Cardinal with close ties to Pope Leo XIV travels to Canada to support peaceful G7 activists
Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, 81, hopes to help draw attention to what he calls an 'ecological debt' crisis. While Barreto doesn't plan to join protests, he said he will be supporting peaceful activists' call for change.
According to Barreto and organizers from Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada, the group that invited the cardinal to Canada, ecological debt refers to the debt owed to poorer nations and Indigenous communities resulting from damage caused by some companies from developed countries like Canada. This damage includes oil spills and pollution from mines.
Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada, the official humanitarian aid agency of the Canadian Catholic Church, invited the cardinal to support peaceful activists in their campaign to call on G7 world leaders to prioritize the protection of the planet and poor communities.
Ahead of a speech before dozens of people at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto on Monday, Barreto spoke with CTVNews.ca through an interpreter about ecological debt.
'It's a very large injustice that the World Bank recognizes,' the Spanish-speaking cardinal said. He pointed to a World Bank 2023 debt report that found developing countries spent a record US$1.4 trillion servicing their foreign debt, as interest costs soared to a 20-year high of $406 billion. For many countries, this move would cut budgets in areas such as health and education.
Barreto hopes developed countries like Canada will recognize their ecological debt to poorer countries. He and other environmental advocates are calling on Canada and other countries to cancel 'unjust and unsustainable debts' and help reform the global financial system.
'My hope, which is the hope of the church, is that the leaders of the northern rich countries will assume their responsibility in this situation,' he said. 'They have a really clear opportunity here to have a change in mentality towards debt.'
Direction of Leo papacy
Barreto, a Jesuit like Pope Francis, says he, Leo and others in the Catholic Church hope to continue Francis's legacy of emphasizing care for the marginalized and environment.
While he didn't vote in the conclave last month — Barreto is older than the 80-year-old cutoff — he said he participated in meetings with cardinals leading up to Leo's election, in which they 'insisted' that the new pope must continue the same path as Francis of looking after the Earth.
Cardinal's plans in Calgary
The cardinal will be a guest of honour at the G7 Jubilee People's Forum in Calgary from June 12 to 15 before the summit in Kananaskis. Activists and faith communities from across Canada and around the world will gather and participate in talks about ecological debt during the forum.
Barreto, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Huancayo, Peru, is known for his advocacy for the environment and poor in Peru and Latin America.
Francis made Barreto a cardinal in 2018. According to The College of Cardinals Report, a website featuring profiles of cardinals compiled by independent Catholic journalists and researchers, Barreto is also known for his 'outspoken generally liberal views on national politics,' even facing death threats for speaking out against a smelter causing pollution that threatened the health of people in the Andes Mountains.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Edmonton Journal
23 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
Newcomers face rising racism in Alberta as province debates immigration policy
Alberta resident Shamaila Akram says she can handle the increase in racial slurs and derogatory comments being thrown at her, but she worries about her newcomer and immigrant clients. Article content As debates unfold over Canada's immigration system, those who provide help to newcomers in Alberta say there has been an uptick of hostility toward immigrants. Article content Article content 'I hear from people in my own communities — women specifically who wear hijabs — many bad things and we realize there is a need to educate people,' said Akram, with Calgary's Centre for Newcomers. Article content Article content 'Clients are coming with severe anxiety and sometimes panic attacks after hearing racial slurs outside our door. We have instances where they're being harassed while walking in (the) downtown.' Article content Article content The Canadian Anti-Hate Network says charged debates about immigration in Canada and the United States are behind the rise in hostility toward immigrants online and in person. Article content Article content Racialized workers at the centre are increasingly being harassed, and he said people often walk by screaming at the centre. Article content Ernst said he and those working with immigrants noticed the increase in the last year as the immigration system returned to the spotlight. Article content Article content He said the ongoing Alberta Next panel led by Premier Danielle Smith that's touring the province to hear public grievances with the federal government is stoking that anger. Article content 'Since (the) Alberta Next panel raised its ugly head, it's also created additional hostility with some of the comments associated to that,' he said. Article content Ernst said he agrees that the population of newcomers in Canada and Alberta has exploded, but said governments need to stop using immigrants as scapegoats for housing and infrastructure issues. Article content 'It's not the people themselves that are creating that particular strain,' Ernst said. 'The problem is government policy.' Article content The Alberta Next panel has already made stops in Red Deer and Edmonton and will return to Edmonton again, with visits to Fort McMurray and Lloydminster in August. Article content Six surveys launched on the panel's website help inform what questions the government is putting to locals, and one of them is about immigration. Article content 'If Alberta isn't satisfied with the number or economic qualifications of newcomers moving to our province, we may have the option to withhold provincial social programs to any non-citizen or non-permanent resident who does not have an Alberta-approved immigration status,' says a video participants are required to view before taking the immigration survey.
