(Note: this is an update of the website news story of June 12.)
Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray has turned down an invitation from Archbishop Michael Peers to address the meeting of General Synod about his government’s negotiations with the churches involved in residential schools litigation.
Archbishop Peers, the Anglican primate, invited Mr. Gray to attend Synod on Thursday, July 5, but Allison MacNeil, a representative from Mr. Gray’s office, said the deputy prime minister could not attend due to a previously scheduled engagement. General Synod meets July 4-11 in Waterloo, Ont.
Four churches — Anglican, United, Roman Catholic and Presbyterian — are involved in thousands of court cases filed by former residential school students and their families. In up to 40 per cent of the cases churches have been drawn in as third parties by the federal government. The churches argue that they ran the schools on behalf of the government and the government bears primary responsibility.
In recent months, the Anglican Church of Canada has expressed frustration at the slow pace of negotiations with the federal government. Litigation costs are crippling the work of the national office and it will run out of money by the end of the year, church leaders say.
Meanwhile, in a recent report to national church staff, Archdeacon Jim Boyles noted that the Anglican Church of Canada is encouraged by the recently-announced creation of a federal government office dedicated to resolving claims associated with the residential schools. A news release from the Deputy Prime Minister’s office noted that the new residential schools office will “focus federal efforts and co-ordinate negotiations” between the government and the churches. The Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution of Canada opened in early June.
The new office will be headed up by Jack Stagg, who previously worked for the departments of Fisheries and Oceans and Indian Affairs, the latter for 20 years. Mr. Stagg, who will serve as the chief federal negotiator working with the churches on the issue of shared responsibility and compensation, has told the churches that he would like to meet with each of them individually in the coming weeks. He is expected to visit Anglican Church House by the end of June.
On a related note, the national church archives department has curtailed its services drastically for the summer in order to deal with the volume of work arising from the meeting of the General Synod and residential schools litigation. Head archivist Terry Thompson says that the General Synod archives will be closed to the public during July and August and will not be responding to requests for archives research assistance.
Full research services will resume on Wednesday, September 5, said Ms. Thompson. For genealogical inquiries, researchers are directed to the Anglican Archives Network website, at www.anglicanarchivesnetwork.ca.
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