Canadian Unitarian Council
The Canadian Unitarian Council is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations in Canada. The CUC was organized on May 14, 1961, one day before the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, two denominations active in both the U.S. and Canada, consolidated to form the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Initially the CUC was the suborganization for Canadians belonging to the UUA. However, in 2002, the CUC formally became an independent denomination from the UUA, although the UUA continues to provide ministerial settlement services and remains the primary source for education and theological resources.
Some Canadian congregations maintain dual-affiliation with the CUC and the UUA, while most congregations are only members of the CUC. The Canadian Unitarian Council is the only national body for Unitarian Universalist congregations in Canada and was one of the seventeen members of the now defunct International Council of Unitarians and Universalists.
Current Unitarian Universalism in the CUC has progressed beyond its historic roots in liberal Christianity, being defined as non-creedal, drawing syncretic wisdom from various religions and philosophies. Non-Christian influences include religious humanism, nontheism, pantheism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Earth-centered spirituality. The CUC regards itself as an LGBTQ-affirming denomination.
Organization
The CUC is made up of 43 member congregations and emerging groups, who are the legal owners of the organization, and who are, for governance and service delivery, divided into four regions: "BC", "Western", "Central", and "Eastern". However, for youth ministry, the "Central" and "Eastern" regions are combined to form a youth region known as "QuOM", giving the youth only three regions for their activities. The organization as a whole is governed by the CUC Board of Trustees, whose mandate it is to govern in the best interests of the CUC's owners. The Board is made up of eight members who are elected by congregational delegates at the CUC's Annual General Meeting. This consists of two Trustees from each region, who are eligible to serve a maximum of two three-year terms. Board meetings also include Official Observers to the Board, who participate without a vote and represent UU Youth and Ministers.Service delivery
As members of the CUC, congregations and emerging groups are served by volunteer Service Consultants, Congregational Networks, and a series of other committees. There are two directors of regional services, one for the Western two regions, and one for the Eastern two regions. Youth and young adults are served by a Youth and Young Adult Ministry Development staff of two.Annual conference and meeting
Policies and business of the CUC are determined at the Annual Conference and Meeting, consisting of the Bi-Annual Conference, in which workshops are held, and the Annual General Meeting, in which business matters and plenary meetings are performed. The ACM features two addresses, a Keynote and a Confluence Lecture. The Confluence Lecture is comparable to the UUA's Ware Lecture in prestige. In early days this event simply consisted of the Annual General Meeting component as the Annual Conference component was not added to much later. And starting in 2017 the conference portion will only take place every second year. Past ACMs have been held in the following locations:| Date | Location | Theme | Keynote | Confluence Lecturer |
| 1985 | London, ON | |||
| 1986 | ||||
| 1987 | ||||
| 1988 | Saskatoon, SK | |||
| 1989 | Hamilton, ON | |||
| 1990 | Vancouver, BC | |||
| 1991 | Winnipeg, MB | |||
| 1992 | Montreal, QC | |||
| 1993 | Ottawa, ON | |||
| 1994 | Edmonton, AB | |||
| 1995 | Toronto, ON | |||
| 1996 | Halifax, NS | |||
| 1997 | Thunder Bay, ON | |||
| 1998 | Victoria, BC | |||
| 1999 | Mississauga, ON | |||
| 2000 | Calgary, AB | |||
| May 18–21, 2001 | Montreal, QC | Growing Together In Diversity and Strength | ||
| May 17–20, 2002 | Kelowna, BC | Renewing Our Strength | David Crawley | |
| May 16–19, 2003 | Winnipeg, MB | Getting to the Heart of It | Rabbi Neal Rose and Carol Rose | Rev. Dr. John W. Baros-Johnson |
| May 21–24, 2004 | Edmonton, AB | We Are the New Pioneers | Honourable Lois Hole | Rev. Ray Drennan |
| May 20–23, 2005 | Hamilton, ON | Getting To Know UU | Susan Walsh | Rev. Susan Van Dreser |
| May 19–22, 2006 | Saint John, NB | Riding the UU Tide | Dr. Allan Sharp | Rev. Peter Boulatta |
| May 18–21, 2007 | Vancouver, BC | Diversity in Community | Rev. Bill Phipps | Rev. Christine E. Hillman |
| May 16–19, 2008 | Ottawa, ON | The Web of Life – In our Hands | Will Brewer and Allison Brewer | Rev. Meg Roberts and Rev. Brian Kiely |
| May 15–18, 2009 | Thunder Bay, ON | Answering the Call | Rev. Chris Buice | Rev. Dr. Stephen |
| May 21–24, 2010 | Victoria, BC | How Shall We Live? | Dr. Paul Bramadat | Rev. Jane Bramadat and Rev. Wayne Walder |
| May 20–23, 2011 | Toronto, ON | Trust the Dawning Future | David K. Foot | Rev. Diane Rollert |
| May 18–20, 2012^ | Ottawa, ON | Spiritual Leadership Symposium | Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom | |
| May 17–19, 2013 | Calgary, AB | Diversity: Creating a Shared Understanding | Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed | Rev. Shawn Newton |
| May 16–18, 2014 | Montreal, QC | Building Beloved CommUUnities: Sacred Spaces Beyond Walls | Rev. Meg Riley | Rev. Carly Gaylor and Rev. Jeffrey Brown |
| May 15–17, 2015 | Ottawa, ON | Seeking Justice in a Changing Land | Matt Meyer | Rev. Stephen Atkinson |
| May 20–22, 2016 | Vancouver, BC | Bolder Ways of Being | Rev. Melora Lyngood | |
| May, 2018 | Hamilton, ON | |||
| May, 2019 | Toronto, ON | |||
| May, 2020 | Virtual | |||
| May, 2021 | Virtual | |||
| May 19–21, 2023 | Ottawa, ON | Living into the 8th Principle | Albert Dumont | Rev. Julie Stoneberg |
Principles and sources
The CUC does not have a central creed in which members are required to believe, but they have found it useful to articulate their common values in what has become known as The Principles and Sources of our Religious Faith, which are currently based on the UUA's former Principles and Sources with the addition of an 8th principle adopted by CUC members at a special meeting on November 27, 2021. The CUC had a task force whose mandate was to consider revising them.The principles and sources as published in church literature and on the CUC website:
Formation and relationship to the Unitarian Universalist Association
The CUC formed on May 14, 1961, to be the national organization for Canadians within the about-to-form UUA. And until 2002, almost all member congregations of the CUC were also members of the UUA and most services to CUC member congregations were provided by the UUA. However, after an agreement between the UUA and the CUC, since 2002 most services have been provided by the CUC to its own member congregations, with the UUA continuing to provide ministerial settlement services. And also since 2002, some Canadian congregations have continued to be members of both the UUA and CUC while others are members of only the CUC.The Canadian Unitarian Universalist youth of the day disapproved of the 2002 change in relationship between the CUC and UUA. It is quite evident in the words of this statement, which was adopted by the attendees of the 2001 youth conference held at the Unitarian Church of Montreal:
We the youth of Canada are deeply concerned about the direction the CUC seems to be taking. As stewards of our faith, adults have a responsibility to take into consideration the concerns of youth. We are opposed to making this massive jump in our evolutionary progress.