June 24, 2003

GENEVA - Will parts of the worldwide constituency of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) be excluded from the LWF Tenth Assembly, due to take place in Winnipeg, Canada, 21-31 July 2003?

As the LWF leadership and Assembly host, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), prepare to receive more than 800 international participants from the Federation's global network, the LWF is receiving frequent reports of rejected visa applications. About 35 percent of invited participants require visas to enter Canada.

So far, participants from Bangladesh, Colombia, the Czech Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Tanzania are known to have been affected. Four out of the five invited participants from Bangladesh and the entire delegation from Sierra Leone, as well as high-ranking church leaders from other countries - have had their visa applications rejected. Others include an LWF Council member and a staff person.

"This is a matter of great concern," says LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko. "The ELCIC National Bishop Raymond L. Schultz has requested a meeting with the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, but has not been granted the courtesy of a hearing," Noko notes.

"In each of the current cases, only a generic list of reasons was given for the rejections," says Peter Prove, Assistant to the General Secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights at the LWF. "We fear that the visa applications of participants from a number of other countries may suffer the same fate."

The Assembly is an important event in the life of the LWF. It is its highest decision-making body and is convened only once every six years. Out of the LWF's 136 member churches, 133 are entitled to send a designated number of delegates to participate in making commitments and setting the organization's priorities for the next six-year period. The previous Assembly was held in Hong Kong, China in July 1997, a few days after the return of the territory to Chinese rule. The Chinese authorities granted entry visas to all of the participants on that occasion.

"We are deeply disappointed," says Prove. "Canada's international reputation for openness and its progressive approach to many burning global issues made it seem an ideal place to meet, under the Assembly theme 'For the Healing of the World'." The Government of Canada has decided to issue a commemorative stamp in recognition of the Assembly and its theme. Noko points out that "on the other hand, the Canadian authorities are denying entry to whole or substantial parts of national delegations to the Assembly."

Noko, himself previously a resident of Canada for six years, describes the authorities' actions in refusing entry to Assembly participants from certain countries as inconsistent with what he knows of Canada's international role. "Leading Canadian political figures including former prime ministers like John Diefenbacker, Lester Pearson and Elliot Trudeau have championed the cause of developing countries, and in international relations Canada has long been a spokesperson for those without a voice." He stresses that in denying visas to applicants from certain countries, "Canada is creating a situation in which representatives of churches predominantly in the North will be able to participate in the Assembly in Winnipeg, while those from mainly developing countries in the South will be missing."

So far, the Canadian Government has not responded to any of several LWF interventions. In particular, a letter sent by the LWF general secretary on May 28 to the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, Denis Coderre, appealing to him to use his influence "to ensure that delegates and invited participants to the LWF Assembly are given the opportunity to come to Canada in order to work together" remains unanswered. In his letter, Noko also informed Coderre that "there has never been a single incident of an Assembly delegate failing to abide by entry conditions with regard to length of authorized stay" since the first LWF Assembly in Lund, Sweden in 1947.

Noko points out that "the Canadian authorities have been kept informed from a very early date about the plans for the LWF Assembly." He notes that the local organizing committee has been in touch with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, CIC, Ottawa office for over a year in order to familiarize Coderre's department with the upcoming LWF event. Updated lists of names of the expected participants have been provided periodically by the committee. Moreover, assurances have been given of the LWF's financial and practical responsibility for the participants attending the Assembly, and for their return home at its conclusion.

Lutheran World Information