Canada

Canada’s National Pagan Conference Gaia Gathering continues its success

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CALGARY, Alb. – The Canadian National Pagan Conference (CNPC) Gaia Gathering celebrated a successful event in Calgary, Alberta over the Victoria Day long weekend May 19-22. The theme for this year’s conference was “Rhythm and Flow” and featured speakers not only from the Calgary area, but also across Canada as well. The genesis of this event came as a comment, made by Richard James of the Wiccan Church of Canada. In a post made to an email list maintained by the Pagan Federation Païenne Canada (PFPC), James asked: “Could it be that Canada is ready for a national Pagan conference?”

His question inspired two community leaders, Gina Ellis and Kit Morrison, to put the wheels in motion for the first Gaia Gathering (GG), which took place in 2004 in Edmonton.

Canada

Canadian Pagans and Heathens respond to Quebec City mosque shooting

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QUEBEC CITY, Mon — On the evening of Sunday, January 29, a solitary gunman entered a mosque in Quebec City, Canada, killing six men and leaving another five in serious condition. Another thirteen people were reportedly treated and released for non-life threatening injuries. The Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec is the mosque where the shootings occurred. This recent attack is not the first act of intolerance that the facility has endured. In June 2016, during Ramadan, a gift-wrapped pigs head was delivered to the mosque with a note that read “Bon appetit.” More recently the walls of the mosque had been defaced with swastikas.

Living

Column: A Canadian Pagan Winter

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Canada is a country known worldwide as a snowy and cold winter wonderland. Our national identity is forever marked by images of hockey players, snowmobiles, dogsleds and toques (a French Canadian word for a wool hat). By the time we reach Winter Solstice, the dark of winter is upon us. Sub-zero temperatures and cruel wind chill drives people indoors to keep warm. In the depth of winter, average temperatures vary from zero degrees Celsius on the West Coast and minus ten degrees Celsius on the East Coast, with the deep freeze of minus 22 degrees on the prairies in the middle of the country.