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At the November annual meeting, representatives from supporting Mennonite and Brethren in Christ conferences and provincial MCC organizations agreed to reduce MCC Canada's budget by about $300,000 for the fiscal year 1997-98 and shift some responsibilities from MCC Canada to the provincial MCC organizations.
According to associate executive director Dale Taylor, the decision was made for two reasons--to respect MCC Canada's commitment to send 60% of donations overseas and to reduce duplication between the MCC Canada and provincial MCC offices. Representatives to the annual meeting also agreed that, of the remaining 40% of donated funds, 25% will be given to the provincial organizations while MCC Canada will use 15%. Previously the funds earmarked for activity in Canada were split 50/50 (20% each for MCC Canada and the provincial MCCs).
At the May 31-June 1 meeting, Executive Committee members followed up the November decision by approving a plan to reduce MCC Canada's budget by $336,000, effective September, 1997. This will result in a loss of 4.5 positions--two in the Human Resources Department and 2.5 in Canadian Programs. Human Resources activity, such as receiving and processing applications and approving candidates for service, will be picked up by the provincial MCC organizations. For Canadian Programs, which include Native Concerns, Women's Concerns, Victim-Offender Ministries, Employment Development, Refugee Concerns, Mental Health and Disability Concerns and Peace and Social Concerns, Taylor says that the effects of the downsizing "will be significant, but not immediate. In most areas, staffing at the national level will be reduced and services refocussed to take into account the activities of the provincial MCCs." She adds that the national peace witness of MCC in Canada will be strengthened, "to ensure that MCC continues to reflect and foster the biblical vision of the anabaptist tradition".
For Executive Committee member Betty Lynn Enns of Kitchener, Ont., the decision was difficult but essential. "We need to bring the work of MCC closer to our supporting churches." She emphasizes that the changes are not strictly related to funding: "This is also a philosophical shift in the way we do things."
Executive Committee member Abe Wiebe of Winkler, Man. says that the changes don't mean that MCC has decreased its commitment to Native people, the unemployed, refugees, disabled people and others: "We are just going to do our work in different settings and in a different way."
Gloria Nafziger, who coordinates Refugee Concerns for MCC Canada and MCC Ontario, has an interesting perspective on the restructuring process. Her husband, Stephen, was laid off by a Canadian relief and development agency which downsized last year. "It was handled very poorly," she says. "Staff at that agency had little input into the discussion and no information about what was happening. People who lost their jobs had a lot of anger." By contrast, MCC Canada "is doing a much better job of including staff in the discussion. It's been a more humane process."
Nafziger's role as staff person for MCC Canada and a provincial MCC is one prototype of how MCC activity in Canada may be structured in the future.
MCC Canada staff person Kendall Harder is a member of the agency's staff council, which has been helping staff to deal with the changes. "There is anger and pain," Harder says, "but I think most staff are thinking about how they can work in the new framework." Some staff, however, worry that the changes will limit the agency's ability to assist marginalized people in Canada.
John Longhurst, MCC Canada Communications
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