wfn.org | Canadian Anglicans sorting out implications of lawsuits

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For more information contact:
James Solheim
Director
Episcopal News Service
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http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens

2000-118

Canadian Anglicans sorting out implications of lawsuits for 
national church

by James Solheim

     (ENS) In the face of hundreds of lawsuits seeking damages 
for the church's role in administering residential schools where 
there is evidence of cultural and sexual abuse, the Anglican 
Church in Canada has begun to cut its staff and program.

     The church began to lay off staff on August 14 and cut more 
than half a million dollars in grants to support ministry in the 
northern part of the country and overseas. Eight full-time staff, 
out of a total of 125, are leaving now, with additional layoffs 
likely in the coming months. Budget cuts are 11 percent of the 
church's annual budget of $10.9 million. "With these reductions 
we will balance our operating expenditures in the current year," 
said the Rev. Jim Boyles, the church's general secretary, "but 
our assets will continue to be depleted to pay for litigation 
costs."

     The General Synod of the church and eight of its dioceses 
have been named in about 350 lawsuits claiming cultural, physical 
and sexual abuse at residential schools run for indigenous 
children. Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and United 
Churches participated with the government in running the schools 
until 1969. At that time the Anglican Church committed itself to 
a new relationship with indigenous people, establishing a Healing 
and Reconciliation Fund in 1991 when the reports of abuse began 
to emerge. Despite cuts in the national budget, support for the 
fund will double, increasing from $262,000 to $547,000 annually. 
The fund is administered by the Anglican Council of Indigenous 
Peoples.

Facing bankruptcy?

     Boyles said that the church is continuing its efforts to 
convince the government to stop pursuing lawsuits as its primary 
response to the more than 7,000 individuals who are seeking 
compensation. "We agree with the Law Commission of Canada that a 
redress mechanism would offer a better means of meeting the needs 
of people who were harmed in the schools," said Boyles. "We have 
told the government that we could make a substantial commitment, 
both financially and in other ways, to supporting such a redress 
program."

     Boyles admitted that the church is considering bankruptcy 
protection that would give it time to seek ways to meet the 
financial crisis while continuing its mission. "But our favored 
option is to find agreement with the government to allow the 
church to remain in operation." The church has already warned the 
government that it would run out of money next year unless the 
government assumed a share of its legal expenses.

     Most dioceses are independently incorporated and won't be 
touched by the lawsuits. Only those in western Canada that are 
named in the lawsuits could face bankruptcy. And the nine 
dioceses in the far north that depend on direct funding from the 
national church face an uncertain future.

     The church will also reduce its work in environmental and 
social justice areas, cut the size of its national newspaper, the 
Anglican Journal, and eliminate its Resource Center, which 
supports parish ministries.

United Church faces anger

     A conference of the United Church of Canada (UCC) passed a 
sympathetic message of support but then withdrew it because of 
angry complaints by native clergy.

     The UCC is also being sued by hundreds of former students in 
residential schools for native youth but it does not face the 
same financial crisis.

     The original statement said, "The United Church of Canada 
conveys our support, solidarity and prayers to the Anglican 
Church of Canada and its staff during this painful time of staff 
cuts, financial crisis and overall anxiety." The 400 delegates 
attending the conference at first applauded but then fell silent 
as native clergy from the western provinces angrily denounced the 
message, several of them citing damage to their families. "The 
Anglican Church destroyed my family," said Janet Sigurdson of 
Saskatchewan.

     The anger stemmed from a lack of consultation with native 
clergy before the message was presented. "We have some First 
Nations members who would condemn the United Church for its 
involvement in residential schools, too," said the Rev. Brian 
Thorpe, who heads a committee on residential schools. "Some are 
very loyal to the church but at the same time are angry about its 
involvement in these schools."

     Government help? 

     The churches are seeking help from the federal government, 
hoping that it will implement a process for validating and 
compensating the claims outside of court, rather than dragging 
each of the thousands of cases through the legal system.

     Reports suggest that the government's cabinet can't agree on 
a course of action and therefore has been very slow in responding 
to the crisis. And there has been no response to efforts by 
church leaders to meet with government officials who must decide 
how much public money can be spent in addressing the issue. In 
1998 it established a "healing fund" of $350 million to pay for 
social projects in native communities. That calmed the situation 
but did not prevent a growing number of lawsuits seeking 
individual compensation. The churches have said they would 
contribute to establishing a new fund, if the government would 
help them avoid bankruptcy.

--based on reports from the Anglican News Service and the 
National Post.