January 29, 2017 - Immediate Release
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JANUARY 29, 2017 - IMMEDIATE RELEASE MULTI-FAITH CLERGY PRESS CONFERENCE SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2017 AT 9:30 AM AT JACK POOLE PLAZA 1085 Canada Place Vancouver, BC (in front of 2010 Olympic Flame) CLERGY ACROSS CANADA CALL ON PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU AND CANADIAN GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY EXTEND TEMPORARY RESIDENT VISAS OR PERMITS FOR CANADA FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE AMERICAN VISAS IN HAND, AND WHO ARE STRANDED AT AMERICAN PORTS OF ENTRY ONLY BECAUSE OF THE US PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDER ON REFUGEES AND IMMIGRATION Concerned Canadian Clergy for Refugees call upon the Canadian Government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to immediately extend temporary resident visas or permits for individuals who have American visas in hand, passed American security clearance, and who are stranded at American ports of entry only. Canada should favourably consider temporary resident visas or permits to Canada for individuals within this group who have been recognized as refugees by the United States, these individuals, who have passed American security and background checks, should be allowed entry to Canada. Canada and the USA have agreed to protect refugees. Given that these security-screened refugees would have been able to disembark their flight for new lives in the USA, and are not considered security risks, Canada should help and help them now. A small number of cases are affected. We are reminded of our nation's history when 'none is too many' was our response to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Since those dark days following World War II, Canada has made great strides to be a beacon of hope to refugees seeking safety from around the world. As America's light of Lady Liberty has dimmed with the closing of US borders to Muslim refugees we call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and our national government to immediately grant temporary resident visas or permits to those with American visas in hand who have now been turned away by the Executive Order of US President Donald Trump on Refugees and Immigration. In this moment of humanitarian urgency Canada must shine our light brighter and be a beacon of hope to the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Contact Rabbi Dan Moskovitz 604-401-5153, [email protected] Signatures on next page and following 1 SIGNATURES Rabbi Dan Moskovitz Rabbi Denise Eger Temple Sholom President of the Central Conference of Vancouver, BC American Rabbis Rabbi Philip Bregman Jewish Refugee Network (JRAN) HillelBC Maureen Silcoff, Chair Vancouver, BC Rabbi Arthur Bielfeld, founder of JRAN Rabbi Elyse Goldstein Rev. Diane Rollert City Shul Minister/Pasteure Toronto, ON Unitarian Church of Montreal L’Église Unitarienne de Montréal Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center International Rev Debra Faulk Philadelphia, PA Unitarian Church of Calgary Rabbi Erin Polansky Rabbi Yael Splansky Neshamah Congregation Holy Blossom Temple Thornhill, ON Toronto ON Rev'd Dr Richard Geoffrey Leggett Rabbi Carey Brown Saint Faith’s Anglican Church Temple Sholom New Westminster BC Vancouver, BC Rabbi Audrey Pollack The Rev. Rob Crosby-Shearer Solel Congregation of Mississauga Co-Prior & Deacon Mississauga ON The Emmaus Community and the Abbey Church Victoria, BC Rev. Dr. Jason Byassee Butler Chair in Homiletics The Rev. Meagan Crosby-Shearer Vancouver School of Theology Formation Director & Priest Vancouver, B.C. The Emmaus Community and the Abbey Church Victoria, BC Rev Canon Dr John Alfred Steele The Rev’d Craig Hiebert St Dunstan's Anglican Church Incumbent, The Church of St Mary the Virgin Victoria, BC The Anglican Diocese of British Columbia Victoria, BC Rev. Dr. Richard Bott Minister of Congregational Development The Reverend Michael McGee Dunbar Ryerson United Church Rector, St Christopher's Anglican Church United Church of Canada. West Vancouver 2 Rabbi Alan W. Bright - Mohel Rev. Laura Imayoshi Shaare Zedek Congregation Community Minister Unitarian Church of Vancouver Dr. Kidoor K.N. BHAT, President VVSBC (Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Rabbi Michal Shekel British Columbia) Congregation Har Tikvah Brampton, ON Rev. Laurel Dykstra Priest In Charge at Salal + Cedar Rabbi Daniel Mikelberg Anglican Diocese of New Westminster Temple Sinai Toronto ON Rev. Jennifer Swanson loco United Christopher Page Pt. Moody. BC Rector St. Philip Rev. Scott Swanson Rabbi Michael Whitman Sunnyside United Church The ADATH Surrey, BC Hampstead, Quebec Fr. Robin Ruder Celiz Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, Ph.D. Vicar of St. Martin's Anglican Church Director of Inter-Religious Studies and Vancouver, BC Professor of Jewish Studies Vancouver School of Theology Rabbi Stephen F Moch Vancouver, BC Kolot Mayim Reform Temple Victoria, BC Rev