Explore Our December 2025 Diversity Calendar

The December 2025 Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) Calendar is here! This is more than a calendar, it is a call to connect, learn, and grow in areas of culture, history, health, and spirituality. We encourage you to print and display the calendar in communal spaces, share it with the people you support, and keep a copy handy for your own reference.

On December 3^rd, 2025, we are honouring the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). This year’s global theme, “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress,” resonates deeply with our mission at Karis. It reminds us that true progress begins when every person is welcomed, empowered, and celebrated.

At Karis, we believe inclusion is belonging and we have a daily commitment to listen. Whether through our services, our language, or our leadership, we are part of an organization that builds communities where everyone can thrive.

Download the December Diversity Calendar

In December we celebrate and remember:

• Advent from December 1 to 24: A season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas, and the return of Christ at the Second Coming.
• World AIDS Day on December 1: People around the world unite to show support for people living with and affected by HIV and to remember those who lost their lives to AIDS.
• International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on December 2: the focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.
• International Day for Persons with Disabilities on December 3: This day is to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the wellbeing of people with disabilities in all aspects of political, social, economic, and cultural life. Disability inclusion is an essential condition to upholding human rights, sustainable development, and peace and security. The theme this year is “Fostering Disability Inclusive Societies for Advancing Social Progress”, which emphasizes the urgent need to build communities where everybody can fully participate, contribute, and thrive. This theme also calls on governments, organizations, and individuals to remove barriers and create inclusive environments that respect the dignity, rights, and potential of persons with disabilities. It highlights how inclusive societies are not only fairer but also more innovative, resilient, and socially cohesive.
• National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women on December 6: A day to remember those who have been victims of gender-based violence and those we have lost. It is also a time to take action to prevent and respond to gender-based violence by remembering and learning from our past, listening to survivors and speaking out against harmful behaviour.
• Bodhi Day on December 8: Celebrates the day Siddhartha Gautama, Sakyamuni Buddha, achieved enlightenment. Known as Rohatsu or Jodo-e, this holiday is widely observed by Buddhists in the Mahayana traditions of East Asia and across the globe.
• Pansexual Pride Day on December 8: Celebrating the strides taken by the pansexual and panromantic community to be accepted and understood (defined as an attraction to all genders).
• Human Rights Day on December 10: Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaimed that every human being is entitled to certain inalienable rights – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. In this period of turbulence and unpredictability, the 2025 theme “Human Rights, Our Everyday Essentials” reaffirms the values of human rights and shows that they remain a winning proposition for humanity.
• Hanukkah from December 14 to 22: The Festival of Lights is an eight-day Jewish holiday celebrating the success of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, and the liberating and rededication of Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Traditions include decorating the home and gathering to light the menorah, recite blessings, eat fried foods, play games like dreidel, and exchange gifts.
• International Migrants Day on December 18: a day set aside to recognize the important contribution of migrants while highlighting the challenges they face. Conflict, war, insecurity, and the effects of climate change, have heavily forced people to move. Due to persistent lack of safe and regular migration pathways, millions continue to take perilous journeys each year – not by choice, but out of desperation. Since 2014 over 72,000 migrants have died or disappeared on migratory routes worldwide, with 2024 marking the deadliest year on record.
• Christmas Day on December 25: a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Christians understand this as the “incarnation,” which means that God became human in the form of Jesus Christ. As it says in the Gospel of John, “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1: 14). Christmas is a time of gratitude for this incarnation of God into the world and remembrance of the importance of incarnating or embodying our own faith through love, generosity, and service, to continue making this world a better place.
• Kwanzaa begins on December 26 until January 1: African-American cultural holiday that has been adopted around the world including in Canada to celebrate African family, community and culture.

Together, at Karis Disability Services, we are not just advancing social progress and accessibility, we are living it!