In the first week of November I was invited to come to Standing Rock, North Dakota, to pray.

The Elders of Oceti Sakowin and Sacred Stone camps asked for our prayers for the protection of their water and land from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Construction began on treaty land without proper consultation; opening and desecrating burial sites. Pipelines are hazardous enterprises. A leak in DAPL could mean the poisoning of major water sources, including the Missouri River.

Since DAPL began their project last spring, the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies have been camping out on their land, in protection of their territory and treaty rights. The ‘water protectors’ have engaged in nonviolent and prayerful public witness, yet have been met by heavily militarized police wielding tear gas, riot gear, sound cannons, rubber bullets, and more. Just a few days before I arrived, their North Camp was raided by the police. I met dozens of Indigenous water protectors with terrifying stories of being pulled out of tepees where they were in ceremony, being beaten, arrested, strip searched, held under bright lights for over 24 hours, and then kept in dog kennels, as the jail cells were full.

When Bishop Mark MacDonald and Rev. Laurel Dykstra arrived in North Dakota and drove out to Oceti Sakowin camp, we passed by a dump truck disposing of items the police had seized from the North Camp. Elder’s sacred items had been taken and mistreated, along with many people’s personal belongings, including cellphones, tents, clothing, and purses.

At Oceti Sakowin I experienced the most radical generosity I have ever encountered. I was taken in by the Cheyenne River Sioux, whose water source is also the Missouri river, who have been at the camp since there were only seven tepees and have promised to be there as long as necessary to protect their water.

My hosts offered me a tepee to sleep in, and invited me into their rhythm of meals around an open fire. There was always a hot pot of coffee brewing over that flame, and a member of their family made us all hot buffalo stew at night (cooking with a broken arm from the police violence, as I later learned).

In the water protectors I witnessed such profound courage, kindness, hospitality, prayer, and resilience. I heard countless stories of police violence, but despite this I also heard: “we will stand like stones against whatever they bring, we must protect our water and lands for the future generations.”

Though snipers on hill tops and constant aero-surveillance overshadowed Oceti Sakowin, the camp was filled with the sound of singing around the big drums, round dances, and prayers around sacred fires. I was privileged to attend prayer walks around the area, a vigil at a local jail, and participate in many gatherings of prayer for the protection of the waters, land, and people.

The courage and faith of the people at Standing Rock in the face of such brutal, militarized, corporate, and racist violence, is a profound witness of the love that we are called to embody. There are many ways we can support the water protectors, from performing prayerful actions in institutions that have invested in DAPL to raising funds for legal aid- connect with others and join in the struggle to protect the waters and support land defenders against ongoing colonial violence.

The Rev. Leigh Kern is Assistant Curate at the Cathedral Church of St James in Toronto. Leigh is a friend of the SCM who was recently part of our Turning Tables retreat.

Read ‘Peace and Violence at Standing Rock’ in the Anglican Journal

Read about how SCMers responded in Toronto

Fill in the form here: Community Forum

Read the SCM Resolution on Gender Identity & Sexuality (2009)

October started out with a fantastic boost for SCM!

With 32 attendees, the national SCM Fall Retreat ‘Turning Tables’ was a great success! We cooked, ate, played music and sang, wrote liturgy to guide our worship, shared workshops on everything from campaign planning to Bible study, watershed reconciliation to cultural appropriation…

Our theme was ‘Think, Pray and Love’, which we lived in our gathering times, cycle of prayer, working together, learning, and commitments to enact at home in our communities.

One highlight was the opportunity to learn and sing the classic ‘Poisoning the Student Mind’, now with several new verses thanks to the creativity of Mike & Rebecca (Summer interns 2015 & 2016, respectively) and Esther (SCM Toronto coordinator).

You can see a scan of the lyrics – and you might notice that we continued to edit as we sang – Poisoning the Student Mind!

We didn’t do it alone

Thank you to our ecumenical partners in the United and Anglican Churches and the Ecumenical Chaplaincy of University of Toronto, KAIROS, and the SCM coordinators and friends who helped to plan, offer workshops, and bring people.

While our ecumenical planning group had been meeting for months to prepare and fund the event, the attendees were brought into it from the first evening, as we created a community covenant based on shared values and our need to build respect and create space for difference.

Everyone was assigned a ‘table group’ which would be responsible for preparing one meal for the rest of the group. We had a diverse group, with students and young people naming communities of faith that included Anglican, Ecumenical, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches.

