THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 36th General Council: Call upon the Government of Canada to renew its commitment and support for a national medicare program based on the five fundamental principles of the Canadian Health Act: universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness, and public administration.

Today is a time of spiritual dislocation for many Christians. A secular and consumerist spirit pervades public life. The shopping mall can be as much a Sunday morning destination as is church.

The Canadian health care system is under severe pressure (for example, reductions in federal transfer payments to support provincial health care programmes, cutbacks in hospital budgets and in community services, layoffs to hospital and other health care system personnel, the threat of user fees, and the potential of a two-tiered system). In response to this pressure and sparked by a sense of urgency, Unit IV of the Division of Mission in Canada established a Health Task Group in 1991 to engage the church in a process of education, animation and policy formation.

WHEREAS health reform is taking place in many provinces in Canada; and WHEREAS this process is having major impacts on the church’s service to senior citizens and especially on nursing homes and homes for the aged;

The 34th General Council strongly encourages the Division of Mission in Canada to create and/or identify the tools and guidelines for AIDS ministry in consultation with HIV-infected people and people presently engaged in this ministry.

The 34th General Council agrees to request the Division of Mission in Canada to educate congregations, presbyteries, and conferences that it is every child’s right to have the best nutrition and nurture available, and that it is the right of every woman who is involved in a nursing relationship to continue as a full participant in religious, economic, political, and social life...

From October 1989 to the end of 1990, the United Church was involved in the study of the document The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture (referred to as the Study Document in this report). As the statistics show, in terms of the sheer numbers of persons involved and responses received, it has been one of the most extensive church studies. People came to the study with different levels of energy and spiritual expressions and with a variety of expectations and assumptions.  A participant in one Conference event spoke for many involved in the study when she said, “People came…looking for a garden ready to harvest but were given dirt and tools.” It is a good metaphorical description; what we offer as a report reflects the labour of many Christian people, at home and abroad, who were not afraid to plough in with hope of a good harvest.

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.

Having heard Petition 39 [re: placing abortion in the Criminal Code], it is moved that 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...