History: The United Church of Canada has a long history of anti-racism work that dates back to the 1960s. This includes policies, programs, resources, and more. However, as Adele reiterated, anti-racism work is an ongoing process. We still have a lot of work to do.
Commitment to Becoming an Anti-Racist Denomination: The newest commitment (adopted October 2020) to becoming an anti-racist denomination has three key aspects:
- Make a very clear statement that commits the United Church to becoming an anti-racism denomination. The wording “becoming” is intentional as it implies a journey with continuous and ongoing work.
- Empower the General Secretary of the General Council Office to implement the necessary frameworks and strategic direction for involvement of the whole church.
- Request the General Secretary to offer annual updates on the progress of the commitment. This provides accountability and transparency of the ongoing work in the whole church.
“An anti-racist denomination is one that actively works at dismantling racism and White supremacy at all levels of the church, continues to work at decolonizing its theology, and strives to redistribute racial power more fairly. It does this anti-racism work so that people from all racial backgrounds can participate in the church’s life fully and freely”. (page 2)
Moreover, intentionality and action are crucial to the commitment. Adele discussed the following seven named intentionality and actions listed in the document.
- continuous effort
- all parts of the church
- equipping leaders
- engaging with anti-racist practices
- building on history
- reflecting on theology
- a concrete strategy
In addition, Adele is working with the newly-established Anti-Racism Common Table (a diverse national committee) to create a national anti-racism action plan for the United Church – you will have many opportunities to engage with this part of the work.
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