"When it comes to tracking the process of healing, spreadsheets and metrics aren't all that useful. It takes someone like Esther Wesley, the Anglican Fund for Healing and Reconciliation ("AHF") co-ordinator, to sense when healing starts to happen. Wesley's face lights up when she talks about Aboriginal Neighbours, a group of volunteers on Vancouver Island with a practical, authentic approach to bringing together indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Aboriginal Neighbours is one of 494 projects that have received AHF grants. Founded in 1991, the AHF now uses funds raised by dioceses in order to comply with the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement of 2006. So far, the fund has distributed more than $5 million to projects addressing the legacy of residential schools". "Wesley says AHF's work is fundamentally the same as that of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission: to educate people about residential schools and bring people together. It's hard and painful work sometimes, but for her, Aboriginal Neighbours stands as a slow and steady example of how healing can happen. 'We need more of that people-to-people contact', Wesley says. 'It's about recognizing each other, sharing culture and stories and being people of God'."
Eight page insert (1-8) with May 2013 issue of Anglican Journal. Anglican Church of Canada Ministry Report. Insert produced by Resources for Mission Dept.
The Prolocutor, Ms. Cynthia Haines-Turner, reported the results of the four email ballots conducted since the November 2016 meeting.
Text
That this Council of General Synod
- 1. Affirm the intention to focus the 2017 annual campaign, “Giving with Grace” on renewing the capital of the Anglican Fund for Healing and Reconciliation, and
- 2. Approve the transfer of up to $507,000 from Contingency Reserve to operating funds, if required, to replace funds not received from Giving with Grace in 2017.”
"On July 31 [2018], Bishop Rob Hardwick of the diocese of Qu'Appelle dipped the wheel of his bicycle in the Atlantic Ocean in St. John's, Nfld., bringing an end to a cross-Canada journey that began months earlier. On May 19 [2018], he had performed the same ritual in the Pacific, at his starting point in Victoria, B.C. Hardwick planned the more than 7,200 km ride across Canada after he dreamed of raising $1 million for the diocese Living the Mission campaign for mission and ministry. He had also hoped to raise as much as $800,000 for the Anglican Healing Fund and Indigenous Ministries. In mid-August [2018], donations to the campaign itself totaled $156,400. But the ride spurred a number of other related donations, bringing the total to more than $250,000. For example, a portion of the money raised was to go towards building a medical centre in Burundi. (The diocese of Qu'Appelle has a companion relationship with the diocese of Muyinga.) Hardwick says this project can now be completed thanks to additional gifts, totalling $20,000, from two families in the diocese". "Hardwick had bypass surgery nine years ago. He turned 62 during the ride".
"Healing Fund co-ordinator Esther Wesley told CoGS that, as of June 22 [2017] Giving with Grace, the Anglican Church of Canada's annual fundraising campaign, had raised $26,000 in money directly designated for the fund, which supports Indigenous healing projects. Funds collected without any specific designation totalled $249,000, Wesley said. ... Thus a total of $275,000 has been raised for the fund by Giving with Grace to date in 2017. In 2015, Giving with Grace raised $515,000". "A key focus for the fund remains keeping Indigenous languages alive, as many of them reach a critical point in their existence". "Reconciliation was the theme of a number of sessions at the meeting of CoGS. On June 24 [2017], Melanie Delva, named the church's reconciliation animator last April [2017], gave a presentation introducing her role. Much of it, she said, would consist in 'forming, equipping and resourcing a national team to encourage and sustain local engagement in the work of reconciliation".
Author, graphic designer and educational student Brandon Mitchell took two and a half years to write a comic book entitled "Lost Innocence" about Indian residential schools in Canada. "Mitchell, a member of the Listuguj Mi'kmaq First Nation, found researching the topic affected him so much that trying to write it in an even-handed way seemed at times impossible. ... The fruit of Mitchell's long labour -- and that of artist Tara Audibert, who drew the illustrations -- may be about to reach a wider audience. 'Lost Innocence', which was published in 2013, now has a teacher's guide to go along with it, made possible by a $14,050 grant from the Anglican Church of Canada's Healing Fund. Mitchell and Sean Muir, executive director of the Healthy Aboriginal Network, which published both the comic book and guide, hope it will soon be taught to children in schools across Canada and beyond". "Though 'Lost Innocence' is fiction, the incidents are based on facts".
The Very Rev. Ken Davis, dean of St. Alban's Cathedral in Prince Albert, Sask. wanted to learn Cree when he arrived in Prince Albert in 2010. "Davis discovered he was not alone in wanting to learn Cree. Loss of ancestral language, identified as one of the tragic consequences of residential schools, had affected many third-and-fourth generation natives". After securing a $15,000 grant from the Anglican Healing Fund, the cathedral is now hosting a 39-week Cree language class. The class is taught by the Rev. Samuel Halkett, a diocesan deacon. "Cree was Halkett's first spoken language. He also studied the language formally -- learning its grammar and structure. Cree is 'a beautiful, smooth language', with different dialects, he explained. He's teaching the Y dialect, the easiest and most commonly used. Response has been phenomenal; the program was designed for only 20 people, but 79 signed up. The classes have fostered 'a great spirit of fellowship and good humour', Davis said".
Advertisment from Resources for Mission Dept. "Our church has made a commitment to healing and reconciliation. Through the Anglican Healing Fund, you can help make that commitment a reality. Be part of that long-term and vital work through a legacy gift to the Anglican Healing Fund. Contact us to find out how. giving.anglican.ca The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, Resources for Mission, 80 Hayden Street, Toronto ON M4Y 3G2 1-866-924-9192 resourcesformission@national.anglican.ca". [Text of entire article.]
A brief history of the Anglican Appeal which was authorized in 1992 "to ensure that the valuable work done by partners in Canada's North and overseas received the attention and the financial support it deserves". The Appeal supports the work of Partners in Mission overseas especially with scholarships for theological education, clergy training, Christian education, an AIDS shelter and many other projects. "Closer to home, the Appeal supports the Council of the North dioceses, where enormous distances and a scattered population make it very difficult to minister to parishes". "The Fund also supports the church's Indigenous Healing Fund, which was established to provide support to Indigenous people for healing and reconciliation."
That this General Synod support the Apology of the Primate in 1993 by having the Financial Management and Development Committee provide staff assistance towards the securing of adequate and continuing funding for the Aboriginal Healing and Reconciliation Fund. CARRIED WITHOUT DEBATE Act 67
Full-page colour advertisement for Giving with Grace. At head of page: "Help us raise $1 million for healing in 2017 through Giving with Grace. How do we move from here to here ? A time to heal. Through the Anglican Healing Fund. Give now through Giving with Grace. giving.anglican.ca .... The General Synod of The Anglican Church of Canada, 80 Hayden Street, Toronto, ON M4Y 3G2 416-924-9192 1-866-924-9192 www.anglican.ca".