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The Anglican Church of Canada has committed itself to confronting racism in its own life and to acknowledging the place of racism and colonialism in our own nation. That commitment needs to be renewed daily.
We have been horrified by the public murder of George Floyd. We are deeply distressed and profoundly disturbed by the images, rhetoric, violence, division, and chaos that has followed. We offer our prayerful support and solidarity with our sister church, the Episcopal Church, as it prays and guides its people while it simultaneously repents of, and protests the sin of racism.
Our own house is not in order. Systemic racism exists in every part of Canada.
The words of the Anglican Church of Canada’s 2004 Charter for Justice remind us:
“The assumption of racial difference and inequality was the basis of much of Canada’s social legislation. For example, as a result of the Indian Act, First Nations people were confined to their reserves and their lands, and made susceptible to exploitation and take over. Immigration policies restricted Black, Asian and Jewish immigrants. Canadians of Japanese and Ukrainian descent were rounded up and interned during World War Two. Labour legislation dictated who could and couldn’t work for whom, and who could do what kind of work.” *
We repent of our complicity in thecontinuingstructures of racism and oppression in our church and in our culture, for racism is not of Christ. It is sin.
Every human being reflects the dignity of the very image of God. At baptism we commit to “strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being”. It is the centre of the ministry and message of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Marks of Mission, to which we are committed as a Communion, remind us that we are called to “seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation."
The Anglican Church of Canada has been wrestling with racism and our complicity in systems of injustice for decades. It is a matter of public record that The Anglican Church of Canada has been committed to and learning about a new path to reconciliation with Indigenous Anglicans. We recommit ourselves today to that path.

The legacy of racism, colonialism, and the residential schools they spawned as well as the open wound of the plight of Missing and M Indigenous Women and Girls continues to call out for healing. This season in particular is the anniversary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) and the Report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) (2019).

As teachers of the gospel, we remind the world that Christ himself was crucified in part because of the threat he represented in standing with those who were marginalized. (Luke 6:20-28). We re-commit ourselves and our Dioceses to confront the sin of racism in all its forms and the patterns of silence and self-congratulation, which have silenced the experiences of people of colour, First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples of this land.
 
* https://www.anglican.ca/about/ccc/cogs/arwg/charter/

Archbishop Linda Nicholls - Primate

Archbishop Anne Germond - Diocese of Algoma/Moosonee & Metropolitan of Ontario

Bishop David Parson - Diocese of the Arctic

Bishop Joey Royal - Diocese of the Arctic

Bishop Annie Ittosha - Diocese of the Arctic

Bishop Lucy Netser - Diocese of the Arctic

Bishop David Greenwoo - Diocese of Athabasca

Bishop William Cliff - Diocese of Brandon

The Ven. Ansley Tucker, Administrator - Diocese of British Columbia

Bishop David Lehmann - Diocese of Caledonia

Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson - Diocese of Calgary & Metropolitan of Rupert's Land

Bishop John Watton - Diocese of Central Newfoundlan

Bishop Geoff Peddle - Diocese of Easter Newfoundland and Labrador

Bishop Jane Alexander - Diocese of Edmonton

Bishop David Edwards - Diocese of Fredricton

Bishop Todd Townsend - Diocese of Huron

Bishop Lynne McNaughton - Diocese of Kootenay

Bishop Lydia Mamakwa - Diocese of Mishamikoweesh

Bishop Larry Beardy - Diocese of Mishamikoweesh

Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson - Diocese of Montreal

Archbishop Melissa Skelton - Diocese of New Westminster & Metropolitan of BC/Yukon

Bishop Susan Bell - Diocese of Niagara

Archbishop Ron Cutler - Diocese of Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island & Metropolitan of Canada

Bishop Michael Oulton - Diocese of Ontario

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