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All courses run for 3 hours each day for 5 days between Tuesday and Saturday, August 7th-11th. Please note that these are non-credit course offerings.

August 4th - 5th
Popular Theatre: Preventing
Gender-Based Violence

Nisha Sajnani and Victor Porter

August 5th
Spiritual Practice for Peace and Justice

August 6th
Opening Ceremony and Interfaith Solidarity

August 12th
Interfaith Solidarity for Worker Justice: Challenges and Hopes
Junaid Ahmad and Priti Shah

August 12th
Restorative Justice: A Strict Law Bids Us
Gloria Cole (Gaaxstalas Wedlidi) and Marjorie Dumont

August 7th-9th
Hip-Hop for Social Justice
Sara Kendall , Rupinder Sidhu, and Other Facilitators

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE FOR
PEACE AND JUSTICE

August 5 | SFU Burnaby Campus
Time: 10 am - 5 pm

Opening :

Introduction Circles:

Panel on Spiritual Practice and Justice

  • How does your spirituality/faith practice sustain you in justice work?
  • How can spirituality/faith practice inform activism that is life-giving?

Stephen Aberle (Jewish- Jews for Just Peace), James Loney (Christian -Christian Peacemaker Teams), Priti Shah (Hindu- Living Wage Campaign and Capacity BC), Sikh speaker to be confirmed.

Roundtable on the Rights and Responsibilities of Spiritual Practice in an Interfaith Context

  • How can we act justly, or with justice,
    towards the spiritual practice of others?

Members of the Interfaith Summer Institute Community Consultative Committee and participants

Spiritual Practice: A Time to Pray/Reflect, Meditate, or Chant in Different Groups or Traditions.

Closing Ceremony
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OPENING CEREMONY AND
INTERFAITH SOLIDARITY

August 6 | First Nations House of Learning UBC
Time: 1:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Opening Ceremony
Welcome to Long House and Musqueam Territory

Introduction Circles: (10 people) – 45 minutes
Introduce yourself and why you have come to the institute

Introductory Remarks. 2:30 – 2:45
Welcome and Acknowledgments
Vision of the Institute

Keynotes: 2:45 – 4:00
Interfaith Solidarity: Power, Race, and Difference

Chief Robert Joseph and Simona Sharoni
Questions and discussion in small groups

Break 4:00 – 4:30

Panel: 4:30 – 6:00
Is There Life after Tea?
Moving From Interfaith Dialogue to Solidarity
In Times of Empire
Farid Esack, Carmencita Karagdag, Kathryn Poethig

Questions

Dinner 6:00 pm

Concert 7:00pm

Closing 8pm
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WORKSHOP ABSTRACTS

Popular Theatre:
Preventing Gender-Based Violence

Nisha Sajnani and Victor Porter
August 4 and August 5, 9:00am - 6:30 pm
The Centre for Peace, 1825 W 16th Avenue, Vancouver
(Previously to be held at Renfrew Community Centre but venue changed due to the Vancouver civic workers strike)

Popular theatre is comprised of many forms of theatre practice that share core values of democratic participation, collective conscientization, and mobilization towards progressive cultural, social, and political change. Drawing on an intersectoral analysis, we will explore how popular theatre can be used to identify and represent the relationship between intimate and structural expressions of violence against women.

Over the course of this workshop, participants will be introduced to the tools of techniques of popular theatre that can be used to identify issues of concern to their communities, surface oppressive systemic relationships, and support actions for peace and justice. We will also have the opportunity to think together about the ethics and aesthetics of popular theatre, audience and actor response/abilities, and the role of theatre in community organizing in interreligious contexts.
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Hip-Hop for Social Justice
Sara Kendall , Rupinder Sidhu,
with JB The First Lady and Skeena Reece

August 7 - 9 | 2pm - 6pm 1607 East Hastings

Offering heart-centered community building and personal empowerment through Hip-Hop media (rhyme writing, group song, dance and cultural dialogue), facilitators Rupinder Sidhu, Curtis Clearsky, and Sara Kendall will guide the group of youth through a self-generated process of performance creation.

The spirit of our work is one of inclusivity (all backgrounds, all skill levels), depth (reflecting on the greater meaning of our relationships, our personal wellness, and how we can help one another grow) and fun (fun fun fun!).

Our experience in arts facilitation with youth ranges from inner-city school and community settings in the US and Canada to rural, on-reserve, in detention centers and residential camp programming. We are each practicing artists in our own forms, and dedicated to joining our facilitation work with our work for positive social change. Between us, we speak English, Spanish, Punjabi, and Hindi.
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Interfaith Solidarity for Worker Justice: Challenges and Hopes
Junaid Ahmad and Priti Shah
August 12 | 9am - 5pm SFU Burnaby

1) How to strengthen the bonds between the faith-based and labor community; what are obstacles and challenges?

2) What does Interfaith Solidarity for Justice mean in general terms? How does it apply specifically to Labor?

3) Understanding how faith-based groups and the labor movement are structured in order to advance cooperation and networking.

4) What concretely can be done a) amongst faith groups, and b) between faith groups and the labor movement to get the ball rolling.
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Restorative Justice: A Strict Law Bids Us
Gloria Cole (Gaaxstalas Wedlidi) and Marjorie Dumont
August 12 | 9am - 5pm SFU Burnaby

Participants will be involved in activities that demonstrate the similarities and differences of protocols from three different First Nations' Feast/Potlatch, showing a way to restore Peace to individuals, family, and community.
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