wfn.org | As Canadian synod faces bankruptcy, bishops plead with government

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Note #6528 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

14-May-2001
01171

As Canadian synod faces bankruptcy, bishops plead with government

by Ferdy Baglo
Ecumenical News International

TORONTO - Canada's Anglican bishops have appealed to Prime Minister Jean
Chretien to intervene in stalled negotiations over compensation for people
who claim they were abused in Indian residential schools run by the church
on behalf of the government.

More than 7,000 people have brought lawsuits against the federal government,
the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and several other Canadian churches,
alleging they were physically or sexually abused by school staff.

The Anglican Church administered 26 government residential schools for
indigenous children in various parts of Canada from 1820 until 1969.

Ignoring recommendations from church and other groups, Canada's Department
of Justice is seeking to resolve these lawsuits in court. Indigenous,
religious and legal groups have urged the government to find a way to settle
these claims outside the courts.

In a letter delivered to Prime Minister Chretien on May 2, the Anglican
House of Bishops expressed the bishops' "dismay" at the ponderous process of
resolving the claims. "Those who were abused still wait for justice and the
litigation is rapidly draining [our] resources," the letter states. "We
assure you of our ongoing commitment to our ministry of healing among the
indigenous peoples of Canada. We will continue this work as long as we are
able, but it is now in jeopardy."

Archbishop David Crawley of the Diocese of Kootenay in British Columbia, one
of the primary drafters of the statement, told ENI: "Between our national
church and the eight dioceses in litigation, we have spent about C$5 million
[US$3.25 million] on litigation. More than 99 percent has gone to the legal
process, and less than one per cent has gone to actual payments to a
plaintiff.

"We expect by the end of this year that assets will be gone, and then in
effect the national corporate structure of our church will be bankrupt. We
have been in conversations with the federal government since last fall, and
they appear to be stalled."

In some lawsuits the ACC's general synod - the church's national governing
body - and eight of its 30 dioceses are named directly. But increasingly,
Archbishop Crawley said, the Canadian government was forcing the church to
be a co-defendant in lawsuits originally brought against the government.

Lawsuits in which the general synod is being sued as a third party account
for only 40 percent of the cases involving the church. Yet these cases have
predominated in the courts and have generated the major portion of legal
fees.

Archbishop Crawley said: "I believe that the government doesn't know what
its policy is. Various departments of government are working at odds with
one another.  The government has been slow to recognize the magnitude of the
problem. There are tens of thousands of potential complainants.

"If you add in the so-called cultural and linguistic abuses - the
deprivation of language and culture as distinct from physical or sexual
abuses - if class actions in that area get certified, then the government
will be facing literally billions of dollars in costs."

The lawsuits were threatening the survival of certain dioceses, the
archbishop said. For example, the Diocese of Cariboo in British Columbia,
one of the first to face the charges, "are no longer defending themselves in
court," he said. "They have no assets left. The synod of the diocese passed
a resolution last fall that unless there is some kind of agreement reached,
the diocese will wind up its affairs as a corporate body this October."

The United Church of Canada (UCC) and the Roman Catholic Church - both also
involved in the Indian Residential School program - were not facing the same
financial stress as the ACC, according to Archbishop Crawley. The UCC had
only two cases pending, he added. The Roman Catholic cases were different as
residential schools were run by religious orders. In one of those cases,
"the Oblates [religious of the order] in the province of Manitoba have
declared bankruptcy and turned all of their assets over to government," the
archbishop said.

The ACC's newspaper, the Anglican Journal, reported recently that several
Anglican dioceses were on the brink of insolvency. Last year the general
synod incorporated the church's international relief agency - the Primate's
Fund - as a separate entity to protect the fund's assets should the church
face huge lawsuit settlements or bankruptcy.

In the May 2001 issue, Anglican Journal editor Vianney Carriere wrote:
"General synod ... today stands on the brink of bankruptcy protection at
best, dissolution at worst, in part as a result of federal government action
in the courts and inaction everywhere else.

"If the government fails to find the means to resolve lawsuits around
residential schools in a way that allows the churches to go on with this and
other ministries, the victims of that failure will be the people of Canada,
those who never use the churches no less than those who do."

In a statement to members of the church, the bishops gave their assurance
that regardless of the outcome of the lawsuits, the life of the church would
continue.

"Finally, we commit ourselves, whatever the outcome, to nurture and lead the
Anglican family through these difficult times, always seeking the will of
Christ and the well-being of Christ's Church."

About 200 of the Anglican Church's congregations are made up primarily of
indigenous people. Since 1991 the church has funded extensive
community-based healing efforts. Ironically these operations, funded by the
general synod, are also threatened by the looming financial crisis.

Archbishop Michael Peers, Primate of the ACC, has requested Anglicans to
contact their representatives in the federal parliament to express their
concern. He said in a statement released by the church: "Justice is not now
being served, and we cannot see how continuing this pattern will ever serve
the purposes of justice."

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