Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology

10/13/2026

How could Canada’s approach to fast-tracking major projects affect environmental protections, climate action, and biodiversity?

Happening Today! We’re sharing this upcoming webinar hosted by The Canadian Environmental Network as part of the EPA Caucus Fall 2026 Webinar Series.

Webinar 1: Bill C-39, Major Projects, and the Environment: What’s at Stake for Climate and Nature?

Join environmental experts from West Coast Environmental Law, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, and Ecojustice for an educational discussion on Bill C-39 and related policy changes, their implications for federal impact assessment, and what they could mean for communities, climate, and biodiversity, including species at risk such as the Southern Resident Killer Whale.

🎙️ Featuring:
• Anna Johnston, West Coast Environmental Law
• Dr. Justina Ray, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada
• Isabel McMurray, Ecojustice

Understanding changes to environmental laws and major project decision-making is essential to informed public engagement and the protection of our common home. 🌎

📅 Register for the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ahky3YFlS9aeLf7PbujHTA

10/07/2026

🌿 For those in Ottawa: An opportunity to learn about ecological justice and a just transition

ORCIE is pleased to join Canadian Jesuits International in sharing this free public talk with Brex Arevalo, an environmental planner, climate justice advocate, and researcher with more than nine years of experience in climate change, pollution, air quality, and sustainable development.

Brex will share from his experience working with urban poor communities in Manila and engaging in public policy dialogue to support a safe and just energy transition in the Global South.

📅 Wednesday, October 21, 2026
🕕 6:00 p.m.
📍 Saint Paul University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa
🎤 Margins at the Centre: Navigating a Just Transition in the Wild Wild Waste

Free and open to the public. No registration required.

10/06/2026

🌎 What if “enough” could help us imagine a different economy?

What might the idea of "degrowth" have to teach us about caring for our common home? And how might liberation theology offer new ways of thinking about economic and social transformation?

Join ORCIE on Friday, October 23 at 2:00 p.m. EDT for an online book launch and conversation on "Enough Is Enough: Degrowth, Capitalism and Liberation Theology", with co-author Dean Detloff.

Dean will introduce the book and invite us to explore its call to question an economy built around endless growth, challenge the structures of capitalism, and imagine new economies rooted in justice, liberation, human flourishing, and care for creation.

Together, we’ll reflect on what degrowth and liberation theology can offer one another, and what these perspectives might mean for our shared commitment to care for our common home.

📖 "Enough Is Enough..."
📅 Friday, October 23, 2026
🕑 2:00 p.m. EDT
💻 Online via Zoom

👉 Learn more and register: https://orcie.org/enough-is-enough-a-book-launch-and-discussion-on-degrowth-capitalism-and-liberation-theology/

This online discussion is ORCIE’s contribution to the Canadian Religious Conference’s first JPIC National Day of Action on October 24, 2026, under the theme “Open Hands to Reinvent Earth.” 🌱

06/15/2026

Join ORCIE on June 25 at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) for a special book‑launch and discussion with Maude Barlow on her new book "Earth for Sale"—a powerful call to defend the global commons from the growing “financialization of nature.”

The program includes reflection, a lecture, and conversation. All are welcome.

📘 Book: https://ecwpress.com/products/earth-for-sale
🖥️ Register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/7hKxfOc2Q2CcDEO5LPgP9g #/registration

06/11/2026

This week, ORCIE shared our Integral Ecology paper with members of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

As we continue preparing for meetings with Committee members this fall, we’re grounding our outreach in the values and analysis that shape our work: the deep interconnectedness of people, planet, and the systems that sustain life.

Our hope is that this resource supports thoughtful reflection and opens space for meaningful dialogue in the months ahead.

📄 Read the paper: https://orcie.org/resources/

06/11/2026

ORCIE has added its voice to this urgent call.

BREAKING: Over 60 unions, civil society organizations, Indigenous and faith groups have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for an excess profits tax on oil and gas companies.

Polling released last week shows that two thirds of Canadians support taxing the windfall profits of oil and gas corporations, with the revenues used to address the cost of living crisis and lower our energy bills.

The scale of corporate profiteering by the fossil industry while people across Canada contend with high fuel bills is staggering: oil companies are set to make $10 million per hour based on conservative estimates. A 75% tax on excess profits 120% above pre-crisis profit levels would generate more than $40 billion that could be given back to Canadians.

The writing’s on the wall: an excess profits tax is a feasible, practical, and popular solution.

Read the open letter:

Over 60 unions and civil society organizations, backed by 66 % of Canadians, signed a joint letter calling on the Canadian Federal Government to deliver an Excess Profits Tax on the Oil and Gas Industry.

05/28/2026

In Memory of Carl Hétu: A Tribute from ORCIE

Ottawa, May 28, 2026. It is with deep sorrow that we learned of the passing of Carl Hétu — a friend, respected leader, and long-time partner in the movement for social justice and global solidarity. ORCIE joins Development and Peace – Caritas Canada in mourning his loss while also celebrating the remarkable life he lived.

Carl’s lifelong commitment to justice, peace, and dignity for all deeply inspired our work. It was a privilege for ORCIE to collaborate with him and our partners through the Turn Debt Into Hope campaign. Together, and now in his memory, we remain committed to challenging unjust systems and advancing new models of development that uphold the well-being of people and the planet.

Carl strengthened our collective work through his vision, his collaborative spirit, and his unwavering dedication to dialogue and to the empowerment of the most marginalized. His legacy will continue to guide and inspire our efforts toward the common good.

As Carl enters the communion of saints, we say with one voice: ¡Presente! May his courage, leadership, and hope live on in all of us.

In hope and solidarity,
The ORCIE Team

05/13/2026

May. 6th, 2026 Coalition delivers 72,514 signatures for debt justice to Parliament After 16 months of education and mobilization that called on Canada to help end the sovereign debt crisis that thwarts the sustainable development goals of low-to-mid income countries, the Turn Debt into Hope Canadi...

05/12/2026

Grateful to see MP Brendan Hanley (Yukon) read the Turn Debt Into Hope petition in the House of Commons — a moment of faith and solidarity calling Canada to act for global justice.

Watch and share this milestone:
🎥 https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20260421/-1/44759?mediaStartTime=20260421135321&mediaEndTime=20260421135404&viewMode=3&globalStreamId=29

Sitting No. 107 House of Commons