The Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology

Advocacy

You’re Invited: ORCIE-BCRÉI Virtual Training — Canada for Global Climate Justice

Filed Under: Activities, Advocacy, Take Action

Canada must do its fair share to confront the climate emergency. That’s why we’re launching ORCIE-BCRÉI Learning and Lobbying Days 2025: Canada for Global Climate Justice with a virtual advocacy training session you won’t want to miss.

🌍 This online event will equip you with the tools to advocate for Canada’s fair share in tackling the climate crisis — a crisis fueled by debt burdens, deepening climate impacts, cuts to foreign aid, and an unjust global financial system.

ORCIE Virtual Zoom Training

📅 Tuesday, September 23, 2025
🕐 1:00 PM EST
🎤 Learn more about advocacy and the Fair Shares Platform with Seth Klein and Anjali Appadurai from the Climate Emergency Unit.

This online gathering will equip you to meet with MPs and share how Canada can lead boldly on climate justice, economic transformation, and international solidarity.

👉 REGISTER HERE: Meeting Registration – Zoom

📩 For more information, contact:

ORCIE Submits Recommendations for Canada’s 2025 Federal Budget

Filed Under: Advocacy

The Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology (ORCIE) is pleased to share that on August 28, 2025, we submitted our recommendations to the federal government as part of the 2025 pre-budget consultation. Guided by Catholic social teaching and the call of Laudato Si’ to care for our common home, our submission urges Canada to prioritize justice, solidarity, and ecological responsibility in its 2025 budget.

Canada faces urgent social and environmental challenges—from climate change and extreme weather to youth unemployment and the needs of vulnerable communities worldwide. ORCIE’s recommendations focus on three key areas:

  1. Accelerating the Transition to Clean Energy
    We call on the government to end investments in fossil-fuel infrastructure, implement strict emissions caps, and significantly fund a national renewable electricity grid to ensure reliable, affordable, and clean energy for all.
  2. Creating Meaningful Green Jobs for Young People
    Canada must scale up youth climate initiatives. ORCIE recommends at least $1 billion to establish a robust Youth Climate Corps that equips young people with skills for a sustainable future while strengthening community resilience.
  3. Fulfilling International Climate Commitments
    Canada has a moral and legal responsibility to support the world’s most vulnerable communities. ORCIE urges tripling climate finance to $15.9 billion by 2030–31, prioritizing adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, and providing most funds as grants rather than loans.

These recommendations reflect our commitment to a federal budget that protects human dignity, promotes ecological justice, and responds to the needs of the planet and its people.

Read the full ORCIE submission here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19Mrs6lhrJCWxHCAhHdjyIweFNib-p1l0/view?usp=sharing

Stay tuned: ORCIE will share our analysis and reflections on the November 4th budget announcement, highlighting what it means for ecological justice and guiding our next steps in advocacy.

JOIN US: Lobby Days with MPs in Ottawa and in your local ridings

Filed Under: Activities, Advocacy, Take Action, Uncategorised

Connecting the dots between the debt crisis, the climate emergency, cuts to foreign aid and an unjust financial system, ORCIE is calling for Canada to fund our fair share to confront the climate crisis.

Will you join us for our upcoming Lobby Day September 25th, 2025 in Ottawa? Our Learning & Lobbying process prepares small teams of members of religious congregations to meet with Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, MPs and Members of Standing Committees on Parliament Hill.

Details on our Learning & Lobbying Days:

  • September 20 (Sat): Global Climate Strike, locally across Canada
  • September 23 (Tue): ORCIE Learning Session, virtual
  • September 24 (Wed) : ORCIE Preparation for meetings, Ottawa
  • September 25 (Thurs): ORCIE Lobby Day on the Hill, Ottawa
  • September 29- 30 (Mon-Tues): Meet your MP at local offices
  • October 13-17 (Mon-Fri): Meet your MP at local offices
Prep day with the ORCIE members

Religious are invited to join us in Ottawa for September 24-25, or to work together locally to meet MPs in their riding. For more information and to express your interest please contact Sasquia or Genevieve so we can prepare for your participation.

ORCIE Endorses Open Letter by Faith Organizations in Support of Preserving El Salvador’s Historic Ban on Metals Mining

Filed Under: Activities, Advocacy, News, Take Action

The Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology (ORCIE) is pleased to share that we have officially endorsed the Open Letter by Faith Organizations in Support of Preserving El Salvador’s Historic Ban on Metals Mining. This collective statement urges governments to uphold the decision of the people of El Salvador and their church institutions to protect their land, water, and communities from the devastating impacts of metallic mining.

We, the undersigned, from a diversity of church structures(representing local, regional, and national expressions of churches and related agencies),express our steadfast support for the people of El Salvador and their religious institutions and leaders who are struggling to maintain their country’s historic ban on metal mining –in place from 2017 to 2024 — so all Salvadorans can enjoy their God-given right to clean water.  We stand in solidarity with civic and religious leaders who are being persecuted and imprisoned for working against injustices, including the devastation that metals mining would cause their communities…”

We encourage our members to join us in this important initiative by signing on behalf of your congregation. Adding your voice amplifies the call from people of faith who are advocating for ecological justice and the defense of communities most at risk.

📅 Deadline to sign: September 1, 2025

👉 Read and sign the open letter here

Together, our collective witness can amplify the moral voice of the people of El Salvador in their call for justice and the care for creation.

The Fair Share Platform for Global Climate Equity

Filed Under: Advocacy, Take Action

ORCIE has joined organizations from across Canadian civil society to call upon the government of Canada to fulfill our fair share of the global effort to confront the climate crisis.

Canada cannot take on the climate crisis alone. As one of the world’s top polluters and wealthiest countries, we must do our fair share globally, not just at home. As the 30th annual UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) approaches, Prime Minister Carney has a generational opportunity and responsibility to lead boldly on climate justice, economic transformation, and international solidarity.

Why this matters

The climate emergency was created and is accelerated by a deeply unjust global economic system that is unfairly distorted against Indigenous communities and the Global South. The time has come to reckon with Canada’s role in the international community. Canada can show leadership in supporting energy transitions around the world. We can also help transform unfair systems that have become barriers to climate action.

Doing our fair share means building a new package of support to the international community from the Canadian government – rooted in justice and led by social movements.

  1. Triple Canada’s climate finance to support the Global South with grants, not loans.
  2. Cancel unjust Global South debt and free billions for climate solutions.
  3. Make big polluters and the ultra-rich pay their fair share. 
  4. End trade rules that undermine climate action. 

Individuals are encouraged to sign the petition to send these demands to the Prime Minister and key cabinet ministers.

Religious congregations are invited to sign on as an organization and can do so through this form.

Read the full platform for a detailed breakdown of how Canada can do its part in the global climate fight. The Platform is a living document that is growing and evolving as our Fair Share movement expands.