Canada: New indigenous province proposed

MARITES N. SISON
staff writer
Dec 1, 2008

Niagara Falls, Ont. -The Governance Working Group (GWG) is proposing the creation of a new ecclesiastical province that would allow the Anglican Church of Canada’s indigenous members to govern themselves and achieve “self-determination, jurisdiction and authority.”

The proposed model, which was presented to the house of bishops meeting here at the end of October, would create a province that is not geographically-based, that will be named by indigenous Anglicans, and where membership is “invited, not coerced or compulsory,” the group said.

The group, which has been working on proposed constitutional changes that would provide a framework for a national indigenous ministry (NIM) within the church, said establishing a province would provide “maximum flexibility and control” over how this ministry evolves, and would employ “well-understood structures within the church’s existing constitution.” It noted that the declaration of principles of General Synod, the church’s governing body, provides the governance framework necessary to set up this new province. the rest