09/03/2026
Moderator: Words of Hope & Accompaniment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xt-xU6HI3k
Dear Family in Christ,
Friends in Chinook Winds and Northern Spirit regional councils and communities of faith, you have been on my mind so much this year. As I listen to news stories about the drive for signatures and the resulting upcoming question about separatism on a referendum in Alberta, I know I can do little for you but offer comfort and encouragement.
I know I am not alone in this. Faithful people in all the provinces and territories hold you, your communities and your province in prayer.
While issues and facts get muddled in the debate around separatism, and while many people feel strongly for one side of the argument or the other, the nuance is lost in the rhetoric. But some things are plain and clear:
As people of faith, we are called to challenge injustice and oppression so everyone can live life abundantly.
I believe that God is at work in the lives of all humanity – immigrants, refugees, migrants, transgender persons and people of other faiths. As a church that was, and continues to be, involved in nation-building and uniting across differences, we have a sacred responsibility to love our neighbours, near and far. We do this by building respectful mutual relationships in our communities. By engaging in dialogue and action. And by calling out any form of racism.
And therein lies perhaps the crux of the referendum: of the ten questions, five are about immigration and immigrants, a thinly veiled attempt to enshrine and justify a racist political agenda. Most of the remaining questions are crafted to raise Alberta’s provincial rights above the common, collective and national good.
We uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples and the importance and requirement to consult with the Indigenous groups on the treaty land known as Alberta. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which Canada has endorsed, details the rights of Indigenous peoples in international law and policy, containing minimum standards for recognizing, protecting and promoting these rights.
Importantly, UNDRIP also prohibits discrimination against Indigeno
