United Church Social Policy Positions

Background

The Canadian health care system is under severe pressure (for example, reductions to federal transfer payments to support provincial health care programmes, cutbacks in hospital budgets and in community services, layoffs to hospital and other health system personnel, the threat of user fees, and the potential of a two-tiered system). In response to this pressure and sparked by a sense of urgency, Unit IV of the Division of Mission in Canada established a Health Task Group in 1991 to engage the church in a process of education, animation, and policy formation.

WHEREAS General Councils of The United Church of Canada have repeatedly declared a commitment to a national health care system in order to make health care available and accessible to all Canadians; and

WHEREAS there are increasing calls for limiting the health and social services available to Canadians; and

WHEREAS the five pillars of medicare are important as a critical foundation and framework in the current health care reform discussions, both because they are consistent with our values and because they are under attack; and

WHEREAS tough choices may need to be made about our limited social and health care resources; and

WHEREAS the strong, central role of the federal government is crucial, in the current health care reform debates, to ensure that Canada's health care system remains universal, accessible, comprehensive, portable and publicly administered; and

WHEREAS a health system must be built not only on treatment of disease, but also upon those factors that promote health and wellness; and

WHEREAS The United Church of Canada has been a forceful advocate for a Canadian health care system based on compassion and justice;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 35th General Council of The United Church of Canada:

1. Strongly affirms its support for the principles of medicare-universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability, and public administration-as a critical foundation and framework for reform of, and for innovations made to, the Canadian Health Care System. This affirmation is made recognizing:
   1. the limits to current health care resources, and
   2. the complexities involved in the health care reform decisions facing us as Canadians.
2. Reaffirms the critical role of the federal government in maintaining the five principles of medicare.
3. Affirms its support for reforms to the Canadian Health Care System which reflect a shift from a treatment-based system to a more balanced and holistic one that emphasizes health promotion, disease prevention, and community-based care.
4. Encourages congregations, presbyteries and Conferences to continue to study the implications of health care reform in their local areas, and to participate in community, regional, and provincial dialogues on health care reform.
5. Engages in interfaith and ecumenical advocacy efforts to secure widespread support for the five principles of medicare.
6. Directs that the study of Canada's health care system be continued with emphasis on the well being of the whole person including such aspects as health promotion, disease prevention, mental health, spiritual health and community-based care with concern for the whole range of social and political factors that affect individual and family health. Encourage the Division of Mission in Canada to allocate sufficient resources to provide infrastructure that will support above recommendations.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 35th General Council communicates resolutions 1, 2 and 3 to the ministries of health of the federal, provincial and territorial governments of Canada.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 35th General Council directs resolutions 4 and 5 to its Division of Mission in Canada for action.

General Council: 35th General Council, 1994

Record of Proceedings Page Ref. 1994 ROP, p.385-386, 145.