wfn.org | Canadian Anglicans to face government alone as negotiating group

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

disbands

Leanne Larmondin and Solange De Santis
Staff Writers

Vancouver
The Canadian ecumenical group which has been negotiating with the federal
government over financial settlements from residential school lawsuits has
disbanded following the decision by the Anglican Church of Canada to
negotiate on its own.

The Anglican church, one of four churches involved in the negotiations,
announced recently that it had begun bilateral talks both ecumenically and
alone with the government. Its first meeting alone with government
negotiators was in December. A second was held last month and a third
two-day round of negotiations began in Vancouver, Feb. 4.

A Feb. 4 press release issued by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, United and
Presbyterian churches said they had concluded that after negotiating
together with the government for a year and a half "there is no longer a
basis for ecumenical negotiations with the federal government to resolve
the legacy of Indian residential schools."

The churches added that they would have preferred to negotiate as a group,
but they believe "these negotiations would now be inconsistent with a
simultaneous bilateral negotiation in process."

Representatives from the ecumenical group said there were mixed emotions
about the dissolution of the group.

"We realize the Anglican General Synod is in a different place from the
rest of us, although some of the Catholic orders are just as vulnerable,"
said Rev. Ian Morrison of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Officers of the Anglican church say it has enough funds to operate through
2002, but its future is uncertain beyond that if there is no agreement with
the government to cap the church's contribution to settlement costs. In a
prepared question and answer position statement on the residential schools
negotiations, Anglican representatives say they would rather spend
resources on healing and reconciliation than on legal fees.

"The Anglicans hope that the bilateral negotiations will progress rapidly
to resolution that will allow them to get on with their primary goal,
namely healing and reconciliation initiatives," says the Anglican statement.

Sister Marie Zarowny, of the (Roman) Catholic Organizations' Task Group on
Indian Residential Schools, said there was "a lot of sadness" that the
Anglican church could not wait for an anticipated first meeting with newly
appointed deputy prime minister John Manley, who last month took over the
residential schools portfolio from Herb Gray.

The churches have requested a meeting with Mr. Manley but none has yet been
scheduled.

"It was hoped General Synod could have hung on," said Sister Marie.

Last September, the ecumenical group proposed to the government that the
churches make "significant contributions, in cash and in kind, participate
in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes, and work with claimants
and government to find ways of resolving the claims expeditiously." The
churches also asked for a mediator to broker discussions.

There was no reply from Ottawa and no further meetings have been held,
although the federal government announced in October that it would pay 70
per cent of out-of-court settlements in proven cases of abuse.

         - 30 -

Links:

Ecumenical Group on Residential Schools
Position of Anglican Church of Canada -
Q&A - February 4, 2002

http://anglican.ca/ministry/rs/reports/QA-Feb4-02.html

A statement from the ecumenical negotiators on Indian residential schools
-- Feb. 4, 2002 Anglican News Service press release

http://www.anglican.ca/news/ans/ans.html?ansItem=2002-02-04_a.ans

Church organizations renew call for mediator
-- Jan. 14, 2002 Anglican News Service press release

http://www.anglican.ca/news/ans/ans.html?ansItem=2002-01-15_a.ans

Residential Schools: Legacy and Response

http://anglican.ca/ministries/rs/

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Leanne Larmondin
Web Manager
Anglican Church of Canada
600 Jarvis St.
Toronto ON  L5E 2G1
(416) 924 9199 ext. 307
ll@anglican.ca
http://www.anglican.ca
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