In Full Communion

Anglicans and Lutherans working together in Canada

Churches rally to end the use of corporal punishment to discipline children

Dear Senator Kutcher:

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, we are writing to express our support for Bill S-251: An Act to repeal section 43 of the Criminal Code (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s call to action number 6).

This bill presents an opportunity to end the use of corporal punishment in Canada. Corporal punishment is the use of physical violence to discipline children. Spanking and hitting are examples of corporal punishment. Section 43 of the Criminal Code has been used as a legal defense for parents and guardians who use physical violence against children.

As the bill notes, call to action number 6 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report directly calls on the Government to repeal section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada. As such, repealing section 43 is one step in the work of reconciliation and healing.

Ending corporal punishment is matter of safety and respect for all children. Ending violence against children offers long term benefits to community and society. There are positive, non-violent and participatory forms of child-rearing and discipline. Repeal of section 43 of the Criminal Code would help Canada meet its obligations to support the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In November 2021, the Council of General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada endorsed a statement asking the federal government to repeal section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada. In March 2018, the National Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada expressed its support for repealing Section 43. Indigenous Ministries have provided essential leadership to raise awareness of this issue among Anglicans and Lutherans. Both churches have endorsed the Joint Statement on Physical Punishment of Children and Youth.

When children grow up in safe homes, schools and communities, the positive impacts are widespread and inter- generational. We therefore offer our full support to the passage of Bill S-251 and thank you for your efforts to move this important issue forward.

Yours in Christ,

The Most Rev. Chris Harper
National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop, Anglican Church of Canada

The Rev. Susan Johnson
National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Most Rev. Linda Nicholls
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church of Canada

Matthew 10:40-42

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Rewards

40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous, ⁴²and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

John 15:12-17

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

John 21:15-19

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” ¹⁹(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Luke 11:33-36

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Light of the Body

33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel basket; rather, one puts it on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but if it is unhealthy, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶But if your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.”

Matthew 8:1-4

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus Cleanses a Man

8 When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him, ²and there was a man with a skin disease who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” ³He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be made clean!” Immediately his skin disease was cleansed. ⁴Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”