If you will be attending the Annual Gathering 2026, either online or in person at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg from July 19 to 24, you can look forward to a variety of Special Interest Groups. These groups are a long-standing practice at the Annual Gathering and provide opportunities for individuals to gather in small settings to explore topics that are meaningful to Friends. The topics cover a wide range of individual and corporate Quaker interests. If you are not yet registered, there is still time: register here.
Quaker Reparations to Indigenous Peoples
CFSC will be presenting a Minute to the floor of Business Meeting on reparations – this SIG is a chance to share the draft with Friends and also discuss a new CFSC resource on Reparations.
Led by: Jennifer Preston of CFSC and Elaine Bishop. Hybrid
Gender-Diverse Identities and our Meetings
CFSC’s Peace Committee will explore the topic of increased visibility of Trans & Gender-diverse folks in our Meetings, provide a draft minute for Friends to consider with their Monthly Meetings, and it will include educational resources for Friends to bring back to Monthly Meetings for us to continue to grow our awareness, allyship, and self-reflection.
Led by: Mel Burns of CFSC. In person only
Rethinking Safety: Quakers proposing alternatives to policing
CFSC Minutes on prison and penal abolition have had a profound impact on the Canadian transformative justice landscape. We are aware, however, that these Minutes – powerful as they are – may not reach far enough. Over-policing is one of the first steps of the community- to-prison pipeline: marginalized neighbourhoods and people experience higher police presence, which leads to more arrests, incarcerations and incidences of excessive use of police force. Police budgets balloon, social programs are subsequently cut – but our society doesn’t get safer. There must be alternatives – and fortunately there are! Gardner Lecturer John Samson Fellows and CFSC staffer Karen Ridd will be leading a hopeful interactive session that explores these alternatives and presents a new CFSC resource “Rethinking Safety”.
Led by: John Samson Fellows and Karen Ridd. Hybrid
The Apartheid Free Communities Pledge: addressing Friends’ concerns
Thus far, ten MMs and one HYM have signed the Apartheid-free Communities Pledge (https://apartheid-free.org/pledge); and the Peace Committee of CFSC has minuted its hope “…that CYM can sign the pledge and engage meaningfully with the calls to action contained within.” However, at the March 7 CYM business session, there was no unity to do so. Therefore, the Israel Palestine Working Group (IPWG) associated with the CFSC Peace Committee decided to present this SIG as an opportunity for Friends’ concerns to be addressed and any misunderstandings cleared up. Allison Tanner, lead organizer of this AFSC-convened initiative, will join Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta and Colin Stuart at the SIG.
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta, Colin Stuart and Allison Tanner. Hybrid
Marriage in the Manner of Friends
Marriage in the manner of Friends from the beginning of the Quaker movement has been undertaken with unique understanding. Through the years this has been modified somewhat, but the Quaker understanding of what marriage entails is still there. This SIG will look at the history of the Quaker understanding of marriage, the meaning for the couple, their Quaker community, and the wider civil community. We will look at why the Quaker marriage was distinct in what it entailed. We will look at the evolution of what a Quaker marriage is. Marriage was originally understood to be between a man and a woman. With the realization that couples in same sex relationships also are asking for the sanctification of marriage, Quakers have begun to accept and hold same sex marriages. How this came about will be touched upon.
Led by Elaine Bishop of Library and Archives Committee. Hybrid
