United Church of Canada: Remit 1 Autonomous Indigenous Organization
Approval of this remit will enable the creation of an autonomous National Indigenous Organization within The United Church of Canada. This would acknowledge Indigenous peoples’ rights to their own spiritual identities and to self-determination, and would be consistent with the Caretakers of our Indigenous Circle’s Calls to the Church and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
General Council response to questions
People across the church have been asking what the new structure will be for the Autonomous National Indigenous Organization. If this remit passes, the Indigenous Church will remain part of The United Church of Canada. It also means that the Indigenous Church would determine their own structure without the need to come back to the non-Indigenous church for approval. The Indigenous Church has put forward a vision of autonomy within the United Church, not a vision of a separate, independent church.
United Church of Canada: Remit 1 -
Creation of an Autonomous Indigenous Organization
Taken from
https://generalcouncil44.ca/council/remit-1-establishing-autonomous-national-indigenous-organization
The 44th General Council met virtually between February 2022 and August 2022.
At that meeting, the General Council approved an amendment to the Basis of Union in The Manual of The United Church of Canada to establish an autonomous National Indigenous Organization. It also authorized a Category 3 Remit to test the will of the church with respect to this change.
The General Council's decision was in response to proposal NIC-01: Restructuring of the Indigenous Church from the National Indigenous Council, which named its vision of the two parts of the church (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) working side-by-side, and recommending the identification and removal of "all the structural barriers to developing and sustaining an autonomous Indigenous Church within The United Church of Canada". The way to remove these "structural barriers" is named in a proposal from the General Secretary, GS-10: Living into Reconciliation, which asks the church to give pre-emptive remit approval for whatever the Indigenous Church determines in the future as the place it will have in the United Church, guided by the Calls to the Church—and without the need for further remit approvals.
This is a Category 3 Remit, and so requires a vote by every regional council and each pastoral charge's governing body. If a regional council or a pastoral charge does not register a vote, that is considered a vote against the proposal.
There is one question to be voted on, as follows.
Does the regional council/pastoral charge agree to amend the Basis of Union to reflect:
That The United Church of Canada will be organized as follows: (1) a three-council structure, consisting of communities of faith, regional councils and a Denominational Council*; and (2) an autonomous National Indigenous Organization; and
That once the new autonomous National Indigenous Organization is established within The United Church of Canada, it will have its own mechanisms to make any future changes to its structure and processes, and, therefore will not be subject to the remit process under section 7.4.1 of the Basis of Union**; and
The changes required for the establishment of the autonomous National Indigenous Organization.
Below are the remit and response forms. The response form must be signed and returned to the General Council Office to the address set out on the form.
Thank you for your participation in this important work of the church.
In July 2023, people from Indigenous communities across The United Church of Canada came together at the National Indigenous Spiritual Gathering, where they discussed and voted on Remit 1: Establishing an Autonomous Indigenous Organization. Much wisdom was shared about why the Indigenous church wants this change in structure, and what it means for everyone in the church. The remit passed overwhelmingly at this gathering – now it is up to those who haven’t yet voted to have their say. But first, please see and hear what was said at the Spiritual Gathering in this new video.
This video responds to recent questions that have been raised about the current Category 3 Remit on establishing an autonomous National Indigenous Organization within The United Church of Canada. We hope that this video offers you additional background information in order to help your Regional Council, or your Pastoral Charge's Governing Body, make a decision on the remit question by remit deadline date of March 31, 2024.
Members of the non-Indigenous church respond to some of your questions about the remit to establish an Autonomous National Indigenous Organization within The United Church of Canada. Additional background information about the remit can be found online at www.gc44.ca.
A presentation of timelines that establish the broader context and background information for Remit 1, a question of confirming the church's action to establish an autonomous national indigenous organization within the United Church and exempting it from future remit requirements.
Rev Cheryl Jourdain, past speaker of the All Native Circle Conference and a member of the consultation task group on the Remit education process; and Rev Shannon McCarthy, Executive Minister, presented to Prairie to Pine Regional Council's regional meeting in June 2023, at the United Church in Meadowood, Winnipeg, Treaty 1 and the homeland of the Red River Métis. Discussion and questions followed. This video shows the “listen” (or learn) and discuss portions of the decision-making process used by Regional Councils and General Councils: Listen; Discuss; Decide.