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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WHEREAS the Agriculture and Food Resources Committee is concerned that many urban people in Canada do not fully understand the problems facing agricultural and fishing families, or the contribution which these families are making to society as a whole
WHEREAS not all ministers serving in rural charges may have the necessary background and knowledge to be of optimum assistance to their parishioners
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
WHEREAS the world church has been called to develop Christian, social and political ethics based on the vision of a “just, participatory and sustainable” society as the foundation of a wise stewardship of all the resources with which we have been blessed by God; and WHEREAS the United Church at its 29th General Council adopted policies which apply this vision to energy and environmental questions; and WHEREAS the Division of Mission in Canada has encouraged the church to consider the vision of the kingdom, announced in the ministry of Jesus, and realized in just and right relations among humankind; and WHEREAS the state of the present Canadian and world economy represents a state of moral crisis, in which capital, rather than labour, property rather than people, are asserted as the dominant principle of economic and social life, and inequality and injustice increase rather than get reduced; and
The National Energy Sub—Unit and the church have a wider mandate in approaching energy and environmental concerns. It derives from the unlimited sovereignty of God over creation, and our human vocation of stewardship within that creation.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The United Church of Canada through the 28th General Council call on the government of Canada and/or provincial governments to take the following actions: 1. REPLACE the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Act with legislation reflective of present conditions and attitudes; in particular having provision for public access to information, mandatory public hearings (with funding to enable meaningful public participation in such hearings), as well as having provision for a radical change in status and accountability of the nuclear regulatory body (Atomic Energy Control Board).
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the General Council 1. URGE all levels of the church to give top priority to minimizing consumption of available energy resources; 2. CALL on provincial and federal governments of Canada for policies and funds to support an accelerating program to develop new energy resources which are consistent with a just, participatory and sustainable society; 3. SUPPORT the government’s application of nuclear safeguard policies, and Canada’s role in limiting proliferation of nuclear weapons; 4. ASSIST the conferences and presbyteries to implement programs of dialogue and education on nuclear energy in the context of all energy sources, in order to prepare our church members to participate in evolving decision—making processes for a more just society.
Statement of Goals 1. To Awaken the United Church: a) to the extent and the depth of the environmental crisis (helping people to "live into" the tensions involved in facing up to the crisis); b) to alternatives open to us in dealing with given environmental problems; c) to sense that we can share with other concerned people a desire to undertake responsible action in these matters in the name of our shared humanity and common destiny; d) to explore the grounding we have in the biblical heritage, and to explore its treasury of insights and perspectives in relation to care for the environment; e) to face the possibility that within our traditional understandings of man’s role in creation, we may find misunderstandings and ambiguities which we must now repudiate.
The Churchill-Nelson River Diversion Projects, a massive hydro development undertaken by Manitoba Hydro, involve a major flooding of large areas of northern Manitoba, including reserve lands now inhabited by several thousand native people. To represent the concerns of the native people a Northern Flood Committee, made up of representatives of eight affected communities (treaty and non-treaty) has been formed. The Committee has retained outstanding legal counsel and has chosen Henry Spence as their capable chairman.
