Deadline Extended! Accepting Applications until February 28th. If you have any questions or barriers that are preventing you from applying, please reach out to bailey@scmcanada.org!

This May, SCM is sponsoring a delegation of students/young adults to travel to the West Bank in collaboration with Community Peacemaker Teams Canada/Palestine. Participants will spend ten days meeting and learning from local community makers, experiencing the reality of life in occupied Palestine, and participating in non-violent solidarity actions. CPT has extensive experience in running these delegations in a meaningful and safe way.

This is what participants can expect from our specific trip:

Every year in May, Palestinians around the world remember the Nakba, or Catastrophe, marking the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948; in 2026, this will be its 78th anniversary. This delegation offers a unique opportunity to connect deeply with the origins, land, and heritage of the Palestinian people. Participants will visit historic Jerusalem, hear stories from several refugee camps in the West Bank, and then travel to al-Khalil/Hebron to accompany the CPT team in providing a protective presence for the community. Along the way, you will build relationships with local community members, share meals, and engage in conversations about undoing oppression, solidarity, peace, justice, and the vision of a free Palestine. No matter your background or experience, this delegation invites you to witness firsthand the joy, resilience, and daily life of Palestinians living under occupation. You will stand alongside local communities, contribute to their resilience efforts, and participate in meaningful activities such as olive harvesting, sharing solidarity, laughter, and hope. This visit offers a rich learning experience grounded in presence, shared humanity, and the transformative power of working together in solidarity.

Participants will be expected to and supported in bringing their learning and experiences to their wider community in the year following their trip, in collaboration with their local SCM unit. Potential participants do not have to already be involved with an SCM unit (although it is great if they are!), but they are expected to connect and work with their local unit (if applicable) in the time leading up to and after the trip.

When Is it?

4th to 14th May 2026.

What Does it Cost?

The ‘real’ total cost per participant is approximately $4000. Participants are expected to fund-raise 1000$ towards their trip costs, using tools and resources that will be provided by SCM. The rest of the funding will be provided by SCM Canada through grants, fundraising, and our own funds.

Who Can Participate?

This delegation is geared towards post-secondary students(any level) and young adults in Canada who are involved with SCM Canada and/or are aligned with the values of SCM and open to collaborating with us. Practically, participants must be 19 years of age or older. 

This delegation should not be approached as a trip in isolation, but as a commitment to advocacy and solidarity. We are looking for participants who are eager to commit to sharing their learning and experiences with those in their home community, including their local SCM unit and/or SCM national.

How to Apply?

You can apply online at https://cpt.org/delegations/apply, selecting ‘Palestine: SCM Special Delegation May 2026’ from the drop-down. 

Please also prepare a 500-1000 word response to the question “Why do you want to participate in this delegation?” touching on the following points:

•What is your experience with/interest in peacemaking and non-violent resistance

•How do you hope to make use of the experience?

•What is your connection to SCM Canada? If none, why are you interested in participating in this delegation with SCM?

The maximum number of participants for this delegation is twelve, so we expect that the selection process will be competitive. 

The deadline for applications to be received through the CPT website is February 18th at 11:59 PM PST. This is to give us ample time for the interview/selection process, and for delegates to get their paperwork in order for the trip, once selected.

For More Information:
Reach out for more information to bailey@scmcanada.org
Virtual Q&A/Info-session for prospective participants: February 9th at 8 PM EST

To Support:
If you would like to support this project, we are accepting donations to subsidize the trip and make it accessible to students regardless of socio-economic background at: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/student-christian-movement-of-canada-scm-canada/campaign/palestine-solidarity-delegation/

March 6, 2019: A Day of Prayer & Fasting for Bill C-262: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called Canada to adopt and implement the Declaration as “the framework for reconciliation” (Call to Action #43). Bill C-262 is in the Senate and needs to get to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples soon, or there won’t be enough time for it to achieve royal assent. We need your help. Would you join us in prayer and fasting as we ask the Creator to move hearts and minds? Would you invite your circle to join in?

Please sign up and let friends know that you are fasting on March 6 by posting a picture with the hashtags #fastfor262 #passbillC262 #SenCA

One hundred and twenty three years on and the World Student Christian Federation is still going strong. That’s how it is for those of us who have been engaged with the working of the Federation during the last decade.

