This Library contains documents from all recent United Church governance meetings, including General Council and its Executive. It also includes “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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That the 34th General Council write to the Secretary of State for External Affairs, expressing its concern that Overseas Development Aid to the Third World has been reduced at this time of even greater need.
The 34th General Council agrees to 1 reaffirm the Refugee Policy of the 32nd General council, providing guidelines for work with refugees, and commend the Division of Mission in Canada for the work presently being done to implement it; and 2 ask the Government of Canada to change proposed amendments to the Immigration Act, introduced in Bill C-86 currently before the House of Commons to reflect the following principles: Refugees, Asylum, Justice
That the 34th General Council of the United Church of Canada continue to pressure the federal government to respond to the legacy of the residential schools. Residential Schools, Aboriginal, First Nations, Native Indian
The 34th General Council recognizes the moral right and the responsibility of United Church congregations to provide sanctuary to legitimate refugee claimants who have been denied refugee status by a process which the church recognizes as being inadequate; and directs the Division of Mission in Canada to make available guidelines to congregations on the legal and financial implications of attempting to provide sanctuary.
BE IT RESOLVED 1. that the 34th General Council adopt the definitions for sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, child abuse and pastoral sexual misconduct found in the revised document entitled “Sexual Abuse: (Harassment, Exploitation, Pastoral Sexual Misconduct, Assault) and Child Abuse,” for use in all courts of The United Church of Canada.
The 34th General Council urges the Government of Canada to immediately amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for discrimination.
The 34th General Council calls upon the Government of Canada and all provincial and territorial administrations to ensure the enshrinement of a social charter in the Constitution of Canada; that this charter guarantee access to basic social, health care, and economic services regardless of gender, ability, race, age, sexual orientation or place of residency; and with a commitment from the federal government to the maintenance of national standards and federal funding to achieve the goals of such a charter.
The 34th General Council of The United Church of Canada a) recognizes the world-wide significance of the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), which met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1-12 June 1992; and b) urges presbyteries and congregations of The United Church of Canada to raise and maintain awareness of UNCED agreements (The Rio Declaration, The Climate Change Convention, The Biodiversity Convention) for environmental protection and development;
The 34th General Council agrees to a) declare its revulsion at the acts of war and atrocities carried out in the former Yugoslavia and particularly at the attacks on minorities in policies aimed at “ethnic cleansing”; b) through the Moderator, communicate with the faith communities (Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Protestant) of the former Yugoslavia and their counterparts in Canada to express our grief and our support for their efforts to relieve human suffering, to withhold moral legitimacy from war-making, and to bring about reconciliation; c) through the Moderator, express to the World Council of Churches and to the Conference of European Churches our willingness to cooperate in efforts for humanitarian relief, protection of refugees, reconciliation, and rebuilding of “civil society” after the war is over;
Whereas there is a shortage of affordable and suitable housing; and Whereas children are adversely affected by housing that is not suitable; and Whereas a disproportionate number of Canadian living in inadequate and unsuitable housing are women and children (89%); and Whereas waiting lists for suitable housing are already excessively long and the waiting time up to two years; and
