After fifteen months of steady advocacy and education, the Turn Debt Into Hope campaign reached a powerful culmination on April 28 with a Parliamentary breakfast and a rally on Parliament Hill.
The global campaign was led by Caritas Internationalis in 2025 to mark the Jubilee Year around the world. In Canada, it was carried out by an ecumenical coalition of organizations, including Development and Peace – Caritas Canada (DPCC), KAIROS Canada, Citizens for Public Justice, the Canadian Council of Churches, and ORCIE.
For ORCIE, this moment marked not only the close of a national campaign and a recognition of the strength of coalition work, but also a clear demonstration of what becomes possible when Religious Congregations engage their elected leaders with courage and hope.
ORCIE in the Shared Effort
Through the Turn Debt into Hope campaign, ORCIE shifted its advocacy to a Canadian focus—calling for grants instead of loans for climate finance and the cancellation of unsustainable debts for developing countries.
How we took part
- ORCIE’s ecological debt position paper
- The Global South Voices project, which gathered impact statements from Sisters in the Global South on ecological debt and its links to financial debt.
- Participation in the COP30 side event “Responding to the Global South Catholic Bishops Conferences’ Call for Climate Justice,” where ORCIE staff served as one of the panelists, linking ecological and financial debt crises.
- Impact statements and quotes for the rally event and press release, including Sister Ligia Molina’s (Congregation of Notre Dame, Honduras) testimony.
- Eight ORCIE congregations took part in the Parliamentary Paper Petition—gathering signatures, meeting MPs, and ensuring that the voices of Religious Congregations were present in MP offices. This local engagement proved essential.
A Crucial Meeting: Sisters of St. Joseph and MP Rob Oliphant
Sasquia Antúnez Pineda, Vickie McNally, Sister Pat Boucher, MP Rob Oliphant, and Sister Janet Speth
A turning point came on March 30, when the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, accompanied by ORCIE staff Sasquia Antúnez Pineda, met with MP Rob Oliphant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
This meeting—rooted in the Sisters’ ongoing presence and ministry in his riding—opened the door to everything that followed. MP Oliphant agreed to:
- Sponsor the Parliamentary Panel
- Present the Parliamentary Paper Petition in the House of Commons
- Receive all 75,500+ petition signatures at the rally
April 28: A Day of Witness and Hope
The day began with a Parliamentary breakfast, sponsored by MP Oliphant and the Sisters of St. Joseph, titled “Turn Debt Into Hope: Why tackling sovereign debt matters for global stability and sustainable development.”
MPs from multiple parties attended, including Elizabeth May, Brendan Hanley, and Greg Fergus, along with Parliamentary staffers, representatives from civil society organizations including ONE Campaign, Results Canada, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, Climate Action Network Canada, Citizens’ Climate Lobby and KAIROS members. Their presence reflected the broad, cross‑party concern for debt justice.
Speakers
Wesley Chibamba (Caritas Africa); Dean Detloff and Kiegan Irish (Development and Peace–Caritas Canada); Caroline Brouillette (Climate Action Network Canada)
Moderators: Beth Lorimer (KAIROS) and Geneviève Gallant (ORCIE)
At noon, more than 100 people gathered for the rally on Parliament Hill. MP Oliphant accepted 75,500+ Canadian signatures, joined by MP Judy Sgro. Students, sisters, professors, and coalition partners brought energy and justice calls to the moment.
MP Oliphant spoke about Jubilee’s biblical foundations and Canada’s past involvement in sovereign debt cancellation, while also underscoring the urgent need to confront today’s unsustainable and unfair debt burdens crippling developing countries: “Canada has led the way for almost seventy years in debt forgiveness. We don’t forgive all debt, because the reality is that we want a combination of grants and loans—this helps countries establish sustainability, credit ratings, it establishes them as full partners in our global world. But debt can be crippling, can be unsustainable and can drop down the level and standard of living that all of us can benefit from. So, I am pleased to receive these petitions.”
MP Judy Sgro: “We are waiting for you to work with us to ensure that we have a better world”
A Visible Impact — Thanks to Your Engagement
This campaign showed something important: MPs respond to their local communities. The engagement of ORCIE congregations—your signatures, your meetings with your MPs, your faithful presence—wove an important thread into the wider coalition effort.
Together, this helped nurture:
• The Parliamentary breakfast
• The public petition handover on Parliament Hill
• Cross‑party MP engagement
• A united coalition voice for debt and climate justice
We are deeply grateful to every congregation that participated, and especially to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto for their decisive role in meeting MP Oliphant. Your witness made these moments possible.
What’s Next
The coalition has already held more than 20 meetings with MPs, with a few additional conversations still anticipated. On April 21, MP Brendan Hanley presented the Parliamentary Paper Petition in the House of Commons, and several other MPs are expected to table petitions in the coming weeks.
The coalition has also submitted a request to appear before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development as part of its study on the sovereign debt crisis. If invited, ORCIE would participate as a supporting witness on ecological debt.
As these final petition readings unfold, ORCIE will continue offering accompaniment to congregations engaging their local MPs, recognizing that advocacy grounded in community relationships has the greatest impact.
Watch MP Brendan Hanley read the Parliamentary Paper Petition in the House of Commons: ParlVu
