective in deterring violent crime.

• Importantly, the death penalty is disproportionately applied to the poor, visible minorities, and marginalized groups.

• Often, little attention is paid to the existence of mental illness and cognitive challenges in the perpetrators.

Sister Helen Prejean

Sister of St. Joseph, Helen Prejean, makes the point that “if we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well. Sister Helen continues, “people are more than the worst thing they have done.” These words guide her ministry with people on “death row” as depicted in the powerful book and movie, based on a true story, “Dead Man Walking”.

Sister Helen’s words, however, may give rise to moral tension in us especially when we look upon heinous crimes, particularly murder, often committed against children, adolescents with so much promise in their lives, and seniors.

In “Dead Man Walking”, we see Sister Helen facing such moral tension.  Lloyd Le Blanc, the father of a teenage boy murdered alongside his young girlfriend, challenges Sister Helen. Lloyd reprimands her for not speaking out for the victims and their families. His excruciating pain moves Sister Helen profoundly. She reflects upon and questions her position and above all, she reaches out to Lloyd and his family with deep compassion. She does, not, however, alter her pastoral care for the alleged perpetrator, Patrick Sonnier whose own poverty and sad life speak volumes. For Sister Helen, “mercy is stronger and more God-like than vengeance.”

Interestingly, it is Lloyd LeBlanc who witnesses so convincingly to this. In the book, we read that when he was taken to view the body of his son, he knelt by him and prayed the Lord’s prayer. As he reached the line, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, he added, “whoever did this, I forgive them.” Said in one moment, Lloyd continues to struggle to live out that forgiveness day by day. In his actions, he bears witness to it. He provides financial support for Sister Helen’s ongoing work, he regularly prays not only for his son but also for the Sonnier family, even comforting Sonnier’s mother on her deathbed. What Lloyd shows us is that while punishment is necessary, revenge and the death penalty are not the answer.

Together with others, many religious traditions echo this. The Roman Catholic Church has, in recent years, moved to the abolition of the death penalty. In line with his ever-evolving “consistent ethic of life” position, Pope John Paul II was clear on the issue. He stated, “A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself without definitively denying criminals the chance of reform. I appeal for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.”

In his Encyclical (letter) entitled, Fratelli Tutti signed just a few days ago (October 3), Pope Francis follows in his predecessor’s footsteps now categorically stating that the death penalty is a “false answer” that “ultimately does no more than introduce new elements of destruction in the fabric of national and global society”. Francis thus, “calls upon all Christians and people of goodwill to work for the abolition of the death penalty.”

Today, The World Day for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, October 10, provides us all no matter our background, religious or not, to work together for this end.

Sister Mary Rowell, CSJ