Working group explores possibilities of apology for enslavement
The United Church of Canada's Working Group on Church Legacies for People of African Descent gathered in Montreal, Quebec, last weekend from September 11 to 13. The group explored possibilities for the United Church to offer an apology for enslavement to people of African descent. The group worked bilingually between English and French, using a translator app.
Group member Erasmus Madimbu is a person of African descent who ministers to a congregation in the small community of Alberton, Prince Edward Island. He says he is often the only voice of African descent in the room, and in listening to his fellow working group members—who came from Yorkton, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montreal—he heard his own story repeated back to him.
“Different accents, same journey. It hit me: For a long time, I thought we were here to be included in the United Church. In that moment I realized we are here to help transform it,” he says. “We are not guests at the table. With our ancestors, our drums, our deep spirituality—we are the table. That is my aha [moment]! We belong. We have always belonged.”
The group was formed following a decision at the 45th General Council meeting in August 2025. In addition to considering possibilities for the United Church to offer an apology to people of African descent for enslavement, the working group is mandated to consider ways that congregations can engage with the ongoing United Nations Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025–2034), and to name realities of anti-Black racism and current legacies of slavery. The group is expected to report back to the 46th General Council in 2028.
Miriam Spies is also a working group member. She says the discernment times together throughout the weekend brought valuable insight on how to respond with care and grace to the church’s ask for an apology, and in the gathering of stories of resistance, lament, and beauty.
The task group members were among those who gathered for worship at Union United Church, the denomination's oldest predominantly Black congregation, where they offered prayers and read scripture during the service. They also listened to the United Church's first General Secretary of African descent, Rev. Michael Blair, who was the morning's preacher.
“‘Where all are known, named, welcomed, and loved’ leans into church as community, not just a building in the community,” says Kendra Helfrich, a working group member. “How can these places, which are a comfort for some and triggering for others, be reimagined through the lens of what our current communities need?”