eNews: August 20, 2025 – Issue 174

This Issue:

• Letter from Vyda
• Meet the Jr. YOB
• Getting Ready to Meet this Moment: Activating the Canadian UU Ecosystem
• Fall Dismantling Barriers Events
• Reciprocal Annual Mentorship Program
• Charity of the Month: Project Ploughshares
• West Trust Invites Applications
• Unicamp Capital Campaign Fundraiser
• 2025 Unicamp Young Adult Retreat
• LREDA Fall Conference 2025
• Fall Gathering 2025 
• Fall Congregational Life Events
• Reclaiming Education: A Conversation with Watsenniiostha Nelson, Director of Education, Kanehsatà:ke
• In Memoriam: Lynn Sabourin
• Things to Know About the CUC
• What’s Making us Smile
• CUC Events from August 20 to December 27, 2025
  

 

---

Letter from Vyda

Remember when the internet was launched? Some of us have been around long enough to recall the before-internet times and the excitement when the thing called the internet was introduced to the world in the 1980s. There were advertisements encouraging people to ‘surf the net’ with children gushing over how fascinating it was, and how much time they spent on the computer, which was regarded as a good thing then.

Now, we take the internet and the world wide web for granted. Instead of going to the library to find information, Googling something has mainly become our go-to for getting information, and the results are boosted by AI summaries. The more we use the web and social media, the more we make our patterns and habits known to algorithms, which then feed us more of what we are used to viewing.       

Does this work for us? When our scrolling habits are controlled by patterns and algorithms and so what we view is more of the same thing? I like food videos so what I get is more food videos (watching sizzling mouthwatering kebabs being made at 1am does not help me sleep). How do I change my algorithms so that I get more of what I want? And less of what I don’t want?

Kathleen Regehr, associate professor at University College London and author of “Smartphone Nation: Why We’re All Addicted to Our Screens and What You and Your Family Can Do About It,” talks about starting with the premise that almost everything we consume is regulated. Are we happy with consuming what is fed to us by our social media feeds? If we are not, we need to acknowledge that we are in a kind of silo, and that what we consume is often completely different from the person sitting next to us. She suggests opening up our most frequently used social media feed and scrolling through a regular period of use (with your partner, if you’re comfortable with it) and noticing what appears most frequently. We can then decide if we like what we have, what we want more of and less of, and then start gaming the algorithm – searching for things we want, quickly moving past or deleting/unfollowing things we don’t want, not engaging with things that make us feel bad, and generally cleaning up our feeds. If we use social media at all, we can’t escape from algorithms, so why not make them work for us?

The CUC is engaging with a time of change, opportunity and exploration. Organizationally and globally, situations are never static. The CUC staff team is inviting more of what we want Unitarians and Universalists to engage with, and moving forward with a sense of exploration, curiosity and openness. Before the end of August, you will receive a planning letter from CUC staff with an overview of the program year, some new offerings, and inviting you to join us, so that together, we have more of what we want in strengthening our faith community together.

What will you invite into your life?

In faith and love,
Vyda

           Sources: CBC Radio, Wikipedia

---

Meet the Jr. YOB

Lila Grierson of North Shore Unitarian Church was elected the Junior YOB (Youth Observer to the Board) at CanUUdle this past May, joining Senior YOB Dan LeDuc. Together, the YOBs are responsible for representing youth perspectives and voices to the CUC Board, summarizing youth issues for the Board, nurturing national youth community and uplifting youth voices, and presenting Board updates back to Canadian UU youth. A longtime member of NSUC, Lila was inspired to seek the YOB position by her desire to help the many youth she believes are lonely and searching for meaning.

“Being UU is something that I consider enormously meaningful in my life and I think as a YOB I’ll be able to reach more people than I am just in one community in North Vancouver,” she says.

Lila is excited by the FUTURE, the new zine for Canadian UU youth the YOBs recently launched, and is looking forward to distributing more issues during her time in this role. She’s also interested in creating signifiers, such as chalice patches or buttons, UU youth can wear to let others know they aren’t alone in their faith. Her overarching goal is to communicate that UUism offers options for people who may find religion scary, but are still looking for meaning, something she believes youth badly need. 

