GC44 Anti-Racism and Equity Accountability Report for October 2023

The church’s anti-racism and equity work is a coordinated and collaborative effort that engages several staff across many different unit areas. This work is intentional about journeying towards longer-term structural, systemic, and transformational changes to make the church more equitable for people of all identities; it also simultaneously aims to provide more practical and accessible anti-racism resources for a range of local contexts. Aspects of the church’s anti-racism and equity ministry do overlap with the church’s work on Indigenous justice and anti-Indigenous racism, and therefore seeks to engage this in integrated ways.

This report serves as an accountability measure and offers an overview of the church’s overall work on anti-racism and equity from the perspective of the General Council Office. When the United Church’s General Council made a commitment to becoming an anti-racist denomination in 2020, the people of the United Church also asked for regular updates on the church’s progress. This report, therefore, serves as one facet of this ongoing communication and accountability. It is important to note, however, the church’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist denomination was a commitment for the church as a whole—across all regions and all ministries—and so the sustained efforts in local and regional communities also continue to be essential for the whole church to continue to live into its denominational commitment.