As of January 30, 2003 18 dioceses had ratified the agreement. Describes the efforts of Archbishop Peers and Archdeacon Boyles to explain the agreement and the materials available. Page 3 has a chart of each diocese's situation.
Bishop Steven Charleston will lead discussions at the Winnipeg meeting, 7-10 October 2003, being held to look at the relationship between the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) and the church. The Keewatin diocesan council had hoped for a larger gathering such as a Sacred Circle and asked that the October meeting be cancelled. The meeting will deal with the dispute between ACIP and church leaders following the March 2003 agreement with the federal government about residential schools.
Letter to the editor from Elizabeth Beardy in which she corrects an error in the article "Schools agreement signed" (April 2003). "I attended the signing in my own right. I attended because I wanted to show the primate that I supported him. From my time at ACIP [Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples] I understood that it was the intention of ACIP that, after having expressed our concerns to the primate, that we should attend the signing to show him our support. I wanted to show my support for my bishop because I knew he was attending. I wanted to show my support for the synod of my diocese, which signed the agreement. I wanted to show my support for the whole negotiating team, including my husband."
"The Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples' (ACIP) rejection of the native residential schools agreement and its rebuke of the primate, Archbishop Michael Peers, is stirring up both support and criticism in the Canadian Church". The major point of concern for ACIP is that "natives who enter into the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process must sign a release form promising never to sue the government claiming loss of language and culture in the national boarding school system." A letter from the diocesan council of Keewatin conveyed the diocese's deep distress at the press release and stand taken by the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples. Bishop Don Harvey of the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador also expressed dismay at the ACIP position.
"The national office of the Anglican Church of Canada has reported a deficit for the fifth straight year in 2007, with a shortfall of $777,195; the amount is $290,768 more than the loss recorded in 2006 of $486,427. The deficit would have been $1.97 million had General Synod not received a refund last year of $1.17 million from the federal government as part of the revised Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the financial statements showed. The statements reported revenue of $13.68 million, and expenses of $14.46 million. General Synod treasurer Peter Blachford said there were a number of reasons for the deficit, but that the biggest cost was related to the transfer of Anglican Book Centre (ABC) , the church's Toronto-based bookstore, to the Lutheran bookseller, Augsburg Fortress Canada". "Although donations to the Anglican Appeal, the church's flagship appeal, went up by 1.6 per cent ($438,344 compared to $425,881 in 2006) in 2007, it still fell short of its budgeted revenue target of $550,000, added Mr. Blachford. Proportional giving by some dioceses was also down".
The officers of General Synod deferred a decision on a thorny problem concerning an alternate dispute resolution process available to native people who allege abuse at the residential schools.
Reports on the discussion at COGS about tensions resulting from ACIP's [Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples] refusal to support the church's agreement with the federal government.