The campaign would develop financial resources for healing programs to repair damage caused by residential schools, support dioceses shaken by legal costs and restore the financial health of General Synod.
The report, with new language and a different process, is a successor to several “human rights” reports that have previously failed to get approval.
The new principles include transparency of decision-making, intentional listening, clear avenues for challenging decisions, assurance of response and accessibility.
This report will recommend that everyone receiving sacraments and pastoral care as well as those seeking employment and those already employed in the church will be treated without discrimination on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, family or marital status, race, ethnic origin, ancestry, disability or socio-economic status.
CoGs members said the motion, which called on the government of Israel to de-escalate the violence in the Middle East, was overly prescriptive and explicit.
A softened set of motions eventually passed, condemning acts of violence on all sides, and calling on the government of Canada to ask Israel to recognise its accountability under the Geneva Convention as an occupying power over Gaza and the West Bank.
Under the new rules, bishops will meet between one and four months before General Synod and nominate three to five bishops for the office of primate. Members of General Synod will then receive background information about the candidates and vote at General Synod.
Previously, the nominating and voting took place in one day at General Synod and many delegates felt they didn’t have enough time to become acquainted with the candidates.
The council heard an objection to an earlier decision to spend $50,000 to bring aboriginal observers to General Synod. They would contribute to table discussions but not have a vote.
General Secretary Jim Boyles said Bishop Barry Hollowell of Calgary said in an e-mail that and he and others were concerned that non-delegates would be allowed on the floor of General Synod and wondered how the expense could be justified, given the church’s difficult financial situation.
James Sweeny, of Waterville, Que., a member of the planning committee, responded that the courtesies of General Synod may be extended by the president to allow guests to participate.
The motions were based on recommendations from a task force and dealt with the remarriage of divorced persons, the blessing of civil marriages, previously prohibited marriages outside church buildings and inter-faith marriages.
CoGS also agreed to ask diocesan matrimonial commissions that they simplify application forms for divorced people seeking remarriage in the church.