Justice Prayers of the Week
Canada’s Immigration Minister Working on faster path to permanence for temporary residents
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says his government is preparing to create a program that would help to speed up the process of turning newcomers in Canada under temporary permits into permanent residents. "We are looking right now at the best path forward to create a permanent pathway for temporary residents," he told CBC's The House in an interview airing this weekend. A previous program called the "temporary resident to permanent resident pathway" — or TR to PR — was put in place last year for eight months after COVID-19 lockdowns shut the border to newcomers to prevent the spread of the virus. It gave 90,000 essential workers, front-line health care workers and international students an accelerated path to permanent status. The federal government set a goal of accepting 432,000 newcomers this year alone. Fraser said his department is ahead of schedule, despite the pandemic and the unexpected pressures of working to resettle thousands of people fleeing conflict in both Afghanistan and Ukraine. "This week we actually resettled the 200,000th permanent resident, more than a month and a half ahead of any year on record in Canada," he said. "We are seeing similar trends across other lines of business like citizenship, like work permits, which in many instances are double the usual rate of processing."
Lord, we give thanks when red tape that restricts the flourishing of your people, that fails to get things done, is removed such that the lives of ordinary people - those striving for a better life - might be actualized. May the lessons learned from this policy agenda be actualized all around us.
Efforts to Form New Government in Iraq Failing
Seven months of efforts to form a new government in Iraq were in turmoil on Monday, a day after the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr directed members of Parliament who are loyal to him to resign from the seats they won in an October election. Mr. Sadr, who has become one of the biggest political forces in Iraq since emerging in 2003, has no formal role but commands the allegiance of the single largest bloc in the 329-seat Parliament. The 73 lawmakers of his movement submitted their resignations on Sunday after the collapse of months of negotiations by Mr. Sadr to form a coalition government with Sunni and Kurdish partners. On Monday, Mr. Sadr’s candidate for prime minister, Jaafar al-Sadr, a cousin of the Shiite cleric and currently the Iraqi ambassador to London, said in a post on Twitter that he was withdrawing his candidacy. The talks on forming a government broke down amid disagreements over who would be president. Under Iraq’s parliamentary system, established after a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, the president nominates a prime minister and cabinet ministers who must then be approved by Parliament to take up their posts. His announcement culminated months of political paralysis that underscored the dysfunction of Iraq’s political system and the fragmentation of the multiple Shiite Muslim political blocs. Those inter-Shiite divisions have supplanted sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shiite groups in past years as a main source of Iraqi instability.
Peaceful Creator, we lament the role that western governments have played in creating long term instability in Iraq, and we anger at those both here and in Iraq who abuse people and money for their own gain. We pray for peace, for political representation, and for flourishing
National Indigenous People's Day
June 21st is National Indigenous Day. is a day to celebrate unique the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Indigenous peoples of Canada. It is a sign of the continued implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation report. We also grieve the uncovering of 6,509 unmarked mass graves across B.C as of September 2022 with more expected, the missing women and girls, for their families and communities.
Creator God, we give thanks for the unique cultures and contributions of the Indigenous peoples in Canada. We grieve the discovery of 6,509 unmarked mass graves across Canada as of September 2022. We pray for comfort for the families that have been impacted. Creator, we pray for continued reconciliation between Indigenous Peoples and Canadians (Settlers). Help us as a Church to be part of reconciliation in intentional ways.