Canadian Unitarian Council
Canadian Unitarian Council formed on May 14, 1961 to be the national organization for Canadians who belong to the Unitarian Universalist Association. Until 2002, almost all member 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 CUC and the UUA, most services since 2002 have been provided by the CUC to its own member congregations, with the UUA continuing to provide ministerial settlement services. Some Canadian congregations have continued to be members of both the CUC and UUA, while others are members of only the CUC.
The CUC is currently the only national body for Unitarian Universalist congregations in Canada, and is a member of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists.
Organization
The CUC is made up of 46 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 Trusties, whose mandate it is to govern in the best interests of the CUC's owners. The Board is made up of 8 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. The Director of Lifespan Learning oversees development of religious exploration programming and youth and young adults are served by a Youth and Young Adult Ministry Development staff person.Annual Conference and Meeting
Policies and business of the CUC are determined at the Annual Conference and Meeting, consisting of the 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 & 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 & Allison Brewer | Rev. Meg Roberts & 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 & 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 & 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* |
^Not an ACM, but an "Annual General Meeting" and "Symposium", and unlike ACMs it was organized by the CUC and the Unitarian Universalist Ministers of Canada instead of a local congregation.
#Not a keynote presenter or lecturer, rather a symposium "Provocateur".
*Upcoming locations
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 Principles and Purposes. 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.