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Faced with the prospect of bankruptcy due to legal costs, the Anglican diocese of Cariboo, in western Canada, voted on October 14 to disband within 12 months.

Representatives of the diocese's 17 parishes, located along the Fraser and Thompson Rivers in north central British Columbia, met in Quesnel from October 13 to 15 to take the unprecedented decision in the face of a string of lawsuits related to abuse more than 30 years ago at St George's School, in Lytton.

David Crawley, Archbishop of the Anglican Province of British Columbia and the Yukon, which includes the Diocese of Cariboo, told ENI that until now no Canadian diocese and—as far as he knew—no Anglican diocese worldwide, had ever gone bankrupt.

St George's was founded by the New England Company, an independent mission agency based in England. It was eventually sold to the Canadian government, with the bishop of Cariboo retaining the right to nominate an Anglican priest as principal.

The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) administered 26 residential schools for indigenous children in various parts of Canada from 1820 until 1969. Hundreds of former students of schools run by the ACC and other churches in co-operation with the federal government have in recent years claimed they were physically or sexually abused by school staff, and have initiated, or announced, legal action against the government and, in some cases, the churches. Often the federal government, sued by former students, has in turn taken legal action against the churches which ran the schools on its behalf.

The general synod of the 800,000-member Anglican Church of Canada has been named in about 1,600 lawsuits filed by former students who attended residential schools established by the federal government and administered by the church.

A former dormitory supervisor at St George's was convicted in 1993 of sexual abuse of students at the school. Following the conviction, a number of the victims launched lawsuits for damages against the federal government and, in some cases, against the church. Only one case has reached judgment in court—with the church found 60 per cent liable, and the federal government 40 percent. The case is now under appeal.

The Diocese of Cariboo is a defendant in another 14 cases.

Twelve of these cases are third-party actions brought against the church by the federal Department of Justice. The diocese has now informed the court that it can no longer afford to be represented in the continuing legal actions.

Archbishop Crawley said in his interview with ENI: "The chancellor [Bud Smith] of the diocese outlined [at the synod meeting] the legal and financial position of the diocese in very frank and honest terms." Smith had told the synod: "The diocese of Cariboo is broke. Spiritually we may be yeast, but financially we are toast."

"The diocese is no longer taking part in any settlement discussion because it has no money," Crawley told ENI. "In the last two years, the diocese has spent $350,000 Canadian dollars on legal fees."

The Bishop of Cariboo, Jim Cruikshank, told the synod gathering: "I believe God has chosen this funny old church, this so-called 'establishment church', this church that offers prayers at city council meetings and war memorials—God has chosen us and decided to do some pruning. And I believe we will grow back more compassionately than we could ever have imagined possible because we will know what it's like to be powerless. We don't know what the future holds, but we know God will be with us."

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October (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44