“The disconnect, the loneliness, everything that is causing us to be called the anxious generation can be solved by finding a community,” she says. 

Lila also believes the YOBs have an important role to play within the broader UU community and on the Board as the voice of the younger generation.

“I believe that it’s important, because when you have a body of decision makers who do not represent the people that the decisions will impact, then you lose the concept of democracy, and you lose the concept of equality,” she says, “and we as UUs are pretty aware of this idea. It’s a fairly democratic faith, and so when you have a governing group who showcases our values in the fact that we make it a diverse group, and we make it a governing body where everyone’s. views are represented, then it’s just one way of giving an example of living through our values.”

---

Getting Ready to Meet this Moment: Activating the Canadian UU Ecosystem

Canadian UUs are preparing to meet this moment as a collaborative, interconnected ecosystem! We are thrilled with the response to our first announcement. We are now seventeen people in four interconnected planning circles.

Are you interested in helping us build capacity and engage in small experiments?

 We are looking for people who want to

• • Find creative ways to communicate with the individuals and communities 
  • Reach out to UU communities, helping support engagement
  • Plan our launch event
  • Plan our Fall 2026 in person event

 Join us on Saturday, September 6! 

We’re holding a two-hour online retreat for everyone in the planning circles: 9:00 am Pacific / 10:00 am Mountain & SK / 11:00 Central / 12:00 noon Eastern / 1:00 pm Atlantic.

Apply now to be a part of “activating” our Canadian UU ecosystem and meet everyone at our September retreat. Fill out this form, preferably by August 30, 2025.   

Are you wondering whether this project is a good fit for you? Fill out the form – one of us will be happy to chat with you.                                                                               

Editor’s note: The Canadian Unitarian Council is a proud partner in the co-creation of this project – working with Canadian Ministers, Religious Educators, and Lay Leaders from across the country.

---

Fall Dismantling Barriers Events

Join CUC Dismantling Barriers Lead Camellia Jahanshahi for a series of events this fall.

Dismantling Barriers: Engaging with Conciliation
Join us on September 25th from 7-8:30pm ET as we talk about conciliation.
It’s been 10 years since the Truth and Reconciliation report was released. What have we learned? What are we working on? How does uncolonizing and decolonizing fit into the work of creating sustainable faith movements? Let’s talk about it!

Dismantling Barriers: Lessons from Hogan’s Alley
Join us on October 23rd from 7-8:30 pm ET for our second learning opportunity this year to engage with the hidden histories of Black Canadians.
Have you heard of Hogan’s Alley? Let’s learn about it together! This session will come with a pre-packed available at the beginning of October. During the session we’ll watch some materials together and then engage in discussion based on what we watched and the pre-packet given. We look forward to seeing you there!

Dismantling Barriers: Engaging with Queer and Trans Solidarity
Join us on November 27th from 7-8:30 pm ET as we talk about the changing realities for our queer and trans siblings and how we can be better prepared to support our beloveds in the political landscape ahead.
How can we as a faith work to protect and defend our beloveds under attack? Let’s talk about it.

---

Reciprocal Annual Mentorship Program

We are thrilled to introduce a bold new initiative from the Canadian Unitarian Council: the Reciprocal Annual Mentorship Program — or RAMP — here to help you RAMP UP your ideas, skills, connections and more! This emerging, experimental, and intergenerational mentorship program is a collaborative effort between the Justice and Equity Team, the Dismantling Barriers Team, and the Congregational Life Team, with support from the full CUC staff. 

RAMP responds to the deep and growing call from across our movement for programming that dives into sustainable liberatory practices and creates tangible opportunities for learning and transformative action. We’re planting seeds for what’s possible—together.

