Social Justice & Advocacy at St. Cuthbert’s
2025 Social Justice and Advocacy Vestry Motion
Motion being presented:
We, the parish of St. Cuthbert, Leaside, in the Diocese of Toronto, urge the Province of Ontario to reverse the planned closure of safe consumption sites in Ontario, and to lift the ban on the creation of
new sites, in order to expand life-saving harm reduction services to Ontarians.
Throughout the history of the Anglican Diocese, Bishops and church leaders have spoken out on issues which affect our society. For about 20 years, the Social Justice and Advocacy Committee at the Toronto Diocese has drafted motions on issues with which the Diocese is concerned.
This year, our 2025 Vestry motion is “Protecting and Expanding Harm Reduction in Ontario”. This motion is responding to Premier Doug Ford’s and Health Minister Sylvia Jones’ decision to close 10 of 17 safe consumption sites/overdose prevention sites around Ontario and prevent any new sites from opening.
Please take the time to read the 2025 Social Justice Vestry Motion and backgrounder here https://www.toronto.anglican.ca/diocesan-life/social-justice-advocacy/social-justice-vestry-motion that includes a link to the letter from Bishop Andrew Asbil, calling on Premier Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones to reverse their decision. A few hard copies of the Background Information and Bishop Asbil’s letter are available in the Gathering Space.
In addition, you might find it helpful to look at some commonly held misconceptions about safe injection sites, and what the current reality is. You could check the Supervised Consumption Site Fact Sheet here.
There is also an article by Elin Golden entitled “Vestry Motion Supports Harm Reduction” in the January edition of the Anglican newspaper. The closing lines of her article remind us “to consider how Jesus met those on the margins of society with compassion and respect, how he is close to the suffering and the broken-hearted, and how in him we are all given new life and new chances.”
A recent program on TVO, the Agenda with Steve Paikin, November 15th 2024, takes us on a tour of the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre, which offers safe injection, and introduces us to the staff and the clients who benefit from the services offered. This is well worth watching https://www.tvo.org/video/how-do-supervised-consumption-sites-work.
At our Vestry meeting on February 23, 2025, we will vote on whether we support this year’s Social Justice Vestry Motion. All members of Vestry will be allowed to speak either “For” or “Against” this motion from the floor. As a sign of respect to members of the Outreach Committee who have unanimously supported this motion, Rev. Janet, as Chair of Vestry, is asking that anyone who is planning to speak against the motion speak to a member of the Outreach Committee before the Vestry Meeting so that members of the Outreach Committee may be given the opportunity to address concerns. Please also note that any amendments to the motion from the Diocese must be submitted in writing to Rev. Janet by Thursday, February 20, 2025.
To help the Outreach Committee prepare for our Vestry Meeting,
please take the time to fill out the Outreach Committee Survey below. Thank You!