We are more than 350 United Church of Canada ministry leaders, representing cities, towns and rural communities from across Ontario, who have signed an open letter to Premier Ford outlining our hopes and concerns for the new provincial government.
We do not speak on behalf of the entire United Church of Canada. We also do not speak on behalf of our respective congregations and social ministries.
We write as ministry colleagues currently serving in, retired from, or entering into paid accountable ministry. We wish to congratulate Premier Ford as he takes office while also raising a number of issues we believe are of concern to Ontarians of all faiths and political stripes.
Coordination of this effort took place over social media. As we started gathering signatures, it became clear that policies being implemented by the new Ontario government were moving faster than we could keep up. As such, this letter is missing points we would like to have added if we’d had more time to ask for consensus from those who had already signed the document – particularly regarding living into right relations with Indigenous peoples.
You can read more about the United Church of Canada’s commitment to and agenda of reconciliation and justice as well as Indigenous Ministries.