Launching as a pilot from January to June 2026, RAMP will unfold in two dynamic parts:

• • First, a public-facing, skills-based learning series shaped by the CUC and determined with input from UUs across Canada. 
  • Second, a deeper mentorship journey for 16 participants (8 mentorship pairs), matched by region and archetype*, who will meet monthly and co-create a project that brings real skills to life in real time. These mentorship pairings are designed to be reciprocal—not top-down—and to recognize the wisdom, experience, and growth possible from every side of the relationship. 

*More details about this program and about what we mean by “archetypes” will be available in September, but we couldn’t wait to share this exciting initiative with you!

 RAMP will be the CUC’s big experiment, as part of the “Activating the Canadian UU Ecosystem” project. It will run along-side other CUC programs, contributing to a rich environment of cross-pollination and growth. 

We hope you will join us as we RAMP UP our collective capacity, momentum, and impact!

---

Charity of the Month: Project Ploughshares

Each month, the eNews will be profiling a different Canadian charity. We want to showcase the wide range of charitable organizations in Canada that align with our values and offer opportunities for UUs to give and serve.

The CUC is one of the sponsoring bodies of Project Ploughshares. Ploughshares works with international organizations, the United Nations, governments, churches, and civil society, in Canada and abroad, to advance policies and actions to prevent war and armed violence, and build peace. Ploughshares has four main areas of focus: Nuclear disarmament, military arms trade, space security, and autonomous weapons. 

In 2017, ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons, of which Ploughshares is a part, received the Nobel Peace Prize. This recognition of the dedication put forth by Ploughshares and other NGOs involved is heartening. Ploughshares continues to support efforts at the United Nations to keep disarmament on the agenda, and to hold accountable countries that signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement.

Ploughshares played a key role in the creation of the Arms Trade Treaty, which tracks military exports to ensure that they do not get diverted and used to exacerbate human rights abuses. Ploughshares helps monitor the trade of arms to identify where the treaty is not being honoured.

Recently there has been an aggressive push to weaponize space. The creation of a space-based missile defence, such as the US “Iron Dome” would lead to an arms race in space that would involve thousands of missiles. Ploughshares is working to maintain the spirit of the Outer Space Treaty that bans weapons in space.

Weapons that can identify, engage, and eliminate targets, without the oversight of a human operator, are now a reality. Rapid advancements in AI military  technology risk creating an era where autonomous weapons become ubiquitous without any legal frameworks to govern their use. Ploughshares plays a key role in pushing for regulations that address the ethical and legal concerns about accountability. 

Ploughshares obtains most of its funding from a large number of small donors – people committed to a more peaceful world.

---

West Trust Invites Applications

The West Trust was founded through a bequest made to the UU Church of Halifax in 1887 by William West to promote the principles of Universalism in Canada. Modern Unitarian Universalism inherits, honours, and embodies those principles, and the West Trust continues to support them in a variety of ways. Grants have funded website work, enabled creative advertising, supplemented the salaries of religious professionals, and more.

Download the West Trust application form.

Grant applications are due by October 8, 2025.  Note that grants in recent years have been in the range of $400 – $3,000 and have averaged about $1,000.

---

Unicamp Capital Campaign Fundraiser

Unicamp has created a safe, welcoming and spiritually fulfilling environment for over 55 years. Donations can help it make vital improvements in safety and accessibility to its property and buildings.

The priority projects are:

• • to repair and replace, where needed, the steps, ramps, decks and railings for the dorms, cottages and Program Centre and other building repairs;
  • to construct accessible pathways to the main features of Camp and program areas as well as access to the beach.       

A generous private donor will match contributions up to $5000.

If these priorities are achieved through donations and grants, then additional funds raised would be directed toward capital improvements that include: replacing mattresses and privacy curtains in dorms and cottages; and acquiring and anchoring a Storm Shelter that meets and exceeds international safety requirements.

Support is greatly appreciated! Click here to donate to the Capital Campaign.

---

2025 Unicamp Young Adult Retreat

Join Unitarian Universalist young adults (18 – 35) for a wonderful weekend of community, conversation and outdoor adventures amidst the fall colours. Unicamp provides the perfect setting for a relaxing and rejuvenating retreat with new and old UU friends. You are welcome to stay for two or three nights, whatever works best for you. 

