Anti-Racism Report to the Council of General Synod

Anti-Racism Working Group
Report to the Council of General Synod
March, 2007

FOR ACTION:

MOTION:
That this Council of General Synod approve A Charter For Racial Justice in The Anglican Church of Canada (attached) as a guide the General Synod’s ongoing work on racial justice.

Rationale:
At its meeting in March 2004, CoGS “received the Charter as a working document and referred it back to the Anti-Racism Working Group for further refinement, and to be used as the basis for future educational work.” Both the refinement of the document and the educational work have been undertaken during the past 3 years as follows:

• The Charter was taken back to the Standing Committees/Councils/Boards of General Synod for review, and their suggested changes have been incorporated.
• Anti-Racism training was conducted with the Council of General Synod, the Board and staff of PWRDF, the Partners in Mission Committee, the EcoJustice Committee, the Faith, Worship & Ministry Committee, the Financial Management & Development Committee, the Communication and Information Resources Committee and the Board of the Journal..
• The Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples received an abbreviated training session, but the training module needs to be modified for further use with ACIP. This work has not yet been completed but is part of the plan for the next triennium.
• The Pension Committee was unable to schedule a training day.

MOTION:
That this Council of General Synod approve the name “Anti-Racism Implementation Group” as a new name for the group working on anti-racism, and further, approve the following mandate and membership of the group for the 2007 – 2010 Triennium:

Mandate
In the 2007 – 2010 Triennium, the Anti-Racism Implementation Group shall:

• Provide a one-day training session for the Council of General Synod, and for the Standing Committees, Councils, Boards, of General Synod.
• Provide a one-day training session for the Council of the North and the House of Bishops.
• Further develop the training materials to ensure variety and appropriateness for each group, as much as possible.
• Promote and make known the Charter for Racial Justice in the Anglican Church of Canada to the members of the Council of General Synod, the members of its Standing Committees, Councils and Boards, and the members of the House of Bishops and the Council of the North.
• Develop policies and procedures to ensure diversity in the structures and governance of General Synod.
• Towards a goal of decentralizing the anti-racism work, develop a plan for training regional teams of anti-racism trainers. Begin to implement this plan to the extent possible.
• Review this mandate at the end of the triennium.

Membership
In the 2007 – 2010 Triennium, the following principles will determine the membership of the Anti-Racism Implementation Group:

• To the extent possible, the Anti-Racism Implementation Group will retain the current members of the Anti-Racism Working Group, so as to be able to utilize and build on the skills already acquired by members.
• The group shall continue with a membership of not more that 12, including staff.
• Where members find it necessary to resign, replacements will be selected from people who already have some demonstrated level of training and skill.
• No more that 3 new members shall be recruited during this triennium.
• Members will not necessarily be attached to a particular Standing Committee, Council or Board, but the group will continue to communicate collectively with Standing Committees, Councils or Boards about its work and direction

RATIONALE:

• CoGS has expressed its desire for ongoing work on anti-racism by passing a resolution in May 2005 calling for anti-racism training for CoGS in the next triennium, as well as passing a resolution in November 2006 calling for a day-long training for the Council of the North in the fall of 2007.
• The Anti-Racism Working Group feels with anti-racism training now well developed, the work will now move into a phase of developing policy and procedures to ensure diversity within church structures and governance. The group therefore requests a change of name to reflect this new phase of the work.
• Requests have been received to do training session in dioceses with groups of clergy. The current group does not have the capacity to undertake both the training of new Councils, Boards and Standing Committees of General Synod, as well as the training of clergy in dioceses across the country.
• The group recommends that a plan be developed in the next triennium to develop networks and leadership for carrying out the anti-racism work in dioceses.
• The group further recommends that as many of the current members as possible be asked to continue for another term of service, so as to retain the level of training skill that has been developed over the past 6 years.
• Staff will ensure that the work is reported to the Council of General Synod and to its Standing Committees, Council and Board.

FOR INFORMATION

The Anti-Racism Working Group met at the Hockley Highlands Conference Centre from January 11th – 13th, 2007. The following members were present representing the following Committees, Councils and Boards:

Training Events
The working group reviewed the training events that they had facilitated during the triennium, and noted what they had learned as trainers. These learnings will be incorporated in any future training events.

There is still training to be done with the Council of the North, House of Bishops, Pension Committee and ACIP. It was acknowledged that the training module needs to be adapted for ACIP members, since they experience racism on a daily basis. These training events will be scheduled early in the next triennium.

General Synod Plans
The ARWG has a 20 minute spot on the plenary agenda on the morning of June 20th. The group discussed a creative presentation to build on the Synod’s theme, Draw The Circle Wide, which lends itself to racial diversity and inclusion.

The ARWG will also have a display where the Charter can be featured. Members agreed to have bookmarks made for distribution, as well as ribbons and “Stop Racism Now” stickers. One member will likely be needed to staff the display booth.

The group will be given a room for an Information Dialogue. This could be an opportunity for Synod members to experience some of the exercises that are used in training events. This will need to be facilitated by non-staff members, since staff will be involved in the Dialogues of their various Standing Committees.

There was general agreement that despite the difficult nature of anti-racism work, nonetheless we are seeing some progress. Members are committed to continuing this work in the next triennium.