Interfaith Ottawa Newsletter

Issue 1, January 2006

To enhance greater awareness regarding ongoing initiatives and work of Interfaith Ottawa, its Steering Committee has decided to publish a newsletter to send to the members of Interfaith Ottawa. This is the first such newsletter.

Your suggestions and feedback for interfaith projects are welcome. If you would like to volunteer for any current projects, please contact Anna Baker at: Anna.Baker@ottawa.ca

Interfaith Tree Planting Ceremony

To help celebrate Ottawa’s 150^th anniversary and the United Nations International Day of Peace, Mayor Bob Chiarelli and Interfaith Ottawa hosted a tree planting ceremony at Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier Avenue on the morning of Wednesday, September 21, 2005. Natalia de Savigny, Co-Chair of Interfaith Ottawa was the MC and welcomed the group. Elder William Commanda, of the Algonquin Nation, conducted the opening and closing meditation. Mayor Chiarelli spoke about the significance of Interfaith Ottawa in its role to provide a unified voice against intolerance and hatred and to develop means to enhance the awareness and appreciation of different religious and cultural practices.  A number of faith representatives brought soil or water from their place of worship or other location for a ceremonial offering to the tree. While the water and soil were sprinkled on the soil, youth members read texts from the different faiths describing the symbolism of trees in various faiths. The religious communities represented were: Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Ottawa (jointly represented), Baha’i

Faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Greek Orthodox Church, Hindu Faith, Jewish Community, Muslim Community, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, Sikh Faith, Ukrainian Orthodox Church and The First Church of Christ, Scientist. This sugar maple tree also represents peace in honour of those who have suffered from violence due to religious and cultural discrimination.

Projects

The last Interfaith Ottawa meeting held March 21, 2005, launched several projects. Volunteers were requested and a number of people came forward. Subcommittees were formed and work started on some of the projects.

(a) Know Your Neighbour

The purpose of this project is to provide opportunities to enhance a greater understanding among the various faith communities in the Nation’s. Two or three different neighbouring faith communities would be invited to participate in a pilot project to learn about each other’s faith practices by having interested faith community members attend several of each other’s worship meetings and activities within a six to nine month period. Selected families from each faith community commit to get to know each other on a more personal level by learning how the families live their faith each day by visiting with each other with some regularity. The pilot project would conclude with each respective faith community providing a short written report on the experience to Interfaith Ottawa.

To involve others and to focus our efforts in one locality, Interfaith Sandy Hill has been asked and consented to coordinate the Know Your Neighbour pilot project. At this point, several faith communities have volunteered and have selected interested people within their community.

(b) Youth Project with Schools (Youth Harmony)

A youth program was launched to give students the opportunity to learn about and experience different faiths. The high school students are required to undertake forty hours of voluntary community service before they earn their graduation certificate. Interfaith Ottawa encourages students to participate in this initiative that supports the belief that faiths could understand one another better by providing opportunities that lead to dialogue and discussion, especially on common moral issues that run through all religions.

Faith communities submitted their community names to the Ottawa School Boards with the intent to offer opportunities to high school students to make up their required hours of community service by serving other faith communities.

This project involves a series of 20 lessons focused on moral values, which will be presented to junior youth (aged 12-13 in grades 7-8) on an extracurricular basis following a workbook entitled Walking the Straight Path. This workbook is designed to assist junior youth to recognize the moral issues underlying the choices they make. Stories from different cultures with a universal theme will be presented followed by exercises and discussion to allow youth to identify the moral implications of their own speech and action.

The books that were selected for this project have been ordered and received.

(d) Interfaith Awards

The sub-committee has met to start the process of this year’s annual interfaith award that is planned and hoped to be given at our anniversary meeting in March 2006. The criteria for the award(s) are:

Award can be granted to a person or organization

Person or organization must be a resident of Ottawa

Person or organization must demonstrate interfaith effort and achievement over a period of time

Interfaith Ottawa members are invited to submit nominations and CVs (they do not have to be extensive resumes). They must be submitted by February 28, 2006 to Anna Baker Anna.Baker@ottawa.ca

The Interfaith Ottawa Youth Council

The March 21, 2005 meeting was followed by a concert that was initiated and hosted by the Youth Council. A number of faiths were represented in this artistic evening along with short talks.

The members of the Youth Council have visited a few religious places of worship, (a Hindu temple and a Muslim mosque) and plan other visits in the future (Sikh, etc.)

A member of the Youth Council has been invited to attend the Interfaith Ottawa Steering Committee meetings and has started recently to attend. This will enhance communications and ties between the two bodies.

United Way Award

Interfaith Ottawa received one of the United Way’s annual community builder awards, an Outstanding Community Building Partnership of the Year Award on May 26, 2005 for its contributions to the community in its effort to promote harmony, respect and acceptance among all people in Ottawa. Interfaith Ottawa, a partnership with the City of Ottawa, is an example of the good things that can happen when the City and the numerous faith communities therein join together to foster a continued dialogue and open communication so that we can learn about our neighbors and break the bonds of isolation, hate, prejudice and intolerance.

Collaborative efforts

To demonstrate interfaith initiative the Ottawa Muslim Association collaborated with City Hall and to organize an interfaith prayer service for victims of the London bomb attacks. The event was held on July 12, 2005 at Ben Franklin Place in Ottawa’s west end

Various faith communities have invited Interfaith Ottawa members to some of their events.

Mayor Bob Chiarelli

Mayor Bob Chiarelli, as Co-Chair of Interfaith Ottawa has taken opportunities to introduce and inform people about Interfaith Ottawa. Below is an example of a portion of an extended interview of him that was published in the Special Citizen Special on December 12, 2005

“Embrace change. Demographic change in the city is "unbelievable," he says. An estimated 40,000 Muslims live here. Ottawa's third and fourth languages are Mandarin and Arabic. He set up Interfaith Ottawa where all the major communities wrote a charter, meet regularly and stand for common values. "Whether it's vandalism at a synagogue or racial profiling of Muslim groups, we come together and publicly state that that's not right. We have common values of respect and acceptance and tolerance."

Ottawa Police Chief Vince Bevan’s invitation

To demonstrate to the citizens of Ottawa the diverse and rich make-up of the city, Chief Bevan has extended an invitation to the faith communities of Ottawa to display faith symbols to mark their major religious festivals or holidays. If you would like your religious symbols to be displayed either inside or outside one of the Police stations to mark your religious festival, please contact David Pepper at pepperd@ottawapolice.ca or 236-1222, ext. 5597.

Co-Chair

The Capital Region Interfaith Council (CRIC) has elected a new president, Nathalie Thirlwall for this year. The custom of Interfaith Ottawa, is to have the president of CRIC be placed in the position of the Co-Chair of Interfaith Ottawa. This would be endorsed officially at the next general meeting of Interfaith Ottawa.

Natalia de Savigny has decided to step down as president of CRIC due to personal time restrictions. Interfaith Ottawa would like to acknowledge the excellent job she has done as Co-Chair of Interfaith Ottawa, both in her able, just and efficient chairing capabilities, as well as her guiding hand in the many projects and her consistent efforts in carrying out interfaith work both in her faith community, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the greater community of Ottawa.

Upcoming events (dates to be determined)

Next General Meeting (tentatively in March)

Youth event (tentatively in March)

History of faith events