National Post
23 minutes ago
- National Post
Newcomers face rising racism in Alberta as province debates immigration policy
Alberta resident Shamaila Akram says she can handle the increase in racial slurs and derogatory comments being thrown at her, but she worries about her newcomer and immigrant clients. Article content As debates unfold over Canada's immigration system, those who provide help to newcomers in Alberta say there has been an uptick of hostility toward immigrants. Article content 'I hear from people in my own communities — women specifically who wear hijabs — many bad things and we realize there is a need to educate people,' said Akram, with Calgary's Centre for Newcomers. Article content Article content 'Clients are coming with severe anxiety and sometimes panic attacks after hearing racial slurs outside our door. We have instances where they're being harassed while walking in (the) downtown.' Article content Article content People have also screamed, 'Go back to where you came from!' at Akram while she has been with her children multiple times this year, she said, and some have been aggressive. Article content The Canadian Anti-Hate Network says charged debates about immigration in Canada and the United States are behind the rise in hostility toward immigrants online and in person. 'We have been noticing a large increase in online hatred towards migrants, and especially towards South Asian communities lately,' said Evan Balgord, the organization's executive director. Article content 'We are seeing classically racist narratives being spread that groups of people are dirty, criminal, incompatible with society and dangerous.' Article content In Calgary, Kelly Ernst, the Centre for Newcomers' chief program officer, says it has had to increase building security, reduce its online program marketing and bolster the number of workers on its crisis line for newcomers. Article content Article content Article content He said the ongoing Alberta Next panel led by Premier Danielle Smith that's touring the province to hear public grievances with the federal government is stoking that anger. Article content 'Since (the) Alberta Next panel raised its ugly head, it's also created additional hostility with some of the comments associated to that,' he said. Article content Ernst said he agrees that the population of newcomers in Canada and Alberta has exploded, but said governments need to stop using immigrants as scapegoats for housing and infrastructure issues. Article content 'It's not the people themselves that are creating that particular strain,' Ernst said. 'The problem is government policy.' Article content The Alberta Next panel has already made stops in Red Deer and Edmonton and will return to Edmonton again, with visits to Fort McMurray and Lloydminster in August. Article content Six surveys launched on the panel's website help inform what questions the government is putting to locals, and one of them is about immigration. Article content 'If Alberta isn't satisfied with the number or economic qualifications of newcomers moving to our province, we may have the option to withhold provincial social programs to any non-citizen or non-permanent resident who does not have an Alberta-approved immigration status,' says a video participants are required to view before taking the immigration survey.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Albertans lead the country at saving money
A new study shows that Albertans save more cash than any other province in the country. A recent report has found that Albertans top the country for banking cash for the future. The Desjardins Report revealed that the average Albertan saved nearly nine per cent of their disposable income between 2020 and 2023 -- the highest in Canada and well above the national average of under four per cent. Two factors are credited. Albertans had the most cash on hand to spent per household, around $110,000. And affordability in the province was among the best in the country. 'Housing in Alberta is deeply affordable compared to the rest of the country,' said Randall Bartlett, Desjardin's deputy chief economist. 'Obviously it's become less affordable in recent years,' he added, 'but still much more affordable than other parts of the country, particularly the big provinces of Ontario and B.C.' Desjardins is predicting those high savings rats will continue, especially as Alberta's households are among the youngest in the country -- and that demographic is known to save more than older age groups.
