Changes made to long-term disability plan

In other business, the Council of General Synod:

• elected Susan Moxley, suffragan bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as the new bishop delegate to the Anglican Consultative Council, succeeding Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster, whose term ends this year. Bishop Victoria Matthews of Edmonton was chosen as alternate delegate;
• approved several amendments to the General Synod pension plan, including a new design for the long-term disability (LTD) plan, and changes to the definition of “partner” to comply with federal and provincial legislation and to the definition of “continuous service.” Changes to the LTD plan were introduced to address the plan’s $4 million deficit, and because it was “not tax effective” and there was “unlimited financial exposure and risk,” said Judy Robinsion, director of General Synod’s pension department. The new plan, which took effect this Jan. 1, grants benefits equal to 60 per cent of earnings, provides cost of living increases when finances allow it, will have employer paid premiums and provide insurance changes;
• approved a resolution urging the Canadian government to “take all available measures to ensure the opening of the United States/Canada border for the movement of live cattle as soon as possible.” Archbishop John Clarke, metropolitan of Rupert’s Land and bishop of Athabasca, moved the resolution saying that many farmers in Western Canada have been severely affected by the beef ban imposed by the U.S. when mad cow disease struck last year;
• approved a resolution expressing great concern over the rise in the number of children living in poverty and asking the primate “to meet and/or communicate” with appropriate federal government ministers “to underline the need for the Parliament of Canada to reclaim as a priority the eradication of child poverty in Canada;”
• heard from Canon Mwita Akiri, provincial secretary of the (Anglican) Church of Tanzania, who attended CoGS as a partner. He expressed his church’s solidarity with the Anglican Church of Canada and sought support for the Tanzanian church’s plan to build a $50 million university;
• heard the report of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, including its plan to hold an Anglican Indigenous Sacred Circle on Aug. 7 to 13, 2005, at the Wilderness Edge Retreat and Conference Centre in Pinawa, Man.;
• approved a resolution asking the primate to write to the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa, to the primates in Africa and Asia, “expressing the Anglican Church of Canada’s solidarity with those bishops, clergy and lay people reaching out to people living with HIV/AIDS, not as objects of charity but as equal partners;”
• approved a plan to hold the next session of General Synod meeting in Winnipeg on June 7 to 14, 2007;
• endorsed various initiatives related to youth ministry, including the primate’s plan to establish an Anglican youth network, partnership with the Ask & Imagine youth leadership program and to support it “mindful that no funds are currently allocated for youth work,” justice camps, and a survey of how dioceses carry out youth and young adult programs;
• approved the application for full membership of the Mennonite Church Canada in the Canadian Council of Churches;
• approved a resolution asking CoGS to “develop a policy and a strategy for the development and translation of resources for the church in languages other than English;”
• elected the primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, and Rev. John Steele of the diocese of British Columbia, as delegates to the World Council of Churches Assembly in early 2006 in Brazil;
• heard from Archdeacon Jim Boyles, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada, that he has written a letter of protest to Industry Canada regarding the use by an incorporated group, North American Missionary Society, of the name “Anglican Communion in Canada” (ACiC). The title is “confusing, and properly describes the General Synod, and is identified as such in the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council,” said Mr. Boyles. ACiC was formed by some Anglican parishes who left the diocese of New Westminster after it approved the blessing of same-sex unions in 2002.