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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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.
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.
Having heard Petition 39 [re: placing abortion in the Criminal Code], it is moved that 1 The Frankford/Batawa Pastoral Charge be encouraged to continue studying the issues and to forward the results of their study to Belleville Presbytery;
WHEREAS as Christians we affirm the sanctity of human life, born or unborn and that life is much more than physical existence; and
WHEREAS The United Church of Canada does not have a clearly defined policy on how persons with pastoral responsibilities within The United Church of Canada should respond to disclosures of child abuse; and WHEREAS many legal jurisdictions in Canada have enacted legislation which requires persons with knowledge of sexual and/or physical abuse of children to report their knowledge to appropriate authorities; and
This 33rd General Council urges that all conferences become aware of current studies of child abuse, such as the Rix Rogers, and that they give consideration to the recommendations directed to the churches in this report and that all conferences be asked to assess the adequacy of abuse counselling in their own boundaries; And that this 33rd General Council speak urgently of the needs to their political representatives urging them to give them priority as needed.
Having heard Petition 37, it is MOVED that the 33rd General Council: Designate and establish one Sunday per year as an AIDS Awareness Sunday; and Direct DMC to give publicity to the British Columbia Kit of Worship Resources for AIDS Awareness.
The 33rd General Council: 1 urges United Churches across Canada to initiate volunteer literacy programs and/or support literacy programs already established;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this 33rd General Council direct the Division of Mission in Canada to find the means to address bioethical issues to consider immediately the following: 1. All gene transfers in humans that have even a chance of getting into reproductive cells for passage to future generations, should be prohibited
WHEREAS in spite of the International Marketing Code of the World Health Organization, and in spite of UNICEF’s repeated statements that death from diarrhea is 25 times higher for infants who are bottle fed than those who are breast fed – and in spite of thousands of scientific studies documenting the life-enhancing and life-saving qualities of breast milk, the infant formula industry continues its immoral promotion of dangerous feeding methods, particularly through the distribution of free supplies to hospitals and maternities;
