To the Venerable the General Assembly:
WHEREAS the Book of Forms has constituted the guide by which the business of the General Assembly has been conducted within the Presbyterian Church in Canada since its inception; and
WHEREAS it has not been our practice, and should not be our practice, to intentionally delay items of business properly brought before the General Assembly; and
WHEREAS committees assigned work by one General Assembly traditionally report to the following General Assembly or, having made a genuine effort, seek permission to report to a subsequent General Assembly; and
WHEREAS the matter commonly known as Gracious Dismissal was first presented to the 141st General Assembly in 2015; and
WHEREAS the matter was additionally addressed by many overtures in both the 142nd and 143rd General Assemblies, as well as the report of the Clerks of Assembly at both gatherings; and
WHEREAS the 143rd General Assembly named a Special Committee to consider the complex dynamics of the reports and overtures, and in the end committed the recommendations of the Special Committee to the Clerks of Assembly for further consultation; and
WHEREAS the 144th General Assembly during the discussion of the report of the Clerks of Assembly on this matter decided to refer it back, not to the Clerks, but to the Assembly Council; and
WHEREAS the Assembly Council at its March 2019 meeting appointed a task force of its members to prepare a response for consideration; and
WHEREAS that task force response was presented to the October 2020 meeting of the Assembly Council in order to consider and prepare a response to the next General Assembly; and
WHEREAS, at the October 2020 meeting, Assembly Council refused to do its duty to the Church — to receive and consider the Task Force report, thereby disregarding, demeaning and disrespecting the will of the 144th General Assembly, the long-established practice of the denomination, the legitimate concerns of the authors of the overtures and petitions and the dedicated work of some of its own members, while ignoring the history of this matter which predates by four years Remits B and C from 2019; and
WHEREAS such action creates an unfortunate precedent by which a small number of well-placed individuals exercised excessive control over the affairs of the denomination; and
WHEREAS the failure of the General Assembly to chart a clear path forward may quite possibly lead to a flurry of costly alternate responses and legal actions across the country; and
WHEREAS other denominations in several countries have already proven that a gracious path forward in such cases is not only possible, but also desirable; and
WHEREAS the prospect of General Assembly’s possible change to the theology of our denomination by approving remits “B” and “C” without providing any options for people who, in good conscience, cannot abide with such change, will create unnecessary bitterness and conflict within the denomination;
THEREFORE, the Session of Grace West Hill Presbyterian Church, Toronto, Ontario humbly overtures the Venerable, the 146th General Assembly to receive the report of the Gracious Dismissal task force as found on pages 1363-1372 of the October 27, 2020 Assembly Council minutes and to consider the recommendations found within that report
or to do otherwise as the General Assembly in its wisdom may deem best.