“Each of the pathways is in motion,” Canon (lay) Janet Marshall, co-chair of the Transformation Task Force and director of congregational development for the Anglican diocese of Toronto, said in a May 4 update. 

The pathways seek to transform the Anglican Church of Canada in six areas: organizational structure, management overview and restructuring, inclusivity and diversity in decision-making, communications, walking in partnership with the Indigenous church, and ministry in remote northern communities.  

Marshall said the task force is well into what she calls “phase one” of its work, with its 18 members meeting regularly over Zoom. The first phase involved assessing the current situation in each pathway for change and forming teams that drew up work plans to carry out their mandates. 

“We’re now seeing phase two beginning to take shape,” Marshall said. “That for the most part is showing us all the different ways that the pathways are going to intersect and inform each other.” 

What a third phase might look like could begin to emerge at the end of 2026 or start of 2027, Marshall said, as the task force determines what it will be able to bring to General Synod in 2028 to take the work of transforming the church into the next triennium. 

Marshall and co-chair Andrew Stephens-Rennie, former member of Council of General Synod (CoGS) for the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon, will present an update on the Transformation Task Force at the next meeting of CoGS on June 11-14. Stephens-Rennie said the role of CoGS is ultimately one of discernment: “Does this work help us to get to where we’ve said we need to go?” 

Guided by CoGS, the task force plans to hold its first in-person meeting in November, which will further explore connections between work on each of the different pathways. 

Underscoring the scope of their work, Marshall said task force members are all “skilled and gifted people … Every one of them has had experience leading change in the church or in their other professional or volunteer capacity. But I don’t think any of us has had the experience of leading change on this scale.” 

While still in its early days, the task force has begun preliminary work on each of the pathways. The Pathway 1 team, focused on the overall shape and governance of the Anglican Church of Canada’s national, provincial and diocesan structures, held consultations at the most recent meeting of the national House of Bishops in April and is now studying the bishops’ feedback, Stephens-Rennie said. 

The Pathway 2 team, he said, is focused on identifying opportunities related to Church House, the national office of the General Synod, and how it is managed and structured to serve the church. A key question, Stephens-Rennie said, is, “How are we ensuring that there are clear, transparent, and manageable expectations” as roles, relationships and structures are redefined.  

To advance the goal of inclusivity and diversity in decision-making, Marshall said, the Pathway 3 team has put out a request for proposals seeking a consultant who can help them identify approaches that already exist, the current situation within the church and the best ways to move forward. 

The Pathway 4 team is focused on communication and includes members of the communications committee of CoGS. Its proposals will be brought to CoGS for consideration, Marshall said. “I think we need to wait until CoGS considers and speaks before we say too much more about that.” 

Pathway 5 involves partnership between the historic non-Indigenous and Indigenous churches within the Anglican Church of Canada, and Pathway 6 involves northern ministry. These are examples of pathways that are closely tied together, the co-chairs said. As a result, these two teams are focused on relational aspects of this work, Marshall said, listening to discernment and reflections from those most directly involved such as the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) and the Council of the North.  

Each pathway team is using lists of questions to plan outcomes and goals, what success might look like at different stages, and how to communicate this work to build understanding and support, Marshall said. The task force will soon make these research tools available on the Anglican Church of Canada website. 

“Change is happening all over the church,” she said. “It’s not just the Transformation Task Force and the pathways at the national level, but parishes, dioceses, and [ecclesiastical] provinces. 

“We’re all looking at how to make changes so that we can have healthy structures and systems that will allow us to share the gospel more easily and readily. If we’re finding tools that are helping us plan and lead this change, then we want to share them.” 

 Members of the Transformation Task Force include Marshall, Stephens-Rennie, the Rev. Jasmine Chandra, the Rev. Canon Patricia Dorland, the Ven. Travis Enright, the Rt. Rev. Anna Greenwood-Lee, Jane Hope, the Rev. Canon Sarah Kathleen Johnson, the Rt. Rev. Naboth Manzongo, Ms. Danica Meredith, the Very Rev. Douglas Michael, Angela Morgan, the Rt. Rev. Rachael Parker, Dorothy Patterson, the Rev. Canon Jenny Replogle, the Rev. Vincent Solomon, the Rev. Kyle Wagner and the Ven. Rhonda Waters.

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Dear  Archbishop Hosam, sisters and brothers in Christ in Jerusalem and the Holy Land,   

The close relationship between Canadian Anglicans and the people of your diocese and province goes back several decades. It has included exchanges, pilgrimages, solidarity visits and practical gestures of support. We have shared moments of celebration and consolation as our respective churches have journeyed together with intent and much affection. May this always be so. 

This year, as we mark the Seventh Sunday of Easter, designated in the Anglican Church of Canada as Jerusalem and the Holy Land Sunday, we are deeply conscious of the horrific violence and other hardships faced across the region by Christians, those of other faiths and the Palestinian community as a whole.   

In your recent Easter letter, you spoke of the immense challenge of seeking to be people of life and resurrection while also “in the midst of the tomb.” We have listened with compassion and frustration to the cries of pain, fear and indignation arising from across the Holy Land, longing to enable healing, peace and justice. And as war in the region has by turns intensified and subsided in these last weeks with devastating consequences, we watch and wait alongside you with prayerful vigilance, ever conscious of both your vulnerability and your remarkable resilience and courage.  

