Gearing up for HOME Conference and ATN!

by David Ball
SCM General Co-Secretary

As I write this, the All Things New magazine editorial collective are putting the final touches on our newest issue of our movement magazine. The theme coincides with our Conference, which starts next Sunday in Vancouver – HOME: Homelessness, Poverty & Economic justice.

Jan Braun and I have just arrived on the West Coast, are meeting with alumni and supporters of SCM on Vancouver Island today, and heading across the Georgia Strait to get our hands in the conference-preparations dirt, so to speak!

Here’s a sneak peak at the magazine’s Editorial to put this in context:

In the early months of 2010, SCMers from across the country undertook a mini-pilgrimage to Vancouver to resist the injustices happening during the Olympics. It was a journey of hope and pain, solidarity and struggle, and an overwhelming amount of anger towards a system which continues to ignore and disenfranchise those who do not have a certain skin colour, culture, religious beliefs, or postal code.

In recognition of God’s preferential option for the poor and marginalized – a core belief of our movement – and in our commitment to not allow these crises to be hidden, we have founded this issue of All Things New (ATN); it goes to press just as our General Conference starts, also on the topic of ‘Home.’

As you will see in this issue, the issues of homelessness, poverty and economic injustice are at crisis levels in Downtown Eastside (DTES) Vancouver. In Canada as a whole, there are more than 520 murdered and missing Indigenous women and 300,000 homeless or underhoused people, according to Pivot Legal Society. The theft of land, displacement of culture, legacy of residential schools, and broken treaties call upon Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous allies to resist Canada’s ongoing colonialism and violence.

But we in SCM also want to look at the bigger picture around the question of what ‘home’ means and what we value. We want to ask challenging questions about our own movement and others in Canada, such as: How can we build a truly diverse economic justice movement? How do we support and celebrate the resurgence of Indigenous resistance struggles such as Defenders of the Land and the Native Youth Movement – not to mention countless others, and daily acts which create a better world and stronger, self-determining communities? How can we make a spiritual home for larger circles of people in our movement? How does ‘home’ relate to our faith?

We’re all just really excited for conference to start. We’ve been sharing our personal bios over the participants list-serv, and the breadth of experience that will be arriving in only a week is staggering. Young people from across the country and continent (Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax, plus New York City & Portland USA!).

If you haven’t seen SCM’s special short film about conference and economic justice, here it is:

HOME: SCM General Conference 2010 from SCM Canada on Vimeo.

Here are some of the incredible things we’ll be experiencing next week:

PROGRAMS AT CONFERENCE

  • Sumayya & Mariana will speak to us about No One Is Illegal Vancouver – a revolutionary migrant justice & indigenous solidarity organization that played a key part in the Olympics resistance movement
  • Denise Nadeau will join us to talk about Indigenous solidarity, anti-racism and our connection to land, language and identity
  • A panel on HOME from perspective of Down Town East Side Vancouver, inner-city ministries, Indigenous territories, and more (featuring the Rev. Brian Heinrich, Laurel Dykstra, and others)
  • workshops and trainings on anti-oppression, skills for local organizing, coalition building, anti-racism, etc
  • chance to be part of small planning groups for leading worship & music during conference
  • On May 8, 5-9pm there is an SCM Friends Gala Evening with catered supper and we’ll be joined by SCMers of many generations and allies in Vancouver. This is free for conference participants, and if you want to invite a friend it’s pay what you can (suggested donation $10-20) at West Point Grey United Church (4595 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver (Corner of Tolmie)
  • Exposure tour of Downtown Eastside and intentional solidarity communities and organizations there
  • Spiritual practices evening led by Doris Kizinna, BC Conference, United Church

As mentioned in the ATN editorial, we really want to get to the root issues and values of what is ‘home’? how does it relate to our faith? and what are the barriers to that in our society?

In the wake of the historic Olympics convergence – which foregrounded Indigenous justice issues – all of us at SCM are anticipating the next few weeks to be inspiring, challenging, energizing and hopefully not too stressful on the staff (now the logistics are all belatedly falling into place, I’m personally becoming less anxious and more excited).

If you couldn’t come to conference but are on the West Coast, let us know. There are opportunities to plug in through the week, and also at our SCM Friends Gala on Saturday May 8 – check out SCM’s Events Calendar for more info.