Back in the day, some young adults decided that they’d like to hang out at Unicamp with other young adults. The Retreat was born! After a few years as a self-organized tradition, volunteer capacity lagged, and the CUC stepped forward to hold the logistical pieces to ensure this beloved event was able to continue. This is still how it works – we do enough to get everyone together, make sure we’re well fed and cared for, and then those gathered decide how they want to spend their time together. It’s a beautiful, simple, community-led model. 

Friday evening (after dinner) we will gather for Orientation to meet each other, go over site rules, and set our goals for the weekend. Unicamp offers many options for relaxing alone or together: you can hike on the trails, swim in the pond, gather for a workshop or discussion, or grow friendships over crafts and games, evening worship and stargazing. Depending on participant interest, the retreat may include nightly worship on Saturday and Sunday evenings, and a closing circle on Monday morning, and small and large group activities. 

In addition, CUC staff will invite you to conversations about young adult ministry and what this means, and what is needed. 

Register early to make sure this event happens! Registration is open until Monday, September 8.

---

LREDA (Liberal Religious Educators) Fall Conference 2025: It’s All Connected!

This year’s LREDA (Liberal Religious Educators) Fall Conference welcomes participants to Vancouver, BC (and to US hubs in Portsmouth NH, Asheville NC, and Tulsa OK) or to join online from anywhere from the evening of Wednesday, November 5 to lunchtime Sunday November 9.

Joint continental programming will come to the hub locations (and to those attending online) once each day, with workshops for community building, shared meals, social programming, and worship hosted locally at each hub (and online).

This is a multi platform conference with 4 in-person locations:

• • Main Hub:
    • Vancouver Unitarian Church, 949 W 49th Ave, Vancouver BC, Canada
  • Satellite Hubs:   
    • South Church UU, 292 State Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
    • UU Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Pl, Asheville, North Carolina
    • All Souls, 2952 South Peoria Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma
  • And Online (either in your own home or by creating your own informal hub with one or two friends or colleagues)

A new DRE (director of religious exploration) Workshop will take place at each in-person location during the afternoon on November 5. A Sparks Module will be held on Sunday afternoon to Monday lunchtime after the conference. (To Be Determined).

---

Fall Gathering 2025

Join us for the CUC 2025 Fall Gathering November 21-23, 2025 — an experimental space for Unitarian Universalists across Canada to connect, imagine, and co-create. Building on the creative momentum of last year’s CoLab, this gathering invites you deeper into the beautiful, messy, and ever-evolving web of congregations, communities, individuals, and expressions that make up our living faith. 

Through immersive workshops, collaborative challenges, and brave conversations, we’ll reflect on what Canadian UUs really need right now — and what we’re ready to offer. Whether you feel steady, rooted, restless, or ready for something new, this weekend is a chance to gain clarity, dream boldly, and harness our collective values to meet this moment. 

• • Friday Potluck: At your table or ours
  • Saturday Workshops: Full day of opportunity
  • Sunday National Service: Turning Toward One Another featuring Rev. Nicoline Guerrier

This gathering launches a longer journey: future skill-building workshops, reciprocal mentorship opportunities, and shared resources to support you in living out your UU values in ways that are just, sustainable, and connected. Come ready to play, question, build, and belong.

Stay tuned for detailed information, coming to your inbox!

---

Fall Congregational Life Events

Join CUC Congregational Life Leads Revs Anne Barker and Nicoline Guerrier for a series of events this fall.

Connect & Deepen:
Connect and Deepen is an online community for adults interested in meaningful discussion, connection and reflection. Our small group is a welcoming space that encourages spiritual and philosophical exploration. Monthly meetings begin with a time for reflection before moving into a guided conversation about the chosen theme.

