This Library contains documents from all recent United Church governance meetings, including General Council and its Executive. It will also soon include “Our Beliefs Explained” official policy documents dating back several decades. If you can't find something you think should be included, contact gcbusiness@united-church.ca.
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At its November, 2013, meeting, the General Council Executive directed the Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee “to research and devise a position paper regarding adoption and create a United Church of Canada statement on adoption.”
Encourage The United Church of Canada Foundation and direct the Executive of the General Council to take active steps to sell their holdings in the 200 largest fossil fuel companies; Keywords: fossil fuel, fossil fuel divestment
That the 42nd General Council direct the General Secretary, General Council to ask publicly for commitment from the Federal Government that all Canadian communities, including First Nations communities, have access to running potable water by 2018; and encourage The United Church of Canada congregations and members to do likewise.
That the 42nd General Council commit the church to encourage the federal and provincial governments to implement an economy-wide price on greenhouse gas emissions where currently such a price does not exist.
That the 42nd General Council (2015): Direct the Executive of the General Council to promote existing resources for congregations and other ministries to understand alternatives to the “first past the post” electoral system in Canada.
That the 42nd General Council 2015: 1. Support a long-term global emission reduction goal consistent with the Paris agreement; 2. Recognize that a major portion of the Canadian economy produces products that generate carbon emissions such as electricity, transportation, manufacturing, mining, and production of oil and gas; carbon emission, global emission, economy of Canada, renewable energy, energy efficiency, Reducing Carbon Emissions
That the 42nd General Council (2015): a) have the General Secretary, General Council: i) write to the Federal Government expressing The United Church of Canada’s concerns about The Trans Canada Pipeline Energy East project; and, ii) that we encourage each of our pastoral charges to consider launching a letter-writing campaign expressing their concerns about the Trans Canada Pipeline Energy East project to both their Provincial and the Federal Governments.
The 42nd General Council (2015) direct the General Secretary, General Council to: a) contact the Prime Minister, the party leaders and appropriate ministers calling on them to eliminate solitary confinement; b) contact the Prime Minister, the party leaders and appropriate ministers calling on them to: • Provide better training of staff regarding mental health issues of offenders; • Schedule mental health assessments and development of treatment strategies; • Ensure transfer of inmates prone to injuring themselves to treatment centres; • Ensure that there is adequate oversight of prison conditions. • Work more closely with the John Howard Society, the Elizabeth Fry Society, and the Canadian Mental Health Association in developing better strategies for treatment and training. • Work more closely with the interfaith chaplaincies.
That the 42nd General Council 2015, responding to the ethical imperative of our faith as expressed in the social policies of The United Church of Canada, and commitments to partnership and right relations including support for free, prior and informed consent, instructs the General Secretary to communicate to The United Church of Canada Pension Board (UCCPB) that the will of the church is to divest of its shares in Goldcorp and make public that divestment.
Food sovereignty—or people’s food sovereignty—centres on the idea that people must reclaim their power of decision-making in the food system by rebuilding the relationships between people and the land, and between producers and consumers.
