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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WHEREAS the right for all refugee claimants physically in Canada to an oral hearing on the merits of their refugee claims was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1985; and WHEREAS the recently-proposed Canadian legislation governing refugee determination procedures excluded four groups of refugee claimants from the right to make such a claim after an initial screening by an immigration (not a refugee) officer; and Refugees, Asylum, Rights
WHEREAS the church must be concerned about the long-term production capability of our soil, we add our voice to those who are asking for action on this matter: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 31st General Council requests the General Secretary of General Council to invite the federal, provincial and territorial governments to develop comprehensive soil conservation policies which include financial incentives to farmers to help defray the cost of such conservation practices.
WHEREAS the 29th General Council, August 1982, agreed to: 1. Acknowledge its lack of persistence of behalf of Japanese Canadians injured through internment; 2. Urge the government of Canada to make speedy restitution and honourable compensation to Japanese Canadians so injured, that justice may be done and be seen to be done, and that this wound in our Canadian life may be healed; and
WHEREAS the recent rash of killing of police officers has resulted in renewed calls for the return of capital punishment in Canada; and WHEREAS we sympathize deeply with the hurt of families and colleagues of the victims of such crime; and WHEREAS we believe that the taking of another life is not a faithful way to respond to that hurt; and WHEREAS we believe that such taking of human life by the state as punishment has a brutalizing effect on society; and
WHEREAS General Council in 1982, acting on petitions from several conferences, including Hamilton, identified acid rain as a major issue for attention by the church; and The United Church of Canada sponsored a major international consultation on acid rain in January 1984, bringing together representatives of 25 religious bodies from Canada and the United States, and issuing a statement which included specific recommendations for action
The fighting in Afghanistan has continued for more than four years; and the citizens of Afghanistan and its refugees, as well as the citizens of countries receiving refugees, continue to suffer from the war in Afghanistan; and Soviet troops remain in Afghanistan, despite the condemnation of the United Nations, various governments of the world, and non-governmental organizations, including the United Church of Canada;
Biblical calls to address injustice, inhumanity and racism compel us to reach out to oppressed sisters and brothers in South Africa, and call us to confront systems of repression and evil. Keywords: South Africa, Racism, Discrimination, Racial Justice, Globalization, Ethical, Investment, Economic, Community Development
At its meeting in Ottawa in August 1982 the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), of which The United Church of Canada is a member, declared apartheid to be a heresy, and suspended from the privileges of membership in WARC the two Dutch Reformed churches, declaring them to be “oppressive and in error,” an action which has since been confirmed by many of its members, including the Black Reformed Methodist and Anglican churches in South Africa;
WHEREAS the right to self-determination of the Central American people is threatened by US policy in the region; and WHEREAS the increasing militarization of the region threatens to plunge Central America into a regional war: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
WHEREAS the more than 200,000 Guatemalan refugees living in camps in southern Mexico suffer from a severe lack of material assistance; and WHEREAS there has been very little publicity on this situation and very little international relief for the Guatemalan refugee camps:
