A Call for Compassion and Renewal:
Communitas Annual Financial Appeal
Dear members and friends of Communitas,
Where are we headed as a society?
We seem to be becoming more judgemental, less compassionate, less understanding and forgiving of human frailty.
I am referring specifically to the recent case in which one of our community – a man recently released on parole after spending 40 years in prison, was hounded out of a local Law School in which he had been enrolled as a first-year student.
This man had not re-offended. And yet once it got out that he was a member of the student body there was an immediate uproar among certain students and calls for the Law School to do something – which they did by suspending him. This, despite the many letters and affirmations from their student body and staff, as well as Law Professors from other Universities in Canada, and many members of the public defending his right to be at the school.
The upshot was that this non-event got blown-up in the press with the usual whipping up of outrage and anger, and in the end the man was returned to custody by Correctional Services of Canada.
There are thousands of men – including men serving life sentences — out on parole across Canada and living their lives in a responsible and law-abiding manner, and who have been doing so for years if not decades. No doubt if their crimes were to be exposed the way this man’s was, they too would be subject to the Cancel Culture that is rife in society at the moment – never mind how they are living their lives – working, supporting their families, paying their taxes – like any regular citizen.
We seem to be regressing as a society into meanness and thinking the worst of people. Charity is missing. Fear is the first response to meeting the “stranger”. And this refers not only to ex-inmates trying to make their way in a new world after decades in prison, but also to new immigrants, people who look different, and homeless persons trying to find a safe place to sleep for the night. The list goes on. Social media has a lot to answer for in spreading hate.
Communitas believes in redemption. In Restorative Justice. In second chances. In creating safe communities. In standing in solidarity to oppose systemic injustices in the legal system.
It behooves each of us to strive to improve our world, to make it a kinder, gentler place where the weak and dispossessed among us are given a chance to not only survive but to thrive.
Our annual Financial Appeal is being launched in November and December this year, and now more than ever your financial support for Communitas and our work will help us to do our part in pushing back against the culture of exclusion and condemnation that is growing, not only here but in other parts of the world.
Donations to the Financial Appeal can be made through the following methods:
- Canada Helps via the Donor Link on our website below:
- Interac deposit to: [email protected]
The response to the security question is: Communitas
- Via cheques to Communitas sent to the following address:
Communitas
1444 Union Avenue, Montreal, QC.
H3A 2B8
The link to Communitas’ 2025-2026 Annual Report can be found below:
https://communitasmontreal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AGM-27-May-2026.pdf
I would like to thank you for your support during this past year. We could not do it without you.
Chair, Board of Directors, Mouvement Communitas Inc.