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 through the Division of Mission in Canada a) seeks the removal of the new domestic workers regulation introduced by Immigration Canada, and in effect since 20 January 1992; and
The 34th General Council agrees to 1. affirm the Divisions of Mission in Canada and World Outreach for their involvement with the End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) coalition, and through ECPAT to communicate with Canadian tourism organizations to discourage the development of sex trade tourism originating in Canada; and
The 34th General Council strongly protests the establishment of arms trade exhibition facilities anywhere in Canada; and encourages United Church members to express opposition to arms trade exhibitions throughout Canada.
The 34th General Council agrees to 1 request the Moderator or the General Secretary to express our opposition to the arms trade to the Government of Canada through the offices of the Prime Minister of Canada, the Secretary of State for External Affairs, the Minister of Defence; and
The 34th General Council requests the Division of Mission in Canada and the Division of World Outreach a) to gather existing resources and up-to-date information on the UCC’s position on the Middle East; and
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.
The 34th General Council agrees to a) declare its revulsion at the acts of war and atrocities carried out in the former Yugoslavia and particularly at the attacks on minorities in policies aimed at “ethnic cleansing”; b) through the Moderator, communicate with the faith communities (Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Protestant) of the former Yugoslavia and their counterparts in Canada to express our grief and our support for their efforts to relieve human suffering, to withhold moral legitimacy from war-making, and to bring about reconciliation; c) through the Moderator, express to the World Council of Churches and to the Conference of European Churches our willingness to cooperate in efforts for humanitarian relief, protection of refugees, reconciliation, and rebuilding of “civil society” after the war is over;
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.
