'Truth-telling and healing': Anglican bishops to visit former Shingwauk residential school

A gathering of Anglican bishops, delegates and other guests will be in Sault Ste. Marie next week for a three-day gathering that will include a visit to the former Shingwauk Residential School at Algoma University.

The Provincial Synod will also include a keynote speech by the Most Reverend and Rt. Hon. Stephen Cottrell, who assisted at the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II and at the Coronation of King Charles III.

Below is the full news release:

Bishops, delegates and guests from the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario will gather in Sault Ste. Marie for the Provincial Synod, a triennial meeting held from September 24-26, 2024. The Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario includes 7 dioceses: Algoma, Huron, Moosonee, Niagara, Ontario, Ottawa, and Toronto. It is one of the provinces within the Anglican Church of Canada.

The Synod will be joined by the Most Reverend and Rt. Hon. Stephen Cottrell who will serve as keynote speaker. Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop of York, who, beyond his responsibilities as Archbishop of the Northern Province of the United Kingdom in the Church of England, is a noted commentator, author, speaker and evangelist. He has a deep interest in engagement with the media and culture which the church is called to serve. He would be most familiar as one of the faces of the bishops who assisted at the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II and at the Coronation of King Charles III.

Delegates will hear stories of ministry from across the Ecclesiastical Province and from around the world with particular focus on Vocations and the Formation of Priests as the church discerns a vision and way forward for future ministry in its dioceses and parishes. In the Anglican Church, Synods also attend to regular matters of church governance, finances and necessary constitutional changes. Elections will also be held for the positions of Metropolitan and Prolocutor.

Following the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canda (TRC) in 2015, Anglicans have sought ways to continue the process of truth-telling and healing that began with the TRC. Delegates of the Synod will visit Shingwauk Residential School site at Algoma University, now a national historic building that was built by the children and teachers of former Shingwauk Residential School. Delegates will also spend time at the newly constructed Anishinabek Discovery Centre designed to support Shingwauk Kinomaage Gamig, the Indigenous led institute which one day will serve as a repository for Indigenous information, research and scholarship.

The Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario, Archbishop Anne Germond, looks forward to welcoming all delegates to the Synod in Sault Ste. Marie. In her prayer for the Synod as they gather, the Archbishop asks that those attending “perceive what is right, have courage to pursue it, and grace to accomplish it.”