CASE FOR SUPPORT
Our Purpose:
The Canadian Council of Churches exists to build community and relationship and to bring people
together to make a better Canada.
We can do more together than apart.
Injustice, poverty, racism, despair and hopelessness afflict many in our society and around the world.
These are large problems but by talking together, by educating ourselves and our society and by
working together on them we can be a part of the active justice and hope that bring healing now and
in the future.
The CCC began in 1944 bringing together Christian denominations for the building of relationships
and healing. We are now 23 member denominations representing 85% of the Christians in Canada.
We work together on justice issues with Jews, Muslims, Baha’is, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and First
Nations peoples, always focused on the richness of diversity and the difference that working together
can mean in terms of problems that seem insurmountable.
Strategies:
We educate on issues that are well known in our society – poverty, climate change, and healthcare,
always watching for and speaking into both ways in which those issues can be analyzed more
creatively and ways in which a strong, united, faith voice can make a difference. We also educate on
issues which are less commonly known in our society – racism, human trafficking and the ethical
questions in biotechnology – but which nonetheless cause much hurt and pain to many.
We always strive for the most compassionate response to any problem.
We engage youth – drawing on and expanding their gifts as leaders into the future.
We analyze together, we speak together and we build relationships with all sectors of Canadian
society – faith communities, non-governmental organizations, academia, government and business
for the reduction or elimination of any form of oppression.
Goals:
Our goals are to start the conversations, write the documents, follow through on the building of
relationships that will lead to a more cohesive society focused on the concrete lives of its most
vulnerable – those caught in the trap of human trafficking, those afflicted by racism, those ground
down by poverty, those needing just and accessible healthcare, those suffering a loss of hope for the
future.
47 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C3 • Tel: 416-972-9494 • 1-866-822-7645
Fax: 416-927-0405 • Email/Courrier élect : [email protected] • http://www.councilofchurches.ca
Our Accomplishments:
- Our presentation to the Supreme Court of Canada was a key factor in the decision that life
cannot be patented and owned in this country.
- 5000 copies of the resource “On Being Human” have resulted in country-wide discussion of
the meaning of humanity in an age of technology.
- Our emphasis on just, accessible healthcare was picked up by and included in the Romanow
Commission.
- Our statement and analysis of Canada’s engagement in Afghanistan with its emphasis on
actions for the good of the people of Afghanistan, received media attention and influenced
government policy.
- Our promotion of The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity brings people together all across
the country.
- Our resources to combat Racism have been widely adopted and perceived as a model.
- Our up-coming resource to combat Human Trafficking is much anticipated as a follow-up
education and action vehicle to our in-depth conversations with governmental party leaders.
- Our interfaith conversations and networks have made us the central focus point for interfaith
relationships, questions and discussion in the country. We serve as a resource to
parliamentarians and media in interfaith questions.
- We have become the ecumenical and interfaith mentoring body for the country, engaging
students of a variety of faith backgrounds and from the contexts of theology, religious studies,
international relations, NGO bodies and business as interns.
Future Growth and Measuring Success:
The Canadian Council of Churches is building a better Canada through conversation, relationship
and joint action, building on our well established ability to bring together unique and diverse bodies
and reach consensus on the deep and pervasive problems in our country and world.
We evaluate our on-going success by the ever growing number of faith-based and all other kind of
bodies and organizations who want to engage with us, work with us in building coalitions for the
benefit of all Canadians. We also evaluate our success by the number of different sectors of society
for whom we become the ‘go-to’ place for facts, figures, well-articulated positions and documents
on societal issues. We have and continue to demonstrate the competency of faith-based involvement
in setting out solutions to today’s problems.
Our Distinct Methodology:
We work, in all our relationships, in a consensus model. We are, in fact, world-leaders in consensus
decision-making, a process in which every voice matters and decisions, policies and even exact
wording are arrived at by full, inclusive and just discussion.
47 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C3 • Tel: 416-972-9494 • 1-866-822-7645
Fax: 416-927-0405 • Email/Courrier élect : [email protected] • http://www.councilofchurches.ca
Your Donation Makes All the Difference in the Country and the World – enabling us to continue our
ground-breaking work of building relationship and consensus, of finding creative ways to work
together to address the problems of our day so as to build a hope-filled future.
Standards of Excellence:
The Governing Board of The Canadian Council of Churches is made up of senior representatives of
its 23 member denominations, its breath and inclusiveness making it the broadest ecumenical body
in the world. It is committed to a consensus model of decision-making as the most just, participatory
and inclusive model available. The Governing Board and staff of the CCC have excellent working
relationships with the senior leaders of Canada’s faith traditions and other civil society institutions
and organizations.
47 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C3 • Tel: 416-972-9494 • 1-866-822-7645
Fax: 416-927-0405 • Email/Courrier élect : [email protected] • http://www.councilofchurches.ca