Capital Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Speaker: Rev. Samaya Oakley, Calgary Unitarians (video homily)

Liberating love is not sentimental—it is courageous. It interrupts rumour, resists polarization, slows the nervous system, and widens the circle. We can choose curiosity over certainty, compassion over gossip, truth over distortion, and presence over panic.

Bio: Rev. Samaya Oakley is deeply committed to fostering a congregation where relationships, compassion, and curiosity guide our shared spiritual journey. She believes that Unitarian Universalism calls us to live with integrity, love, and justice in our communities and the wider world. Samaya’s ministry is grounded in supporting people of all ages as they explore their values, deepen their connections, and grow into their fullest selves.

She has a special passion for nurturing youth and families, having spent 15 years coordinating youth programs and expanding Our Whole Lives sexuality education across all age levels. A committed social justice advocate, Samaya has worked on initiatives such as the Canadian Unitarian Council’s Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation Reflection Guides and the Widening the Circle program, and is currently involved in the national project Activating the Canadian UU Ecosystem.

Forum: After the service, there will be a forum; however, the Reverend will not be present.

Speaker: Ashley Ohtsijah Hall

An artist talk with accompanying visuals of her practice, shaped and informed by her cultural dichotomy, history, family stories, memories, blood memory, teachings, language, matriarchy, and motherhood. She hopes to inspire the audience to reflect on their own identity and the ways and people who have influenced them. Ashley will be showing her work in the Friendship Hall during this service.

Bio: Ashley is a Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) and Settler visual artist, photographer, and curator living on the unceded territory of the Lekwungen People. She works with Indigenous clients as a Support Worker for community inclusion and volunteers with an artist-run centre as Studio Manager and Board member, with a focus on engagement through community programming and curatorial projects.

Forum: After the service, there will be a coffee/tea break, followed by a forum at 11:15 AM to discuss the topic. Ashley will be present.

Speaker: Steve Morgan

When I first slid down the bank into the ravine and looked around, I was astonished that something so beautiful, so exotic, was hidden just a few hundred metres from my backyard. I knew the land was slated for development, and I remember saying to myself, “This place is going to break my heart.” Fifteen years later, we are still fighting to protect this landform. In the process, we are learning a great deal about the power of maps, the potential of activism, and the power and limits of local government. Join me as I tell the story of the Hidden Ravine.

Bio: Steve Morgan is a biologist, map maker, and community activist. He founded Cumberland Wetlands a decade ago to gather baseline data and advocate for the protection of wetlands and other important landforms from the effects of development in Cumberland, BC.

Forum: After the service, there will be a coffee/tea break, followed by a forum at 11:15 AM to discuss the topic. Steve will be present.

Speakers: Sarah Weaver, John Pullyblank, Kim Dawson

Sarah Weaver, John Pullyblank, and Kim Dawson speak about being a father or the father figures in their lives. Services in which congregants share personal stories, especially on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, are among the favourites at Capital. This diverse congregation open-heartedly shares personal experiences in a safe space with a supportive membership.

Forum: After the service, there will be a coffee/tea break, followed by a forum at 11:15 AM to discuss the topic. Sarah, John, and Kim will be in attendance.

Speaker: Peter Scales

Unitarian-Universalism is a “big tent” in that we welcome people of diverse beliefs about religion, belief, spirituality, the gods (if any), and also people with no fixed belief in anything metaphysical.  At Capital UU Congregation you are welcome if you are single, married, divorced, or in a situationship.  You are welcome here on Sunday mornings and in our many other gatherings if you are already a UU, if you are church-shopping, if you are unchurched and unsure, or if the online Belief-omatic quiz told you that you likely align with UU thought.  You are welcome in our community!

Bio: Peter is a historian, lay chaplain (officiant), multi-uncle, and the Chairperson of the board of CUUC.

Speaker: Kikila Perrin

Climate change is impacting us all. This reality, and the reality that indigenous people are more acutely impacted by the impacts of climate change are drawing settler environmentalists into more frequent contact and relationships with indigenous land defenders, ecosystem stewards, and communities. Unfortunately, we settlers don’t always “get it right” when we show up, and sometimes we cause harm without intending to. How can the land guide our relationships while offering us an opportunity to show up in ways that are safe(r) for the indigenous people intriguing us to support their projects?

Bio: Kikila Perrin (they/he) is a settler of mostly Germanic (Bavarian, English, French, Norse) and Celtic (French, British) lineage, and was born on the traditional unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation (Ottawa) before spending most of their life in Tiohtia:ke in unceded Kanein’keha:ka territory (Montreal). They are grateful and indebted to their Lekwenen and WSANEC hosts for their invitations, their calls to action, and their requests for settlers to re-evaluate the nature of our being on stolen land, which was also the nature of their doctoral research. Kikila’s work explores Indigenous-settler relationships, the nature of their PhD research. Kikila’s work explores Indigenous-settler relationships, the nature of worldview (how we understand Indigenous-settler relationships, the nature of worldview (how we understand the universe) and the nature of the knowledge and our relationship with the land as means of reproducing worldviews.

Speaker: Kim Dawson

This three question song lyric sticks with me. What do you believe – really believe deeply – is your purpose in life? Why are you here on this planet at this specific time? I want to explore the idea that we all have something to contribute – by choice or by force. We have something to “do” during this lifetime. I want to question two contradictory assumptions inherent in this idea. One is the backward-looking scientific, objective belief in a reality we hold in common. Another is the forward-looking, subjective belief in an uncertain, creative, and ever more complex, equally real sci-fi future. How do we manage this paradoxical journey through time? Bottom-line: Be they short or long, these lives will pass. As individuals who reckon with what our species has done, what are we? What is left of ourselves and what is right with us when these temporary bodies go?

Bio: I have always been inspired by trying to understand what’s going on, so I pushed education to the hilt earning a B.Sc. from UBC and an M.A. and Ph.D., all in neuroscience from the University of Waterloo. Since then, I have enjoyed trying to keep up with exciting new brain imaging studies and unified theories that pertain to understanding our place and time in this life and the role of psychotherapy in personal development. After a wedding and a two-year stint counselling young offenders with substance use, I started a career in clinical psychology that continues to this day. Valuing nature, I have taken two paths. As co-founder of the compassionate charity Warm Hearts Pet Safe Havens, I work with my wife Jan to help women and pets escape abuse. As a licensed psychologist, I offer integrative self-therapy through animal-assisted and transpersonal pathways.