MEDIA ADVISORY - Controversial United Church Congregation Calls on Federal Government to Honour Treaties with Indigenous Peoples

TORONTO, June 21, 2017 /CNW/ - On June 26 the West Hill United Church (WHUC), will launch a petition calling on the Government of Canada to honour both the spirit and the letter of the treaty relationship it has with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and challenging it to take immediate action to address inequities between Indigenous and general population communities with respect to clean drinking water, education, housing, health and social services.

The launch of the petition is scheduled to coincide with national celebrations of Canada's 150th birthday, a celebration undermined by the country's troubled legacy with Indigenous Peoples.

WHAT:	Media conference and petition launch calling on the Government of Canada to honour treaties with Indigenous Peoples
WHEN:	Monday, June 26 at 11: 00 a.m.
WHERE:	West Hill United Church, 62 Orchard Park Drive in Scarborough

A special emphasis in the petition is youth suicide prevention. Asked for assistance intervening in an Indigenous youth suicide pact last year, Health and Welfare Canada refused citing an "awkward" budget period.

In the wake of that decision, three youth in the community have completed suicide. It is this failure to act which has instigated the petition action by WHUC. The West Hill congregation collected 3000 signatures in 2013 in a previous petition to the House of Commons. The petition was read by Conservative MP Cornelious Chisu, then representing the Pickering-Scarborough East constituency in which WHUC is located. Few of the situations cited in the 2013 petition have been adequately addressed.

The day prior to the media event, WHUC will read the last of the ninety-four recommendations made to all levels of government by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reviewing the Residential Schools legacy in which The United Church of Canada was complicit. The congregation has been reading one of the recommendations in its weekly Sunday gathering since September, 2015.

SOURCE West Hill United Church

or an interview please contact: Steve Watson, West Hill United Church, First Nations' Study Group, 416.798.4463 or email [email protected]; Gretta Vosper, Minister, West Hill United Church, 416.388.9124 or email [email protected]