• • • September 21: PLAY
      What role does PLAY have in our faith development? What makes it so essential? How, as adults, do we incorporate this practice into our spiritual wellbeing?
    • October 26: QUESTION
    • November 16: BUILD
    • December 21: BELONG

Congregational Conversations:
Congregational Conversations take place twice monthly on topics of interest to Canadian UUs. All Congregational Conversations have three common purposes: 

1. 1. Connecting Congregations – to build relationships & share concerns, needs, ideas, & inspirations. We are better together!
   2. Sharing Resources – we’ll bring some & we welcome your contributions. Collections will be assembled & shared (with attendees & online) after the event. 
   3. Inviting Collaboration – congregations working together … groups sharing tools & resources … support in challenging times … so many options! 

• • • September 24 & 27: Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Work in Congregations
      September is Indigenous Solidarity Month at the CUC, so let’s celebrate the work going on in our Canadian Congregations. Come share your projects, connections, and lessons with others who are eager to learn. And if you or your group is still trying to find your way into this work, and into meaningful relationships, this is a great opportunity for inspiration.
    • October 22 & 25: What Happens When We Disagree?
    • November 26 & 29: Finding the Energy
    • December 10 & 13: Lessons in Letting Go

---

Reclaiming Education: A Conversation with Watsenniiostha Nelson, Director of Education, Kanehsatà:ke

September is Indigenous Solidarity Month at the CUC. As part of this event, join us on Wednesday, September 17 for a powerful conversation with Watsenniiostha Nelson, Director of Education for the Kanehsatà:ke Mohawk community, as she shares her vision for transforming education from a tool of assimilation into a pathway of reclamation and empowerment.

In the wake of the residential school legacy, Nelson is working to center Indigenous voices and faces in the classroom, confront the roots of absenteeism, and create spaces where young people can thrive in their full identity.

As part of the CUC’s ongoing commitment to Truth, Healing and Reconciliation, this event is held in the month of the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report. We are all invited to come together to listen, learn, and reflect on how education can be a site of healing, resurgence, and hope.

Hosted by: Amber Bellemare, Reconciliation Programme Coordinator & Camellia Jihanshahi, Dismantling Barriers Lead.

 

---

In Memoriam: Lynn Sabourin

Lynn Sabourin, known to many as a beloved friend, colleague and religious educator, died unexpectedly in hospital on August 16th. Her husband Doug was with her. 

Lynn’s life touched many people, especially the North Shore Unitarians where she worked as religious educator for over forty years and the many children and youth who experienced her loving care. Lynn was awarded the CUC’s Knight Award in 2023, where an individual is recognized for living the principles of Unitarian Universalism and for excellent contributions to UUism at a national level.

There will be a service on Friday, September 13th at 2:00 pm PT at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver (VanU) to honour her life and ministry. 

Let us hold Lynn’s family and loved ones with care and love. 

---

Things to Know About the CUC

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March of 2020, many congregations had to rapidly pivot to offering services online. Although the transition towards multiplatform services had already begun for some congregations, others required more time to make the adjustment. Thus the CUC stepped in, beginning with a cross-Canada virtual service,  “One Storm – Many Ships,” in May of 2020. The service was a great success, drawing a live audience of over 1000 viewers and raising over $9000 for the two featured charities.  The CUC went on to coordinate a series of nine services hosted by congregations and communities from across the country that summer, and also presented a virtual service that November, “Sustaining Our Light”, and in February of 2021, “A Faith Worth Failing For”.

The CUC has continued to offer national services periodically since, recognizing that while the need for virtual services has eased, the value of gathering together nationally remains at a time when in-person national gatherings are less feasible than they were in the past.  The CUC will offer two services over the coming congregational year: one in November presented by Rev. Nicoline Guerrier, and another in May of 2026 with details to come. Past national services can be viewed on the CUC’s YouTube channel.

---

What’s Making Us Smile

Caleb and Justine Roesler recently became the first Americans ever to claim the world title at the Wife-Carrying World Championship in Sonkajärvi, Finland, running 250 meters through water and over hurdles to the finish line.

The championship, which began in 1992 is actually quite inclusive. Despite the name, anyone is free to carry anyone, regardless of gender or marital status, and the competition also has an over-40s division, as well as a women-only category which debuted this year.