From 1992 to 2017, the Anglican Church of Canada has funded 710 projects at a cost of $8,114,896, Esther Wesley of the Healing Fund told the delegates attending the 2017 Niagara Synod.
The Healing Fund, established in 1991 to address the impacts of residential schools on Indigenous peoples, has a mandate to assist the Anglican Church of Canada in responding to the residential schools issues in an ongoing, sensitive and just manner, she explained, and “to educate the church about the residential schools and its legacy.”
Projects funded have included community development, training and community capacity building, those related to language as well as children and youth programs.
In 2017, the church set out to renew the Healing Fund’s capacity by setting a new goal to raise $1 million —“enough money to allow the fund to continue for the next five years,” she went on. Seventy percent of that amount was raised by November 2017.
Esther said Anglicans should be proud of what they have done through the Healing Fund, and her work continues by listening, encouraging and supporting its work.
Donations to the Anglican Appeal (Healing Fund) can be made at anglican.ca/giving
Deacons Bench: Your Servant is Listening