JANUARY 29, 2017 - IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MULTI-FAITH CLERGY PRESS CONFERENCE

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2017 AT 9:30 AM AT JACK POOLE PLAZA 1085 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 , 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 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 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,

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 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 .

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, 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 MacGregor United Church Toronto, ON MacGregor,

Rev. Margaret J. Roberts Rev. Greg Smith-Young Community Minister, Spirit Arts Project Welcome Centre Wellington Vancouver, BC Elora United Church Elora, Ontario Rev. Dr. Steven Epperson Unitarian Church of Vancouver Rev. Leanne Benoit Vancouver, BC Esquimalt United Church Victoria, BC Rev. Anne Hoganson St. Paul's United The Rev. Trisha Elliott Halifax, NS Southminster United Church Ottawa Ontario Rev Wanda Stride Woodville Pastoral Charge, United Church of Rev. Steve Berube Canada St. Paul's United Church Kawartha Lakes, Ontario Riverview, NB

6 Rev. Jane Doull Rev. Elaine Beattie Wesley United Church Minister St Andrews, NB Manotick United Church Manotick Ottawa United Church of Canada

United States Clergy that have signed in solidarity with our cause

Rabbi Tamar Malino Rabbi Mara Nathan Temple Beth Shalom Temple Beth-El Spokane, WA San Antonio, Texas

Rabbi Scott M. Sperling Rabbi Ken Chasen Beth El Congregation Leo Baeck Temple Winchester, Virginia. Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Molly Karp Rabbi Steven Altarescu New City, NY Bronx, New York Rabbi Rachel Barenblat Rabbi Laurie Levy Co-chair, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Bronx, New York Renewal Rabbi Sarah Meytin Rabbi Diane Elliot Silver Spring, MD Wholly Present, A Center for Embodied Judaism Rabbi Debra Kolodny Director, ALEPH’s Embodying Spirit Program Portland, OR El Sobrante, CA Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum Wayland MA New City, NY Rabbi Jan Salzman Rabbi Barbara Thiede Congregation Ruach haMaqom Temple Or Olam Burlington, Vermont Concord, NC

7 Those Present at Press Conference

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz Haval Ahmad Temple Sholom Royal Roads University Vancouver BC [email protected] [email protected] 604.401.5153 Arun Chatterjee, Hospital Chaplain, Vivekananda Vedanta Rabbi Philip Bregman Society of BC HillelBC Minister and Convener, Interfaith Homeless Vancouver BC Food and Clothing Ministry [email protected] [email protected]

Dr. Kidoor K.N. BHAT, President VVSBC (Vivekananda Vedanta Society of British Columbia) [email protected]

Richard Bott (Rev. Dr.) Minister of Congregational Development Dunbar Ryerson United Church United Church of Canada [email protected]

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