GCE45 GS38 Signing Authority for February 2026

1. What is the issue?

The second General Council 1926 adopted By-Law Number 126 of The United Church of Canada (United Church) with respect to the Seal of the United Church.

By due process, By-Law 126 has been revised and renumbered from time to time and is now in effect Section D.4.4. of the By-Laws of the United Church as follows: 

D.4.4.  The General Council is responsible for ensuring there is a corporate seal for The United Church of Canada. The following requirements apply to documents signed by The United Church of Canada under corporate seal:

1. the document must be signed by two people;
2. one of those people must be the Moderator, the General Secretary of the General Council, a General Council officer or the executive officer, finance (note: title of this role is now Executive Minister, Pensions and Finance)
3. that person must arrange for the corporate seal to be imprinted; and
4. the other person must be the Moderator, the General Secretary of the General Council, a General Council officer, the executive officer, finance, or one of up to six people that the Executive has appointed to sign documents.

By decision of the Executive of the General Council made on January 26,2019, the protocol for documents to be signed by The United Church of Canada without the corporate seal is as follows: 

1. Contracts and other documents up to a value of $20,000 may be signed by the Executive Minister having responsibility for the subject matter of the contract;
2. The Executive Minister may delegate this signing authority for contracts and other documents up to a value of $3,000 to designated lead program staff within their employment unit; and
3. All documents involving a value greater than $20,000 must be signed by two officers as provided in the bylaws for documents under corporate seal.

Due to changes in the Executive Officer complement and titles, the list of signatories under D.4.4., b) and d) needs updating.

2. Why is the issue important?

Having sufficient signing authorities in place allows efficient operation of the General Council Office.

3. How might the Executive of the General Council respond to this issue?

The Acting General Secretary recommends that: 

The Executive of General Council certify the following persons as holding the offices described in paragraphs (b) Section D.4.4. of the By-Laws of the United Church: 

• Kimberly Heath, Moderator 
• Michael Blair, General Secretary 
• Hui (Harry) Li, Executive Minister, Pension and Finance 
• Japhet Ndhlovu, Executive Minister, Church in Mission (General Council Officer) 
• Angelica Benalcazar, Executive Minister, Shared Services (General Council Officer) 
• Jennifer Henry, Executive Minister, Organizational Development and Strategy (General Council Officer) 

And appoint the following persons (up to six) to sign documents as described in paragraph (d) of Section D.4.4. of the By-Laws of the United Church: 

• Jennifer Janzen-Ball, Executive Minister, Theology and Ministry Leadership (General Council Officer) 
• Cheryl-Ann Stadelbauer-Sampa, Senior Governance Support Lead 
• Tania Principle, Executive director, KAIROS (for documents signed by The United Church of Canada for the KAIROS program) 

4. What will be the impact?

This will ensure the United Church has a robust roster of officers certified to sign to accommodate the absence of any who are traveling.

5. How does this proposal help us live into the commitments on equity?

This is a legal and operational decision governed by the by-laws rather than one that can be made based on equity aspirations.