For bringing so many people together, thank you to the chaplains, priests, ministers, Senior Friends, best friends and distant relations who mentioned our retreat in announcements, emails, mic checks, Facebook and birthday cards!

By the look of the feedback it was a great success and something we hope to repeat to reach new friends and offer training and support for leaders in the ecumenical student justice movement!

The World Student Christian Federation (umbrella organisation of worldwide SCMs) is seeking a participant connected with the United Church of Canada for an Inter-Regional Leadership Programme to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dates are November 30 – December 7 (including travel time).

The focus is the intersection of Migrant & Refugee Rights with Racial Justice, in keeping with WSCF advocacy and theological exploration.

The United Church of Canada will sponsor a student/young adult to attend the programme, so we are looking for a candidate who:

1. Is a member of the United Church
2. Has a strong connection with the work of the church
3. Will be involved in the ongoing work of the WSCF or SCM, especially on advocacy items related to migration, racial justice, and rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We encourage applications from those who identify as Trans or Female, or who are Indigenous or of African descent.

Read the Concept Paper here: irltp-2016-global-advocacy-training-on-migration-concept-paper

If interested, contact pip@united-church.ca for more details and application materials, or apply here.

Acknowledging the global phenomena of forced migration as an intrinsic characteristic of today’s globalized world, we aim to highlight the need to develop a nuanced analysis and agenda in advocating for rights of migrants and refugees in general, and the specific issues and agenda of youth migrants in the global discourse on migrant human rights.

SCM’s fall retreat ‘Turning Tables‘ is approaching fast, and we’re pleased to see good registration numbers from young people (18-35).

We have spaces for about 8-10 more people, and with tickets only $40 we’d love to welcome more people to the retreat. We have some funds to support the travel costs of people coming from outside of Ontario.

The retreat is supported by ecumenical bodies (Ecumenical Chaplaincy of UofT, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, and the Southeast & South West Toronto Presbyteries of the United Church), and our participants are from a variety of faith backgrounds including Anglican, Catholic, Mennonite, Reformed and United Church.

Participants will create morning, noon and evening prayer times for the whole group, will participate in workshops and open space conversations, a Sunday worship service and countless informal conversations that will help to guide the SCM`s activities and direction.

Please share this invitation with any likely suspects and ask them to register through Eventbrite.

Thanks to SCM Summer Student Intern Rebecca Bauman for the cat meme!

The Student Christian Movement of Canada was one of over seventy organisations that signed an open letter to demand that the Ontario Government refrain from condemnation of activists working in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Read the letter here

In recent years there has been a backlash against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), which seeks to oppose Israeli corporations that profit from occupation and normalise injustice. This backlash has been seen on campuses, against churches and community groups, and recently in the Ontario Legislature with the defeated Bill 202 that would have described BDS as an anti-Semitic movement.

The letter comments on the legitimacy of BDS as a tactic in supporting human rights, and calls for continued peaceful advocacy within the Legislature. Individuals wishing to sign the associated petition can do so here: The Ontario government must end its intimidation of Palestinian rights advocacy.

Agree? Disagree? If you’re a young person with thoughts on the question ‘Should Canada Support BDS?’, enter this Essay Competition for a chance to win $1000! Submission deadline Sept 30.

Looking for experience in organising? Contacts with other SCMers in North America? A window into the international ecumenical movement and your place within it?

The North America region of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF-NA) is looking for students and young adults to join working groups in the following areas:

1. Advocacy and Solidarity
2. Bible and Theology
3. Communication
4. Fundraising
5. Women, Gender and Sexuality

(more details below)

WSCF-NA’s work connects local and national movements with the global Federation through its regional and global strategic plans.

The 2016-2019 WSCF Strategic Plan highlighted Overcoming Violence, Eco-justice, Higher Education, and Identity, Diversity & Dialogue as major themes to be tackled. The main thematic area for WSCF-NA in 2015-2017 has been racial justice and indigenous people’s rights. The 2016-2017 working groups will continue this good work!