In those 123 years much is changed. The world is an entirely different place two world wars and multitudes of violent eruptions later. The world of Empire and Colony has almost disappeared. New Nations and new nationalisms have emerged. Transport and Communications have changed utterly. Wealth has been tran

sformed as it has moved from the power of men and women, through machines to global knowledge economies and these new energies are transforming the environment of Planet Earth. The Evangelism of the 1890s and 1900s has left a legacy for the Body of Christ as a world religion and in parallel a renewing Islam post the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The world of the Hindu and Buddhist Beliefs has likewise expanded as migration within and without the former empires have taken adherents to the ends of the earth. The Ecumenism so passionately proclaimed in the 1940s, 50s and 60s has produced fruits different from those originally hoped for and expected. Churches have not been as amenable to godly change has had been worked and prayed for. Universities today are massive institutions compare

d to those of a century ago. The Community of Learners is an ideal infrequently glimpsed let alone realised. The Learners are the prerequisites of the Knowledge Economy and too often the disposable products of yesterday’s learning.

The Federation too has changed radically. From being one of a very few global organisation with a very focused membership of university and college students it is now one of many global organisations. It has to work for members in a multiplicity of cultures ranging from the secular to the fundamentalist and almost always as a minority interest. Gone are the days when the Federation message commanded the attention of entire college populations and large minorities if not actual majorities of the members of a university. There are those who see this minority role as a signal of the Federation’s decline. Not so those of us who are privileged to know it intimately. We understand that it can be and indeed is a source of strength.

We know that as a driven minority the Federation can and does present an uncompromising message that embraces the gospel concerns of Justice, Peace, Equality and Love as the great components of the Life of God in Christ for our time. Living and working as it does with and in many and distinct cultures the emphases and the representation may differ but the foundation is common. Wherever we are we are co-workers with Christ in whom and through whom all things have been reconciled , making peace by the blood of his cross. Our message is a Cosmic Christ for a Global World.

To remain globally viable with a sustainable global presence the current sources of Federation income need to be augmented by some US$50,000.00 per year. That it is so little is as a result of scrupulous attention to cost reduction especially in the Inter-Regional Office the removal of which from Geneva to Manila has produced very considerable savings. We are convinced that no further cost saving at the global level is possible and therefore we need this additional $50,000.00 per annum to balance the budget.

To achieve this $50,000.00 we are seeking to convene a cohort of 100 Senior Friends from across the world who will each commit to giving $500.00 in each of 2018/19/20/21/22. Will you be one of these? It is a request. You can say NO but we hope you will say YES. Like some of us who are already in our 9th decade you could say I may not be around for 5 more years. That may well be true. However we can either find a replacement as this culture of Senior Friend Giving grows or you can ensure by your Will that your commitment is fulfilled after your decease.

Salters Sterling

President

WSCF Centennial Fund

All In One Boat Pledge Form August 2018

WSCF All In One Boat Letter August 2018

WSCF GS Fundraising Appeal Letter August 2018

The South Korean delegate attending the WSCF conference in Seoul shared how fellow students supported the discriminated LGBT students in their university by attending chapel dressed in the colours of the Pride flag. After the service they took a photo of themselves in the chapel holding a Pride flag, and posted this image online.

For this they received backlash from conservative commenters and their university has taken disciplinary action against them for “promoting homosexuality”.  Read more on the topic here.

SCMers are organizing against the Safe Third Country Agreement, which allows Canada to send refugees who arrive via the USA back across the border to make their refugee claim there. The USA is not a safe harbour any more for individuals and families seeking asylum and this agreement must be terminated at once.

Read more on the Safe Third Country Agreement here

We are asking citizens and residents of Canada to sign this petition to the House of Commons. The petition is sponsored by Vancouver East NDP MP Jenny Kwan, and is gaining support across Canada. Please sign and ask your friends, church members and colleagues to sign as well.

Sign Petition e-1755 (requires email confirmation)

The Broadbent Institute has also released a petition that you may wish to sign: Broadbent Petition.

Thank you for everything you do to support the human rights and dignity of people seeking refuge. We pray and work for a world of justice with freedom to move, to stay, and to return.

Since four Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents violently arrested her on Tuesday March 20th, leaving her with a badly injured arm, Lucy has been treated with violence and total inhumanity by the CBSA. Lack of sleep, fear, confusion and the appalling conditions of her detention following her arrest led to two emergency hospitalizations, on the 26th and on the 29th.

Lucy has been resident in Montreal for 9 years, coming from Guatemala seeking refuge in a harrowing journey. Last year she filed a humanitarian application for permanent residence in an attempt to regularize her status. This is when she came to the attention of the CBSA who then sought to arrest her before her file could even be studied by Immigration Canada. Lucy’s attempt to regularize her status made her a target for the CBSA.

Sign the petition here to stop her impending deportation

Read more about Lucy’s case and the campaign to support her safety at this website