MCC Canada Ottawa Office

Corporate body

MCC Canada Ottawa Office

1975 -

MCC Canada’s Ottawa Office was established in 1975. MCC Canada began discussing establishing a “listening post”, modelled after the MCC office in Washington, D.C., in Ottawa in the mid-1960s. Many Mennonites were against active political involvement in Canada, while supporters of the Ottawa Office argued that the Office’s primary function would be to monitor and interpret Canadian government policy to constituents and would address the government only when there was reasonable agreement among Mennonite communities. MCC Canada’s Executive Committee was eventually persuaded, and the Ottawa Office was opened in the nation’s capital in 1975.

By the 1980s and 1990s, the Ottawa Office had addressed a wide range of issues including capital punishment, nuclear weapons, immigration and refugee regulations, and government foreign policy on behalf of the wider Mennonite community. The Office’s communications and interactions with government officials and education of the Canadian Mennonite community were guided and informed by Anabaptist history, theology, scripture, and MCC’s worldwide experience. Questions concerning the relationship between church and state in light of Anabaptist theology were also researched by the Office. The Office has published articles in the Ottawa Notebook (an internal office publication), various Mennonite periodicals, and submitted articles to the Mennonite Reporter, The Mennonite Brethren Herald, The Canadian Mennonite, and The Mennonite.

The Ottawa Office continues to facilitate policy advocacy on behalf of MCC partners, educates constituents about government policy, and encourages constituents to also engage in advocacy.

Ottawa

The main functions of the Ottawa Office include observing government policy and activity, informing MCC Canada and its constituents about them, and advocating on behalf of MCC and MCC partners to the government by proposing policy that reflect Mennonite values and partner concerns. The Ottawa Office also engages in education with MCC constituents about Canadian policy and provides avenues for their advocacy involvement.

The Ottawa Office reported directly to the MCC Canada Executive Office from 1975 until ca. 2002. Following a review of the office in 2001 the Ottawa Office was repositioned to fall under the MCC Canada’s National Program Department. In 2012, following widespread restructuring within MCC Canada, the Ottawa Office began reporting to the International Program director.

Final

Partial

Created by Jared Warkentin, March 24, 2020

Epp-Tiessen, Esther. Mennonite Central Committee in Canada: A History. Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2013.