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Letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper – Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement

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Published on 
April 11, 2006

The Rt. Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington St.
Ottawa, K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing with regard to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. This morning your Minister of Indian Affairs, The Honourable Jim Prentice, announced that your government would not honour the promise made by the previous government to issue an advance payment of $8000 to any claimant who is 65 years of age or older.

The Anglican Church of Canada is deeply disappointed at this failure to meet the needs of elderly former students of the Residential Schools. We expected a more humane response to the needs of former students, some of whom are faithful members of the Anglican Church.

As a church we have long since acknowledged our own part in the sad history of the Residential Schools system in Canada, through the establishment of an Anglican Healing Fund in 1991, and the issuing of a formal apology in 1993. We were encouraged by the appointment of The Honourable Frank Iacobucci as special negotiator in May of 2005, and have willingly participated in the negotiations that produced the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. While we were disappointed that the change of government resulted in some delay in implementing this Agreement, we did not anticipate that your new government would fail to honour an important component, namely, the advance payments to elderly claimants.

I strongly urge you to reconsider the decision announced today by Mr. Prentice.

Yours faithfully,

+Andrew

Andrew S. Hutchison
Archbishop and Primate

c.c. The Honourable Jim Prentice, P.C., M.P.

Acknowledging the land and God’s creation

This acknowledgement is crafted in light of the Principles of Reconciliation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, as we seek to live faithfully in Christ and in right relationship with all. 

We give thanks to the Creator for this land, its waters, forests and all living beings, and for the abiding presence of Christ among us. From coast to coast to coast, these have been cared for and nurtured by First Nations, Inuit and Métis through countless generations. 

We honour the enduring relationship Indigenous Peoples have cultivated with these lands and waters, and the treaties and agreements that reflect these sacred bonds. We acknowledge the harms caused by colonial expansion, through frameworks like the Doctrine of Discovery and structures like the residential school system. We recognize our past failures as a Church, including disruption of connections to the land and suppression of Indigenous spiritualities. 

Guided by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we confess our need for healing. We commit ourselves to seeking truth, pursuing reconciliation and nurturing harmony with all creation. We place our trust in Christ, through whom all things are reconciled to God. 

May God strengthen us to live faithfully as stewards of the Earth. Let us walk in love, justice and reconciliation, joining in God’s work to restore all creation.