The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), alongside a powerful coalition of ecumenical partners, brought their year-long “Turn Debt into Hope” campaign to a dramatic climax on Parliament Hill. The mobilization marked a historic push by Canadian communities of faith and conscience demanding urgent action on global economic and ecological debt.
The April 28 event served as the culmination of a journey that began in 2025, when the CCC embraced the sacred Year of Jubilee—a traditional season focused on restoration and justice. Partnering with organizations like KAIROS, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, Citizens for Public Justice, and the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology, the movement has steadily built momentum across the country.
The day on Parliament Hill kicked off with a Member of Parliament breakfast, where a panel of experts laid out the critical necessity for international debt repayment restructuring. Following the briefing, a lively rally drew over 100 participants to the Hill. Among the crowd was a large contingent of zealous high school students from Toronto Catholic, who energized the demonstration through speeches, chants, and a creative dramatization highlighting the human cost of financial inequality.
The campaign’s core demands center on systemic global changes: immediate debt cancellation for unjust and unsustainable sovereign debts, sweeping global financial reform, and the creation of a transparent, binding, and fair debt resolution framework within the United Nations.
The day concluded with a powerful statement of solidarity, as advocates presented government leaders with over 70,000 signed petitions collected from across Canada. Organizers described the hand-off as a tangible witness to the Canadian faith community’s unwavering demand for systemic shifts to dismantle pervasive global inequality.