The Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology
On August 1, the federal government opened a public comment period on whether to designate the West Coast Oil Pipeline a project of national interest, fast-tracking it past the usual environmental review.
Add your voice.
Send in a short note, a few paragraphs, about why this decision matters to you.
Our new position paper, Care for Creation, Not Extraction: Understanding Why Canada Must End Fossil Fuel Subsidies, is a practical advocacy tool for members who want to engage their MPs in calling for an end to fossil fuel expansion.
It explains how public subsidies for oil and gas contradict Canada’s climate and moral commitments, outlines the scale and mechanisms of these subsidies, and provides clear talking points and questions to guide outreach.
Grounded in integral ecology, the paper invites us to examine how public spending reflects our collective values—are we investing in the flourishing of the whole Earth community, or reinforcing systems that harm it?
Use this resource to learn more on how to communicate directly with MPs on this topic, building the strong constituency pressure needed to urge the federal government to redirect public funds toward renewable energy and a just transition.
Integral ecology is a way of living that honours the interconnectedness at the heart of life on earth. It recognizes the profound web of relationships that shape human, ecological, social, economic, and spiritual realities, and calls us to approach every justice issue—especially climate change—with an attentiveness to this deeper wholeness and relationality. As a discernment lens, integral ecology invites both personal and collective transformation in how we understand and live our relationships with one another and with the earth.
This paper is authored by Dr. Sue Wilson, Executive Director of the Office for Systemic Justice and Co‑Chair of the ORCIE Board, and Dr. Darlene O’Leary, Coordinator of the Martha Justice Ministry and member of the ORCIE Board Executive Committee.
You are invited to explore the full paper for a deeper theological, ethical, and policy-oriented reflection on integral ecology in the Canadian context.
Read Executive Summary in English and French here:
Executive Summary-Integral Ecology -ORCIE
Résumé – Écologie intégrale -BCRÉI
Note
If any of the hyperlinks in the documents are not longer functioning, please contact Sasquia at sapineda@orcie.org
For Jubilee 2025 ORCIE explores the concept of ecological debt and its deep connections to global financial exploitation in a special deep-dive position paper, exploring the deep-rooted connections between environmental destruction, colonial legacies, and the ongoing economic disparities between the Global North and South.
Inspired by Pope Francis’s urgent appeal for debt forgiveness and systemic reform, the paper advocates for a reform of the current global economic system to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).