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ANGLICAN NEWS SERVICE

New strategies, funding and staff to address long term healing goals

March 15, 2001 - The Anglican Church has unveiled a multi-part plan
intended to help the church continue working towards healing with
Indigenous peoples.

The plan, which expands and extends work already being done, addresses five
goals:

* supporting the efforts of Indigenous peoples to achieve
self-determination, both within Canada and within the church

* increasing advocacy for justice for Indigenous peoples, including land
claims and treaty negotiations

* expanding the church's Healing Fund to increase grants for Indigenous
groups designing and implementing healing programs in their communities;
and encouraging non-Indigenous Anglicans to address their own needs for
healing

* addressing the consequences of colonialism and assimilation policies,
including residential schools, in symbolic and ceremonial ways, to provide
"historical reparation"

* working to build a new partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
peoples with a long term goal of achieving reconciliation.

The plan was adopted by the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples earlier
this month, and will be presented to the churches executive council for
ratification this week.

Builds on historic relationship

"We feel this is a very positive step," said Donna Bomberry, indigenous
ministries coordinator, "in that it builds on our church's historic
relationship with Indigenous peoples, and it commits us to a renewed
partnership in the future."

The plan identifies a number of specific strategies intended to advance
each of the declared goals. For example, increased training opportunities
for Indigenous leaders and funding for community development will support
self-determination initiatives both within the church and in Canadian
society at large.

The church will promote Indigenous justice issues by providing historical
and educational resources to its members, and expanding networks of people
committed to advocating for land and treaty rights.

Work in healing will be augmented by increased fund raising, and some
additional funds will be targeted to support programs with Indigenous
persons living in urban centers. The church is active in approximately 225
Indigenous congregations, primarily in northern areas. Its links to the
growing Indigenous population in urban areas have been less well
established. The plan also recognizes that the need for healing is not
confined to Indigenous communities alone.

Liturgies will memorialize experience

Developing liturgical rites to mark steps on the healing journey, a measure
particularly meaningful for Indigenous Anglicans, and providing suitable
memorials of the residential school, will assist with historical
reparation. The Law Commission of Canada noted that survivors of childhood
abuse commonly cite 'memorialization of the experience' as an important
step on the road to healing.

Story-telling - using formalized ways for indigenous and non-indigenous
people to tell and listen to each other's stories and histories - is  one
of the strategies intended to promote the development of a new partnership.

Healing coordinator hired

Earlier this month the church announced it has hired Esther Wesley, a
former executive director of the Ojibway and Cree Cultural Centre in
Thunder Bay, to take on managing the expanded healing fund. Wesley, a
member of the Cree Fort Albany First Nation in northern Ontario, will also
collect and assemble stories of residential schools experiences arising
from the funded projects.

Ms. Wesley has previously served on the church's international development
agency, the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund and has worked with
the international Anglican Indigenous Network.

In the earlier part of this century, the Anglican Church of Canada was
involved in operating more than 20 residential schools under the direction
of the Government of Canada. A major goal of the schools was to assimilate
Indigenous persons into European culture.

In 1969 the church withdrew from the residential schools project and
committed itself to working with Indigenous peoples in support of land and
treaty rights. The church began formally addressing the legacy of
residential schools in 1991 with the creation of its Healing Fund. In 1993,
the church apologized for its role in the schools.

Archdeacon Jim Boyles, the church's General Secretary, said the new healing
plan represents an expansion and continuation of the church's commitment to
partnership with Indigenous peoples.

This work has been thrown into sharp relief by the current residential
schools crisis, in which thousands of residential schools survivors have
brought lawsuits against the Government of Canada, and various church
organizations, claiming damages for abusive treatment in the schools.

The church's national organization, the General Synod, and some dioceses
face probable bankruptcy in the near future if the federal Department of
Justice continues its aggressive pursuit of church organizations as 'third
parties.' More than 40 percent of the cases involving General Synod are
brought as third-party actions by the Department of Justice.

Healing work may survive lawsuits

Faced with a revenue shortfall last year (only partially related to the
residential schools crisis), the General Synod chose to increase its work
in healing and Indigenous justice, while making cuts elsewhere. The new
healing plan is intended to give substances to the increased spending
announced at that time.

Much of this work will be based in dioceses and parishes, Archdeacon Boyles
notes. "We hope that it may be possible for the work to continue in some
way, even if the government forces us into bankruptcy."

The healing plan says the church is committed to a new relationship with
Indigenous Peoples, "based on a partnership which focuses on the cultural,
spiritual, social and economic independence of Indigenous communities."

The complete text is available at http://www.anglican.ca/acip/agape.html

-30-

For further information contact:

Ms. Donna Bomberry
Consultant for Indigenous Ministry
Anglican Church of Canada
416 924 9199 x626

or

Dr. Eleanor Johnson
Director of Partnerships
Anglican Church of Canada
416 924 9199 x213

or

Doug Tindal,
Director of Information Resources,
416-924-9199
ext.. 286;
905-335-8349 (residence)