Anglican Church welcomes court decision on native land claims

TORONTO (Dec. 12, 1997) — The Anglican Church welcomes the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling recognizing the rights of native peoples to the ownership of ancestral lands that have not specifically been signed away through treaties. The ruling overturned a previous British Columbia ruling dealing with land claims by the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en people. The … Continued

Royal commission on aboriginal peoples: time for federal government to accept its responsibility

TORONTO, November 14, 1996 — Next week, after four years of work, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples will release its final report to the government and the people of Canada. The Anglican Church of Canada and its Council of Indigenous Peoples encourages the Canadian Government to respond to this report with a formal apology … Continued

Resolve Nisga’a talks deadlock, archbishop says

TORONTO, July 18, 1995 — The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada is urging Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and British Columbia Premier Michael Harcourt to break the impasse in the Nisga’a Treaty negotiations. “The time has come for the exercise of political will. Otherwise the negotiations will end up being held hostage to short-term … Continued

Aboriginal Anglicans get approval to form self-determining community within the church

OTTAWA (June 1995) — The 300-member General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada has accepted and confirmed a covenant which encourages indigenous peoples to create a self-determining community within the church. The covenant was drafted and signed by Aboriginal Anglicans at a gathering in Winnipeg last April. Bishop Gordon Beardy of the Diocese of … Continued

Church responds to aftermath of residential schools, urges government participation in aboriginal healing

Twenty-five years after the last residential school for Native Canadians closed, their legacy remains among the most serious barriers to a just relationship with Aboriginal Canadians, an Anglican Church brief says. The residential schools were run by churches and funded by the federal government. The schools were the most prominent feature of a set of … Continued

Primate supports call for national day of prayer on Oka

September 19, 1990 — The Primate of the Anglican Church has supported a request from Georges Erasmus, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, for Christian churches to make this Sunday (September 23) a National Day of Prayer. In a letter to selected parishes and committees, Archbishop Michael Peers asks Anglicans “to uphold the … Continued

Land claims by British Columbia Indians

February 9, 1973 — The leader of the Anglican Church of Canada said today that the basic rights of Canada’s native people cannot be rejected and ignored. Archbishop E.W. Scott spoke in reference to the current dispute involving land claims by British Columbia Indians. “In the past, we’ve tended to push aside the legitimate claims … Continued

Report of General Synod committee on Indian and Eskimo Affairs

August 1, 1967 — Encouragement of leadership and self-determination should be the keystone of the church’s policy in its approach to the complex problems confronting Canada’s native peoples says a report prepared for presentation to the 23rd General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada meeting here next month. The report, by the synod’s inter-departmental … Continued