Quaker Blog

Join the 2018 Quaker Pilgrimage to England

Registration is open for the 2018 Quaker Pilgramage, organized by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and exploring England’s “1652 Country” with a guide from Britain Yearly Meeting.

Quaker Pilgrimage to England, July 18-22, 2018. To reserve a spot or ask questions, please email Deborra Sines Pancoe at Deborra@friendscouncil.org. Registration opens September 30, 2017. A $500 registration fee is required to reserve a spot. (www.friendscouncil.org) Space is limited to just 27 Pilgrims, so reserve early.

See the poster above and the registration document below for more details:
2018 Pilgrimage Decription & Registration

Friends United Meeting Seeking General Secretary

Headshot of Colin Saxton, outgoing General Secretary of FUM

Colin Saxton, outgoing General Secretary of FUM

Friends United Meeting (FUM), is an association of twenty-six Quaker Yearly Meetings in South and North America (including Canadian Yearly Meeting), the Middle East, and Africa. FUM is searching for a new General Secretary.

For details, please see the announcement on FUM’s homepage and the official Position Description (PDF).

Note that applications are due by November 30, 2017.

Share Your Experience of CYM’s Fallow Year

Fallow strip in a farm field

A fallow strip in a farm field

2017 was designated as a ‘fallow year,’ where the Canadian Yearly Meeting would not gather for our CYM-in-Session. We invite Friends to share their perspective on this fallow year — whether or not you have attended CYM in the past.

Friends have approved using several surveys to help gather our experience of 2017:
Survey for Individual Friends
Survey for Young Friends

Responses are anonymous; responses received by October 31 will be compiled into a report to Fall Representative Meeting (Nov. 25).

UPDATE – CLOSED: Call for Facilitators for CYM Online Courses

Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM) Education & Outreach Committee is Seeking Experienced/Qualified Online Course Facilitators for Contractual Work.

Education and Outreach Committee (E&O) is seeking expressions of interest for a subcontracting facilitator to act as a backup when E&O is able to offer more than one course, or as need arises. We warmly encourage anyone interested in this opportunity to apply.

E&O has one online course facilitator, who can currently teach one course (with one or two sessions) per term. We would like to start offering two or more courses per term in the future; therefore another facilitator may be needed. The utilization of an additional contractor is dependent upon a number of factors, mainly course registrations.

E&O online courses usually run for seven or eight weeks. This includes a technology troubleshooting session and six classes. Classes take place once a week, and last 1.5 to 2 hours.  Facilitators can expect to work between 45-60 hours per 7-8 week period, on an as-needed basis.

Contractors are expected to work independently to advertise, promote, schedule and facilitate courses. Facilitators will, however, be supported by the clerk of Education and Outreach Committee and the Online Course Subcommittee as needed.

Interested persons are invited to send a:
• cover letter,
• resume, and
• current references
to E&O Online Course Subcommittee care of the CYM Secretary at with the title “Online Course Contractor” in the subject line.

Applicants should highlight their:
• reasons for being interested in this Quaker facilitation work,
• experience with online learning platforms, and
• teaching/facilitation experience.

You can review the current courses being offered through Education and Outreach Committee on the Quaker.ca website.

The contract price will be negotiated based on qualifications and experience.

Applications will be accepted until 11:59pm PST on Sunday October 1. Candidates will only be contacted if they are chosen for an interview.

Epistle from Young Friends & Young Adult Friends Gathering, Camp NeeKauNis 2017 

Young Friends and Young Adult Friends (13-35 age range) gathered this summer at Camp NeeKauNis for a weekend of fellowship and fun. The following is their epistle.

The gathered Young Friends ask this epistle be read during announcements after Meeting For Worship.

Loving Greetings to Friends Everywhere:

From 29th Sixth Month to 2nd Seventh Month 2017, around 30 Young Friends from across the country gathered at Camp NeeKauNis in Waubaushene, Ontario for a Canadian Young Friends Gathering.

This gathering was organized to bring together a critical mass of Young Friends and Young Adult Friends in order to energize and strengthen our community and rejoice in our time together in worship, play, and good conversation. This gathering was planned in part so that Canadian Young Friends and Young Adult Friends had an occasion to gather while the wider Canadian Yearly Meeting sessions were holding a fallow year, and also as a pre-retreat for the Friends General Conference Gathering happening in Niagara Falls, New York.

Along with meals together, work around the camp, and daily meeting for worship, the organizers left space for Friends to offer self-directed programs as they desired. These smaller sessions sprung from the amazing diversity of gifts Friends wanted to share, from the gentle art of cat’s cradle to discussions of the role of Christ in our lives and in Quakerism; from canoeing at sunset, to the plenary workshop on the surprisingly recent history of Christian homophobia and transphobia.

Several Friends noted this year’s gathering at Camp NeeKauNis was the largest gathering of Canadian Young Friends in some years. This is with great thanks to the committee (Rachel Urban-Shipley, Jonah Egan-Pimblett, Misia Robins, David Summerhays, Jessica Klaassen-Wright and Christina Tellez) who organised and promoted the gathering, especially the leadership of Jessica and Christina before and during the event.

Photos by Ahren Klaassen-Wright

We are also deeply grateful for the support of Education and Outreach for assisting with funding for the gathering, particularly as travel costs are often a barrier for Young Friends who wish to attend. In the midst of this gathering, Friends also felt led to discuss the future of Canadian Young Friends Yearly Meeting and its relationship with Canadian Yearly Meeting.

Those of us at the Canadian Young Friends Gathering discerned a need and have a strong desire to focus on building our whole community of Young Friends (13-35) especially as the official body of Canadian Young Friends Yearly Meeting is on hiatus. The current hiatus was chosen because of the a small number of Young Friends attending Yearly Meeting sessions and the difficulty of filling official roles.

We are excited about re-kindling the enthusiasm and spirit in Young Friends by growing our connections with each other, both through media and regular gatherings. The gathered Young Friends recognise the role effective communication provides in building and maintaining community.

Both Reykia Fick, The Canadian Friend Editor, and Cameron Fraser, now the Canadian Yearly Meeting Secretary, were present at the gathering, and several discussions took place regarding possible ways Canadian Yearly Meeting paid staff and contractors may be able to assist Canadian Young Friends in connecting, communicating, and gathering.

Gatherings are a crucial component in maintaining and strengthening the dispersed community of Canadian Young Friends. Those of us present felt a desire to maintain and increase these gatherings. Recognising this, we encourage all Young Friends who are able to attend Canadian Yearly Meeting in Barrie in 2018.

Moving toward Canadian Yearly Meeting in session 2018 in Barrie, we discerned the following steps should be taken over the next year to strengthen the national community of Young Friends and to engage more meaningfully with the wider body of Friends in Canada:

These contacts will work with Canadian Yearly Meeting staff to facilitate this initiative.

Canadian Yearly Meeting Secretary, Cameron Fraser, has invited Young Friends into a discussion to assist in creating goals as to how he can best help Young Friends in Canada. This is an open invitation to all Canadian Young Friends who wish to be involved. The regional contacts committed to involvement in this process of goal setting. Any interested Young Friends may contact Cameron Fraser at for more information.

As we build our community, including through further gatherings, we request the continued support of Yearly Meeting’s Education and Outreach Committee. The challenges of holding gatherings are amplified for Young Friends. We are grateful for the support of all those in Canadian Yearly Meeting in dealing with those challenges and in helping us strengthen our common community.

In the Light,
Canadian Young Friends gathered at Camp NeeKauNis, 1st Seventh Month 2017

Click here for the pdf version.