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Development & Peace

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Development and Peace is a group of people across Canada who work with the poor in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean to help improve living and working conditions throughout the developing world. During the past three decades more than $320 million has been provided to support people of all faiths through 12,000 community-based projects in 70 countries. Donations are also solicited to provide relief abroad for natural disasters, civil disturbances and other human tragedies. Action at home As a major part of the mission here in Canada, Development and Peace organizes information sessions and fund-raising activities from coast to coast. Regional and national campaigns are run about issues that threaten the lives and livelihood of people in the South. These lobbying and advocacy activities show how actions taken by ordinary Canadians can really change people’s lives in some of the world’s poorest nations. Action abroad DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE’S goals are wide ranging, but are focused on working on issues that concern justice, and the dignity and worth of the human person. Funds are used for such things as job training, environmental protection, community health care, or electoral reform. Each of the overseas projects is designed to help people become self-sufficient, and all Development and Peace programs emphasize the role of women in community development. Most importantly, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE projects build leadership. A community’s greatest resource is believed to be the local residents, so funding is used to help these people organize to build better lives. For example, Development and Peace dollars support: community-based credit unions; adult education; farm co-operatives; legal aid programs; organizational skills training; and, marketing initiatives for locally-produced products. Funding is also sent abroad to help ensure: decent shelter; fairer laws; land rights for indigenous people; better-paying jobs; peace and security; gender equity, and much, much more. Support at home for people in the South The urgency and scope of the challenges facing Development and Peace are as real today as they were in 1967. The Canadian Church - supported by data from economists, demographers and out many partners in the South - tells us that poverty is increasing dramatically around the globe, at least in part because of the economic policies by wealthy nations like Canada. Development and Peace members know that we must do more than just attach hunger and reduce suffering; however, Canadians must also work to build a world where people of every faith, race, and nationality can participate fully in the social, political, and economic life of their community. Canadians have responded frequently and generously to appeals for help down through the years, but the job is far from over. We must continue to engage in public debate about poverty and continue to engage in public debate about poverty, and continue to support actions that raise awareness of the forces in the world that deprive millions of people of their basic rights and freedoms. "By working with Development and Peace, each of us can be involved in the Church’s ministry of justice and love. It is only through individual support that this official institution of the Catholic Church in Canada is able to carry out the mission entrusted to it . . . and enter the new millennium as a witness of Catholic compassion, solidarity and commitment." - Pastoral Message Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops On Development and Peace's 30th Anniversary in October 1997. For more information on DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE you may contact them by either mail to 420 - 10 St. Mary Street, Toronto, Ontario, M4Y 1P9 or Telephone at 416-922-1592 or Fax at 416-922-0957; Toll free at 1-800-494-1401 or On the web at www.devp.org For the DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE Committee at Saint Peter’s, contact the Parish Office at 902-466-6183 or e-mail at st.peters.dartmouth@ns.sympatico.ca.

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