Know that you and Christians of all the churches in the region of the Holy Land are not forgotten. While we mark our solidarity in a particular way on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, I am sharing this letter publicly to encourage Canadian Anglicans to continue holding you in prayer as this time of violence and uncertainty unfolds in the land of your ancestors, the land where Jesus walked. 

We remain steadfast with you in the indestructible hope of the Resurrection, trusting that love and peace will prevail, that justice will flow and that God will make all things new. 

 Yours faithfully,

The Most Reverend Shane Parker
Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada

See Archbishop Hosam’s response.

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People who live in remote Indigenous communities often feel neglected by the organizations that are supposed to represent them, says Roy Fiddler, a manager at the Indigenous suicide prevention organization Choose Life and brother to Bishop Morris Fiddler, suffragan bishop for Northern Ontario in Mishamikoweesh.

“[People] know we live up here, but nobody pays attention to us,” Mr. Fiddler says. “So to have him come there and acknowledge that we are part of the church and that we are part of society, that really meant a lot to people.”

Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation was founded on teachings from elders who wished for the community to be unified in the Anglican denomination, Mr. Fiddler says. He believes the nation is still holding on to that ideal, though they remain welcoming to people from other traditions, and says the Primate’s visit reaffirmed that connection. “For him to come and reinforce that belief, I think it spoke volumes for the church.”

Archbishop Parker also met with Ontario MPP Sol Mamakwa, who represents the Kiiwetinoong riding where Muskrat Dam is located, and Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Chief Carla Duncan of Muskrat Dam, along with the local band council and Anglican leaders. The Primate says the stories they told of the Anglican Church’s importance to the region and fond memories of former Primate Archbishop Ted Scott were a striking counterpoint to the pain associated with the church through the crimes of a former priest, Ralph Rowe, a predatory pedophile.

In 2023, a judge ordered the Anglican Church of Canada and Scouts Canada to pay $13.25 million in settlement money in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of survivors of Ralph Rowe’s crimes. The settlement also required the church and Scouts Canada to formally apologize. The shape the apology takes will be determined in consultation with the survivors and with the communities that have been affected, the Primate says.

Archbishop Parker’s visit included the Muskrat Dam Gospel Jamboree, a worship event that drew visitors from across the region and different Christian denominations to an evening of song, dance and celebration of the faith.

Mr. Fiddler has been an organizer of the jamboree for 38 years. He says it was good to see the Primate there participating not as a leader of the event but as one member of an interdenominational gathering. Archbishop Parker’s participation as the Anglican Primate was especially meaningful, says Mr. Fiddler, as the Anglican church Mr. Fiddler grew up in held a much more prescriptivist view of worship that frowned on gospel music.

The Primate likewise praised the jamboree’s ecumenical nature and the quality of music played on shared instruments by musicians from around the region, calling the event a “rich fair of food and music and praise and community.”

Archbishop Parker says he was “deeply touched” when some members of the community presented him with a hand-beaded medallion bearing the image of a muskrat.

The medallion is a symbol of Muskrat Dam as a nation, a sign that the community wants to work with the Primate and a reminder of his relationship and responsibility to uphold their trust, Mr. Fiddler says. Medallions like this cannot be bought, he adds, only presented to people the community decides have impacted it in a positive way. For that reason, he declined to say who made it.

“We don’t want to give up names because nobody can just order it,” Mr. Fiddler says. “Not just because he’s a primate, we gave him that to remind him, ‘You came to Muskrat and you made a commitment and we honour that. And here’s a gift to appreciate that and to remind you of that.’”

Archbishop Parker describes it as “a huge honour. This medallion represents the beginning of my particular journey as Primate into the healing journey of the people of Mishamikoweesh, especially of those who suffered abuse by Rowe.”

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Whenever I have the opportunity to speak with ordained and lay leaders from our country’s northern regions, I am moved by their faithfulness. Many of them work for low or no pay, travelling long distances to bring the Gospel and the message of Christ’s love to remote communities living with isolation, inadequate housing and mental health challenges.

Ministry in our church’s northern dioceses presents unique, sometimes formidable challenges, yet these devoted servants who embody the good news of Christ remain strong and resourceful. Our national church is proud to support clergy and people in dioceses serving the northern and remote regions of Canada through grants to the Council of the North.

This support is possible thanks to your offerings to our annual appeal, Giving with Grace. Because of your generosity, remote communities receive pastoral and sacramental care, training and resources for ministry, and most important of all, the love and hope of Christ.

And there’s more. Your donation to Giving with Grace allows our national church to support Indigenous communities through suicide prevention programming, youth ministries and the gathering of Sacred Circle. Your donations also enable us to build relationships with ecumenical, interfaith and global partners and to make worship and ministry resources available to Anglicans across the country. 

The resurrection of Jesus tells us that the hope we need to sustain us in this life can never be destroyed. At Easter, we celebrate the wonderful mystery of God casting aside the boundaries of time and space, and the limits of our understanding, causing us to see the powerful love that fills human hearts with meaning, purpose and hope.

May that strong love and indestructible hope be always with you,

The Most Reverend Shane Parker
Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada

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