Debra Faulk Unitarian Church of Calgary Jaylynn W. Byassee Calgary, AB Pastor of Refugee Support Tenth Church Kitsilano Dr Robert Oppenheimer Vancouver, B.C. Victoria, BC Rabbi Jordan Helfman Rabbi Jordan Cohen Holy Blossom Temple, Temple Anshe Sholom Toronto, ON Hamilton, ON Rev. Dr .Penelope Witte Allderdice Haval Ahmad Unitarian Universalist Minister Royal Roads University St John's NL Rabbi David Mivasair Rabbi Andrea Myers Ahavat Olam Synagogue Toronto, ON Vancouver, BC The Rev'd. Stephen Petrie Acharya Shrinath Dwivedi, Hospital Chaplain President Sainte Anne's Hospital Global Hindu Foundation of Canada Montreal, Québec 3 Rabbi Louis W. Sutker Arun Chatterjee, Interim Rabbi Har El Synagogue Hospital Chaplain, West Vancouver, B.C. Vivekananda Vedanta Society of BC Rabbi Mark Glickman Rabbi Bill S. Tepper Temple B'nai Tikvah Toronto, ON Calgary, AB The Rev Gillian Hoyer, Assistant Curate, Rev. Wendy McNiven Anglican Church of St John the Divine, Retired Unitarian Universalist Minister Victoria BC Member, Comox Valley Unitarian Fellowship Rabbi Susan Shamash Rabbi Boris Dolin Or Shalom Synagogue (member) Congregation Dorshei Emet Vancouver, B.C. (Reconstructionist) Hampstead, Quebec Fr. Gilles A. Surprenant Parish Assistant Rabbi Lori Cohen St Gabriel Parish Temple Shalom Montreal QC Waterloo, ON Rémi Bourdon Rabbi Shalom Schachter Roman catholicisme priest Vice President OHALAH Diocèse Saint-Jean-Longueuil The Association of Rabbis and Cantors for Jewish Renewal Father Paul Geraghty Toronto ON St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Montreal, Quebec Rev. Brian Kiely Unitarian Church of Edmonton Rabbi Julia Appel Hillel at the University of Toronto Rev. Wayne Walder, B.A. M.Div. Toronto ON Senior Minister, Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Rabbi Edward Goldfarb Congregation Holy Blossom Temple Toronto, On. Toronto ON Rabbi Lisa Grushcow Rabbi Hannah Dresner Montreal Quebec Or Shalom Vancouver BC The Reverend C. Ray D Fletcher TELKWA B.C. Rabbi Robert Daum, PhD Chair, The Laurier Institution Dr Ashok Agarwal, Trustee, Vancouver, BC Victoria Hindu Parishad And Cultural Center, Victoria, BC Rabbi Sherril Gilbert, Executive Director, ALEPH Canada 4 Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl Rev. Linda McLaren Anne and Max Tanenbaum Senior Rabbi Saint Andrew's United Church Beth Tzedec Congregation Williams Lake BC Toronto Rev. Valerie Taylor Cantor Cheryl Wunch Coordinating Minister Congregation Shaarei-Beth El West Point Grey United Church Oakville, ON Vancouver, BC Canon Peter Hamel, Rector Emeritus, St. Rev. Wendy McNiven Paul's Anglican Church, Masset, Retired Unitarian Universalist Minister Haida Gwaii. BC. Member, Comox Valley Unitarian Fellowship Rev. Nick Brotherwood, Reverend Anne Barker Anglican Church of Canada Unitarian Universalist Minister at Westwood Montreal, QC. Unitarian Society in Edmonton Alberta. Rev. Jack Costello SJ David Daniel Klipper Jesuit Refugee and Migrant Service Rabbinic Pastor and Regis College Toronto ON Rev. Shawn Newton First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto Rev. Heather Wright Landry Toronto, ON United on Whyte United Church Edmonton, AB Jane Bramadat (Rev) Unitarian Universalist Minister Emerita Rev. Helen McFadyen M.Div. First Unitarian Church of Victoria, BC Minister, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Kamloops, BC (Rev) Barbara Hansen Diaconal Minister, Gareth Sirotnik United Church of Canada Zen Buddhist Chaplain University of British Columbia Rev. Heather Carlson Knox United Church (Rev.) Anne Treadwell Drumheller, AB Retired Unitarian Minister Kitchener, Ontario Rabbi Irit Printz Toronto, Ontario Rev. Kristin Wood Burke Diaconal Minister Rev. Lynn Harrison United Church of Canada Minister of Community Engagement Neepawa and Area Pastoral Charge First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto Rev. Jim Tenford Rev. Miriam Bowlby Moose Jaw, SK Cochrane Street United Church St. John's, NL 5 Sally Meyer (Rev) Serving Lacolle-Clarenceville and Rev. Darla Sloan, pasteure Hemmingford Pastoral Charges of the Église Unie Saint-Pierre & Pinguet Québec Presbytery in the Temple Chalmers-Wesley Montreal-Ottawa Conference of the Québec United Church of Canada Rev. Frances Deverell Rabbi Phyllis Berman Retired Unitarian Universalist Minister Spiritual Director In the Community in Ottawa Rev. Dr. Travis O'Brian Rabbi Leana Moritt Rector, St Barnabas Anglican Church, Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation Victoria, BC Rabbi Leonard Cohen Rabbi Noam Katz Kehilat Shalom Dean of Jewish Living Calgary, AB The Leo Baeck Day School Toronto, Ontario Rev. Tricia Gerhard United Church of Canada, Samaya Oakley, Minister Regina, SK South Fraser Unitarian Congregation Fraser Valley BC Rev. Anne Orfald, minister emerita, Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough, ON Rev. Rodrigo Emilio Solano-Quesnel from the Peterborough, Ontario UU Fellowship of Ottawa Rev. Sarah Bruer Rabbi Edward Elkin Diagonal Minister First Narayever Congregation