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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Using United Church of Canada policies and work at General Council and Conference levels as guidance and support, to introduce the theological and ethical reflection and history of involvement in nuclear issues that has lead the United Church to view nuclear fuel waste within · the complex of problems in nuclear fuel production and use · the international problems of nuclear wastes, particularly with respect to Canadian exports · the risks of proliferation of military applications of radioactive materials · the question of the future of nuclear power
That the 39th General Council 2006: Through the General Secretary, General Council 1. That The United Church of Canada Water Mission Study be extended for an additional two years; 2. That The United Church of Canada continue, with KAIROS, to pressure the Federal Government to ensure equal access to clean water for all;
That the 39th General Council 2006: 1) Receive for information the report "Water: Life before Profit". 2) Direct that the report inform the purpose statement(s) to be developed by this General Council. 3) Affirm its conviction that water is a sacred gift that connects all life. Its value to the common good must take priority over commercial interests. Privatization turns a common good into a commodity, depriving those who cannot pay and further threatening local ecosystems.
That the 39th General Council 2006: Through the General Secretary, General Council, firmly call upon our federal government to declare water as a human right, support municipalities in keeping water in public control, and resist any attempts by the United States to increase exports of Canadian fresh water under the energy proportional sharing provisions of NAFTA.
WHEREAS "the needs of the poor have priority over the wants of the rich" because "the way our society treats the poor and oppressed is, for us, a test of God's redeeming presence and of human justice" (30th General Council); and WHEREAS "we must ensure that advances in biotechnology respect the integrity of creation, and that such advances do not give power to the few at the expense of the many" (31st General Council); and WHEREAS "we are one Earth community, one human family and we share one destiny" and "we recognize God's call to live in harmony with this total community, to draw on the Earth's sustenance responsibly, and to care for it that all may benefit equitably now and in the future" (34th General Council); and
WHEREAS we are called "to live with respect in creation" (A New Creed), "taking care that our actions do not seriously harm the greater web of life" (38th General Council 2003); and WHEREAS "systems for approving, regulating, and monitoring genetically modified (GM) foods should clearly embody the precautionary principle" (38th General Council 2003); and WHEREAS "the process of approving, regulating, and monitoring GM foods should be based on the principles of independence, transparency, accountability, and participation" (38th General Council 2003); and Genetically Modified Foods, food crops, GM food
Having received the correspondence from Maritime Conference, and the notice of motion of Pawis/Mabee from this fall 2003 meeting of the Executive of the General Council, and recognizing that it is seven years since the release of the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, that a letter be written to the Government of Canada urging them to act on the recommendation of the report calling for a public inquiry on residential schools and that this matter be referred to the General Secretary for action.
That having read the “Building Toward Right Relationships” document that the Executive of the General Council affirm and adopt the six principles identified in the document as the principles that will guide The United Church of Canada at this point in its journey in its work to repair the harm done by the Residential Schools system in building right relations with Aboriginal people, and in any negotiations with government with respect to resolving the legacy of Indian Residential Schools and that we refer the information from table groups to the Residential Schools Steering Committee for their consideration.
That the Executive of the General Council endorse the legal position on the Baxter Class Action lawsuit taken by the Residential Schools Steering Committee in September 2003, and that any further legal decisions and actions be guided by the six principles in the “Building Towards Rights Relationships” document and that any subsequent modification of the legal position only occur when in the interests of the survivors of Residential Schools and with the approval of the Executive or Sub-Executive of the General Council.
A Petition requesting the United Church of Canada develop a position on human Cloning