Please contact the WSCF-NA office for more information and to join a Working Group: wscfna@gmail.com

Advocacy and Solidarity Working Group

Chair: Aude Isimbi

This group is a bridge between the global federation and the Student Christian Movements in the U.S. and Canada. We work on diverse issues such as Indigenous and Racial Justice, Immigration and Refugee Response, Climate Change and Ecojustice, Militarization and Colonialism, and Higher Education Access, and Gender Equality. We work with two main focus:

1) The student/young adult body discerns the key issues in the region that are important to advocate for, and the key people to stand with in solidarity. We are then able to organize ways our interaction. This can include writing and disseminating solidarity statements, linking up with advocacy groups that we can work with, creating special programs to increase exposure and education, and providing support for new and existing community-based programs.

2) We work to facilitate the student/young adult body putting the mandates of the global federation into action. This is accomplished through solidarity events, programs and trainings, and providing access to conferences that align with those mandates. As there are broad issues that affect other regions with roots from our two countries, so the working group educates our members, churches and communities of those issues, raising awareness and equipping them to advocate.

The working group meets via Skype every first Monday of the month at 7pm Eastern time, with the understanding that should programming or other special meetings conflict with that time, we would move the meeting time to the following Monday. This meeting time is revised at the beginning of every academic semester to make sure we are accommodating to our student members.

Bible, Theology and Innovative Working Group encourages students to find good news in the scriptures, and to think critically about how the Bible speaks to our modern-day context. The Bible and Theology Program engages the region in its call to be God’s agents in addressing the world’s current challenges such as war, poverty, economic injustice and the threat to our planet. During this academic year, the Working group will be providing worship and reflection material for the upcoming WSCF-NA events and soliciting input from our ecumenical partners with prayers, liturgical ideas, theological verbatims.

Chair: Maya Brigid Brathwaite

The Communication Working Group is looking for people who are interested or experienced in communication. Members of this committee will help in determining guidelines for communication strategies in the work of the World Student Christian Federation-North America and in implementing communication tools to make the work of WSCF visible and palatable to students, young adults, partners and donors. You will help with the website, database, social media, e-newsletter, branding strategies and crowd funding.

Chair: Zillah Wesley II

The Fundraising Working Group develops concepts for educating and promoting fundraising techniques within the WSCF-North American Region. Fundraising programs such as the Give One be One (GOBO), seasonal teller-funding, and grant writing are sources of outreach to donors. While providing fundraising training to the WSCF North American Regional Committee and other members of the WSCF, the Working Group envisions fundraising strategies and efforts to contribute to the WSCF core budget and programming.

Chair: Je’ Exodus Hooper

The Women, Gender & Sexuality Working Group facilitates the region work on women’s issues and issues related to sexual minorities and people oppressed and marginalized on the basis of gender, sexual orientation and the hegemony of the gender binary. The Working Group supports North American SCMs as they engage with related issues. In the 2016/17 academic year we will be focusing on two major projects: the preparations for an intergenerational, interfaith conference on faith and feminism (date TBD); and helping the Student Christian Movement of Canada to refresh and update its ecumenical resources on feminism and LGBTQ+ issues. A variety of roles and time commitments are available.

Chair: Wynne Taylor

The SCM’s local units are the heart of the Movement. We are so fortunate to have a cadre of coordinators who share their passions and skills. Local units offer programming designed for the specific context and capacity they work in, but they all share the SCM’s committments to anti-oppressive practice and creative, liberatory, inclusive spirituality in the radical Christian tradition.

SCM is currently looking for communities interested in developing their own SCM Canada chapter. If you are a student and/or youth interested in helping co-ordinate a chapter in your community, email us at info@scmcanada.org

SCM Toronto – Esther

Esther is an alumna both of York and U of T, who first connected with SCM while helping to organize the Cahoots Festival. She has a background in counselling psychology, but is most passionate about justice-seeking Christian communities – intentional and unintentional.

She is a member of the Jeremiah Community and The Dale in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, where she has taken on roles from dishwashing to peacemaking to preaching. She enjoys singing, contemplative prayer, community kitchens, and creative actions for justice and peace.

You can reach her at esther@scmcanada.org. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to meet or share ideas!

SCM Ryerson – Divy

Divy is a graduate of the Ryerson University’s Arts and Cotnemporary Studies Program. They are currently transitioning out of this position to make way for a new Coordinator as they move into the SCM National Coordinator position.

She enjoys watching her tree frogs Brioche and Pancake as well as running her online market Shop Divy.

If you would like to talk to her about joining a Ryerson SCM Bible study, you can reach her at divy@scmcanada.org.