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LWF Makes Last-ditch Appeal to Canadian Government on Visa Denials

Controversy Highlights Exclusion of Poorest from World Community

WINNIPEG, Canada, 20 July 2003 (LWI) – The leadership of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) issued a last-ditch appeal to the Canadian authorities to issue visas for over 60 participants of the LWF Tenth Assembly, due to start here tomorrow.

Over 800 official participants, including some 400 delegates from member churches, have been invited by the global body to attend the July 21-31 Assembly. Of these, about 35 percent require visas to enter Canada.

“If immediate action is taken, it still might not be too late for the Canadian Government to rectify this matter,” the Federation’s Council said of the visa denials, in a statement issued here today after its July 19-20 meeting.

The Council expressed “deepest concern and outrage” about the visa denials, noting that they only affect participants from among the poorest nations of the world.

“This situation reflects one of the most deplorable aspects of globalization.” The result is that churches “of the South, the poor and the marginalized” are excluded from the global community.

The visa controversy highlights “the brokenness of human relationships” in the world that the Assembly theme seeks to address. The meeting’s theme is “For the Healing of the World”.

One of the Assembly’s main actions is to elect the new Council, which will then meet here August 1-2.

The Council gives leadership to the LWF between assemblies. Most of the present Council’s members were elected at the Federation’s previous Assembly, in 1997.

The full text of the Council’s statement follows below:

Statement by the Council of the Lutheran World Federation

On the eve of the opening of the Tenth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Winnipeg, the leadership of this global church family expresses its deepest concern and outrage that over 60 delegates and official participants from around the world have not received visas from the Government of Canada to enable them to attend this meeting.

The LWF is a federation of 136 member churches of the Lutheran communion in 73 countries, representing a total of approximately 63 million people. In addition to serving as a forum for the worldwide Lutheran community, the LWF is also a major institution for mission, theological reflection, ecumenical dialogue, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the LWF, in which representatives of all member churches are entitled to participate. The Assembly takes place only once every 6 years, and sets the direction for the LWF’s work for the coming period. Comprehensive participation is therefore essential.

It is the first time that the LWF has held its Assembly in Canada, and we have been warmly and enthusiastically received by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) as host church. The joy of this celebration of global Christian fellowship is dimmed by visa difficulties of a magnitude completely unprecedented in the more than 50 year history of the LWF.

We are very grateful for the untiring efforts of the ELCIC and the LWF’s Secretariat in Geneva to secure the favourable consideration of these outstanding visa applications. However, the response thus far of the Canadian authorities has been in effect to deny entry to participants exclusively from among the poorest nations of the world. This situation reflects one of the most deplorable aspects of globalization, namely the exclusion of the South, the poor and the marginalized from the global community. It illustrates very concretely and painfully the brokenness of human relationships that the theme of the Assembly, ‘For the Healing of the World’, seeks to address.

The situation is also a poor reflection of Canada’s traditional policies of openness, internationalism and support for the developing world. The lack of recognition and responsiveness to the concerns already repeatedly raised by the ELCIC with Citizenship and Immigration Canada manifests a very saddening disregard for the church’s role in this society.

If immediate action is taken, it still might not be too late for the Canadian Government to rectify this matter, and to facilitate the fulfillment of the Assembly’s primary purpose as a truly global gathering of the Lutheran church family. We appeal to the Canadian Government to be a force ‘For the Healing of the World’, to avoid promoting division and marginalization, and to issue these visas now.

The Tenth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is taking place 21-31 July 2003 in Winnipeg, Canada, under the theme "For the Healing of the World." It is being hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).

There are some 800 men, women and youth participants in the Tenth Assembly, including delegates from the 133 churches with full membership and three associate members. The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the LWF, and meets normally every six years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by its Council that meets annually, and by its Executive Committee.

To order photographs, please contact LWF-Photo@lutheranworld.org

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