Social Justice

Do you feel called to work for a more just, peaceful and equitable world?  Social Justice initiatives at ESG enable us to be both pro-active and responsible to the injustices and inequities that surround us. Find out more about groups to connect with and some initiatives you can be involved in, and add your voice.


Welcome Basket Project

Working together with other North Toronto Churches who collaborate on Social Justice initiatives, we are creating Welcome Baskets for people across the city. 

What is the Welcome Basket Project? This is an effort to help people currently living in our homeless shelters transition to their own independent housing. Remember when you moved into your first apartment on your own and you needed a pot to boil water, a plate to put your dinner on, a wooden spoon, some cutlery, a glass for water, sheets and a towel? That’s what’s in a starter kit. 

Here is a list of items in a Welcome Basket.

sample contents

Who will be receiving the Welcome Baskets?
People transferring from shelters all across the city will be receiving our Welcome Baskets. We will be working with the community engagement coordinators at the Roehampton Shelter to deliver our completed kits. They will arrange distribution of them to the various locations across the city.


Feed Neighbours in Need: ESG Little Free Pantry

The mini pantry movement is a grassroots, crowd-sourced solution to immediate and local need. Whether a need for food or a need to give, mini pantries help neighbours feed neigh-bours, nourishing neighbourhoods.

Do you like to walk as part of your routine during this time we’re living in? Why not make the ESG Little Free Pantry your destination? Place a few tins of tuna and some soup in your pockets and walk over to ESG and place them in the Pantry! Imagine, if we had a steady flow of little gifts of food arriving over the space each week, how that would lend support to this program. Tell your friends as well and let’s all participate in the success of our little experiment.

The ESG Little Free Pantry is located outside the church by the walkway on the Duplex Avenue side of the church. The pantry is available to all to use at their own risk. For more information about the ESG pantry or on how to donate, read more here.

Peace with Justice Group

This group meets the fourth Thursday of the month at 5:30 pm to discuss concerns regarding human rights, peace and justice. Contact Carole Penny


Anti-Black Racism Discussion Group

Educating Ourselves: Anti-Racism Resources

Recent (and not so recent) events in Canada and the USA have shed light on the need for all of us to educate ourselves about racism, both the issue of systemic racism and how we can ourselves become anti-racist and promote anti-racism in our community.  

The Anti-Black Racism Discussion group has been reading and meeting every two weeks and we’d like to share some of the resources we have found helpful in our learning journey.  Our discussions have been rich and challenging, and sometimes difficult, and we encourage other groups to consider engaging in a book or video study as well.

We invite anyone who is interested in forming a discussion group or in learning more about these resources to contact Bo Bardos   or Maggie Wilkinson

Take a look at this short list of Anti-Black Racism resources and spread the word