Marilyn McSporran couldn't forget the moment years ago when one of her husband's colleagues in the RCMP made an ugly remark about Indigenous peoples. When an Elder in Saddle Lake, Alberta gently encouraged her to introduce the KAIROS Blanket Exercise to the RCMP, McSporran decided to pick up the phone.

She never anticipated that one call to Inspector Honey Dwyer would swiftly lead to the Blanket Exercise becoming part of the RCMP's Alberta Division's mandatory Indigenous cultural training for all officers and employees in the province.

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a participatory telling of Canada's history from the point of view of Indigenous peoples. 2017 marks 20 years since its creation.

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The United Nations Conference on Climate Change is underway in Paris and there is reason to hope that the global community will, at long last, take steps toward reducing the enormous risks associated with greenhouse gas emissions. 

It was my second day on the Great Climate March. I was in Macedonia, Ohio, just south east of Cleveland. The United Methodist Church had graciously opened its rooms and halls to more than 20 of us the night before. Some of the participants had walked from Los Angeles where the journey began on March 1.

On the morning of my second day, I saw a poster with the text: "As for us, we can't stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. Acts: 4:20."

At the time, I did not know the quote's biblical context -- that the disciples, Peter and John would not be silenced in talking about Christ's resurrection -- so I interpreted it as a social justice message, one that, as a communicator, resonated with me.