Development and Peace:
Turn Debt into Hope: Sign the Petition

Our Partners Make the Difference. Peru faces an ecological debt crisis as extractive industries, often foreign owned, deplete its natural resources, harm the environment and human rights. These industries unjustly enrich the Global North at the Global South’s expense. Our partners, the Comisión Episcopal de Acción Social (CEAS, Episcopal Commission for Social Action) and the Institut Bartolomé de Las Casas (IBC) work closely with affected communities, advocating for justice and sustainable alternatives.

“Our territory is under concession without our consent. The extractive companies want to move our territory to get the oil, damaging places like the ojos de agua (eyes of water). These water sources are vital to us, the Asháninka, providing water not only for us for but for other species. This economic model is not ours as Indigenous peoples; it distances us from Mother Nature and our spirituality.” –Karen Pamela Huere Cristobal, Indigenous Asháninka activist, Peru

What can you do this week? As Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee Year, let’s journey together during the 40-days of Lent.  The mini-magazine which is available in the lobby of the church offers some suggestions for this week from the Solidarity Calendar:

• March 16th is the Second Sunday of Lent, and the symbol is ‘a pencil and clipboard’ encouraging everyone to SIGN THE PETITION to cancel debt and break the debt cycle (available at the back of the church).

• Pray for our sisters and brothers who are weighed down by heavy burdens of debt.

• A challenge: Pick one meal this week to be made entirely of locally grown ingredients. This is especially tricky in the winter!

• March 22nd is World Water Day. Water is essential to life, so let’s take care to not waste it. Google “The Story of Bottled Water.”

In this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis calls on us to take part in the global Turn Debt into Hope campaign to “forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them.” Knowing that 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on foreign debt repayment than on health or education, we must act!

SIGN THE GLOBAL PETITION calling for: Canceling unjust and unsustainable debts; reforming the global financial system to prioritize people and the planet; and establishing a binding and comprehensive debt framework within the United Nations. Please sign the petition at the entrance of the church or online at devp.org/debt. 

Development and Peace: Share Year-Round

Donate monthly and become a ‘Share Year-Round’ donor. Your recurring, predictable donations make a significant difference throughout the year. This support not only drives our mission, but it also encourages us to continue our efforts to make the world a better place. They provide financial stability to our support partners working in communities and strengthen our ability to respond rapidly to emergency relief.
Share Year-Round donors become lifetime members of Development and Peace – Caritas Canada. They can take part in awareness-raising activities and vote at our assemblies. Together, we fight for global social justice, unite our voices for peace and work for the dignity of every individual in solidarity with our partners.

This Lent you can double your impact! Start or increase your monthly donations any time between Ash Wednesday (March 5th) and Pentecost (June 8th) to have your total annual donation (or increase thereof) matched dollar for dollar! Each February, you will receive a tax receipt for the total amount of your monthly contributions over the previous year.

Thank you to all our donors, who are the cornerstone of our efforts! To find out more, visit https://devp.org/en/monthly-donations/ or pick up a Share Year-Round monthly donations pamphlet in the lobby of the church. Become a Share Year-Round donor today! 

Development and Peace: This Lent, Turn Debt into Hope

In 2000, during a Jubilee Year, Development and Peace—Caritas Canada took part in a global campaign whose resounding success led to the cancellation of over $100 billion in foreign debt for 36 of the world’s most impoverished countries.

Today, more than 100 countries in the Global South are facing a debt crisis, as the structural causes of indebtedness have not changed. Moreover, the situation has worsened with predatory lending, the economic effects of the pandemic and global inflation. Today, 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt servicing than on health or education.

2025 is a Jubilee year. A year in which Pope Francis invites us to “forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them.” (Spes non confundit, 16). Development and Peace — Caritas Canada is responding to this call through the global Turn Debt into Hope campaign which begins next weekend, March 9th.

Here are a few ways you can join us:

1. Donating online at devp.org/give or during the Solidarity Sunday collection on April 6, the fifth Sunday of Lent. Your generosity helps support over 79 projects in 34 countries around the world!

2. Get the Mini-magazine (copies available in the lobby of the church) and follow the Solidarity Calendar with your family. Discover all the resources at devp.org/lent/resources. 

Development and Peace: Reaping Our Rights Campaign 

Thank you for participating in our Reaping Our Rights Campaign! Thousands of Canadians signed the action sheet for the Create Hope Campaign in solidarity with the peasant farmers who feed the world and care for the Earth.

Undaunted, peasant farmers organize and advocate for their rights. It was their courageous mobilization that led to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). Let us be thankful for the abundance of food we are privileged to eat provided to 70-80% of the world by peasant farmers and rural communities in the Global South.

We continue to collect signatures online across the country until April 17, 2025. After that, a delegation from Development and Peace — Caritas Canada will take the signatures to Ottawa to ensure that the Canadian government heeds our call for mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation.

Thank you for your continued commitment and mobilization!
  ■ To sign up and support the campaign, visit devp.org/act.
  ■ To become a member and support the mission, visit devp.org/joinus.