New province proposed

Notes: "The Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) presented proposed steps for creating self-determining Indigenous ministries within the Anglican Church of Canada, such as creating a fifth ecclesiastical province and establishing training and ordination programs with Indigenous guidance, to the Council of General Synod (CoGS) at it May 1 to 3 [2015] meeting. Their ideas met with a mixture of excitement, some concern and lots of questions by CoGS members, who discussed the proposals in groups. Despite assurances given by ACIP earlier, new questions about whether ACIP's call for self-determination represented a desire to establish a separate church still arose. 'Is this two churches perhaps working in parallel or is this a church within the Anglican Church of Canada ?' asked James Sweeny, province of Canada. 'We have never considered separation, because that would totally offend the wisdom and advice of our elders', responded ACIP co-chair Archdeacon Sidney Black. 'In this journey we want to acknowledge our Indigenous roots, revive them, to remember who we are'."

Subjects: Anglican Church of Canada. Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples; Anglican Church of Canada. Council of General Synod - Meetings; Native peoples - Canada - Anglican Church of Canada; Anglican Church of Canada - Structure; Anglican Church of Canada - Government; Anglican Church of Canada - Ecclesiastical Provinces; Black, Sidney (Sidney Glen), 1948-; Sweeny, James T., 1949-; Haines-Turner, Cynthia; Webster, Tanis; Jenkins, Marion; Robertson, Larry (Larry David), 1954-; MacDonald, Mark L. (Mark Lawrence), 1954-