Lawsuits force cuts for Canadian Anglicans

Christian Century, Sept 27, 2000

In the face of hundreds of lawsuits seeking damages for the church's role in administering residential schools where there is evidence of cultural and sexual abuse of children, the Anglican Church in Canada has begun to cut its staff and program, according to the Episcopal News Service.

The church began to lay off staff on August 14 and cut more than half a million dollars in grants to support ministry in the northern part of the country and overseas. Eight full-time staff, out of a total of 125, are leaving now, with additional layoffs likely in the coming months. Budget cuts are 11 percent of the church's annual budget of $10.9 million. "With these reductions we will balance our operating expenditures in the current year," said Jim Boyles, the church's general secretary, "but our assets will continue to be depleted to pay for litigation costs."

The church's General Synod and eight of its dioceses have been named in about 350 lawsuits claiming cultural, physical and sexual abuse at residential schools run for indigenous children. Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and United churches participated with the government in running the schools until 1969. At that time the Anglican Church committed itself to a new relationship with indigenous people, establishing a Healing and Reconciliation Fund in 1991 when the reports of abuse began to emerge. Despite cuts in the national budget, support for the fund will double, increasing from $262,000 to $547,000 annually. The fund is administered by the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples.

Boyles said that the church is continuing its efforts to convince the government to stop pursuing lawsuits as its primary response to the more than 7,000 individuals who are seeking compensation. "We agree with the Law Commission of Canada that a redress mechanism would offer a better means of meeting the needs of people who were harmed in the schools," said Boyles. "We have told the government that we could make a substantial commitment, both financially and in other ways, to supporting such a redress program."

Boyles admitted that the church is considering bankruptcy protection that would give it time to seek ways to meet the financial crisis while continuing its mission. "But our favored option is to find agreement with the government to allow the church to remain in operation." The church has already warned the government that it would run out of money next year unless the government assumed a share of its legal expenses.

Most dioceses are independently incorporated and won't be touched by the lawsuits. Only those in western Canada that are named in the lawsuits could face bankruptcy. And the nine dioceses in the far north that depend on direct funding from the national church face an uncertain future.

The church will also reduce its work in environmental and social justice areas, cut the size of its national newspaper, the Anglican Journal, and eliminate its Resource Center, which supports parish ministries.

A conference of the United Church of Canada passed a message of support but then withdrew it because of angry complaints by native clergy. The UCC is also being sued by hundreds of former students in residential schools for native youth, but it does not face the same financial crisis.

The original statement said, "The United Church of Canada conveys our support, solidarity and prayers to the Anglican Church of Canada and its staff during this painful time of staff cuts, financial crisis and overall anxiety." The 400 delegates attending the conference at first applauded but then fell silent as native clergy from the western provinces angrily denounced the message, several of them citing damage to their families. "The Anglican Church destroyed my family," said Janet Sigurdson of Saskatchewan.

The anger stemmed in part from a lack of consultation with native clergy before the message was presented. "We have some First Nations members who would condemn the United Church for its involvement in residential schools, too," said Brian Thorpe, who heads a committee on residential schools. "Some are very loyal to the church but at the same time are angry about its involvement in these schools."

The churches are seeking help from the federal government, hoping that it will implement a process for validating and compensating the claims outside of court, rather than dragging each of the thousands of cases through the legal system.

Reports suggest that the government's cabinet can't agree on a course of action and therefore has been very slow in responding to the crisis. And there has been no response to efforts by church leaders to meet with government officials who must decide how much public money can be spent in addressing the issue. In 1998 it established a "healing fund" of $350 million to pay for social projects in native communities. That calmed the situation but did not prevent a growing number of lawsuits seeking individual compensation. The churches have said they would contribute to establishing a new fund, if the government would help them avoid bankruptcy.