Series s00015 - MCC Voluntary Service in Canada Series

MCC's Voluntary Service programs were established in the years following the Second World War. During the Second World War, MCC provided service assignments for men who were conscientious objectors through the Civilian Public Service program (CPS) in the U.S. and the Alternative Service program in Canada. In 1944, a group of women in the U.S. asked MCC to provide a similar form of service opportunity and in response two Summer Service units for women at psychiatric institutions were established. In 1946, MCC developed an ongoing voluntary service program with a set of standards and goals. In the first four years of the program, twelve voluntary service units were organized to do relief and service work with migrant workers, in mental hospitals and juvenile detention centres, to help alleviate teacher shortages, and as part of rural and community development.

In 1948, David Schroeder was appointed by MCC to extend the Summer Service program into Canada; by this point the program included both women and men. By 1959, 98 young people were involved in the Summer Service program in both the U.S. and Canada.

In 1952, Harvey Taves from the MCC Kitchener Office proposed to build on the success of the Summer Service program and developed a year-round Voluntary Service program in Canada. The first year-round Voluntary Service workers began work at the Ontario Hospital in 1953. Taves also developed Voluntary Service opportunities for teachers and nurses at an MCC-run foster home, clinics, and hospitals in Newfoundland. Voluntary Service opportunities quickly multiplied; between 1940 and 1970, over 900 Canadians served at least one year in the Voluntary Service program.

Newly established, MCC Canada assumed responsibility for administration of MCC Summer Service and Voluntary Service programming in Canada in 1965 and 1967, consecutively. The Voluntary Service program had been established as a united North American program; Canadian projects were administered from the MCC Office in Winnipeg while U.S. and International projects were administered from the MCC Office in Akron. The program operated as one until 1975, when MCC added a U.S. Ministries section to oversee programming in the U.S. The program divided by country and MCC Canada and MCC U.S. began to operate Voluntary Service separately, although they continued to cooperate with one another. In 1976, the MCC Canada Voluntary Service program was restructured to became jointly owned by MCC Canada and the five provincial MCC’s.

MCC’s Voluntary Service programs reached their height in the mid-1980s. By 1987, over 160 individuals served across Canada and more than 500 MCC workers served in 50 countries around the world. Voluntary Service workers committed to two-year terms when serving in Canada or the U.S. and three-year terms when serving internationally. MCC Canada also instituted a Local Voluntary Service option which made it possible for people who were unable to leave their homes to serve with MCC through local community endeavors. In Canada, Voluntary Service workers served in many of the national MCC programs including Handicap Concerns, Native Concerns, Women’s Concerns, and Eastern Canada programs.

In 1991, another shift was made in Canada, whereby the five provincial MCCs assumed full and sole responsibility for the Voluntary Service programs in their provinces while MCC Canada remained responsible only for Voluntary Service programs in parts of the country without provincial coordinators, like Eastern Canada. While resulting in the loss of a single national Voluntary Service program in Canada, MCC Canada’s Voluntary Service program continued to provide some overall direction and coordination to the provincial Voluntary Service programs at the national level.

Throughout and following the 1990s, Voluntary Service numbers began to fall and new shorter-term MCC service programs including SALT (Serving and Learning Together), Summerbridge, the Summer Service Program, and SOOP (Service Opportunities for Older People) became more popular both in North America and internationally.

In the early 2000s, the term ‘voluntary’ became problematic as changing government regulations required volunteers receiving stipends or allowances to be considered employees, and adjustments were demanded of MCC Service Programs. In 2003, the Canadian Voluntary Service Program dropped the word ‘voluntary’ and was thereafter known as the Service Program to align with terminology already used in the U.S. and International Programs.

The previously titled Voluntary Service Program ended ca. 2011 while MCC’s short-term service programs continue to be popular.

MCC Canada is a peace, relief, and service agency of Canadian Mennonites and Brethren in Christ. It was founded in December of 1963 through the merger of seven regional Mennonite and Brethren in Christ service organizations: the Non-Resistant Relief Organization (NRRO), the Canadian Mennonite Relief Committee (CMRC), the Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council (CMRIC), the Conference of Historic Peace Churches (CHPC), the Historic Peace Church Council of Canada (HPCCC), Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), and the MCC Binational Kitchener Office. This merger into one national inter-Mennonite body in Canada was intended to allow for more effective use of time, volunteers, and resources in conducting relief work.

Upon establishment, MCC Canada worked closely with MCC Binational (also known as MCC International); MCC Canada conducted most of its overseas relief and development work through MCC Binational, while all Canadian programs were administered by MCC Canada. MCC Canada was given a broad mandate to work in the areas of peace education, relief and development, voluntary service, immigration, government lobbying, and other areas of concern. Provincial MCC offices were also established to work alongside but independent of MCC Canada in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, MCC Canada’s activities expanded, especially in terms of the number of national programs administered across the country. MCC Canada’s Canadian Programs Department established programs to raise awareness on peace and other social issues, to advocate on behalf of Indigenous communities, to bring reconciliation into the justice system, to assist people with disabilities, to bring attention to women’s concerns, and to provide resources for those experiencing economic hardship. In 1976, MCC Canada established a Food Bank as a means of channeling surplus grains grown by Mennonite farmers to countries around the world. In 1983, this Food Bank became the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Since 1969, MCC Canada has received matching grants from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) of the Canadian government to administer its many programs.

In the late 1970s, conversations began between MCC Binational and MCC Canada regarding responsibility for MCC international programs. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, some MCC international programs were transferred from MCC Binational to MCC Canada; these included the Kanadier Concerns program, USSR Mennonite program, Refugee Sponsorship program, some control over the delivery of material aid overseas, and the Ten Thousand Villages program in Canada.

Beginning in 2008, MCC began a process of consultation and discussion concerning the purpose and structure of MCC Binational, MCC Canada, and MCC U.S.; this process was called New Wine/New Wineskins. The goal was to more effectively and efficiently administer MCC’s international programming. At the conclusion of the New Wine/New Wineskin process in 2012, MCC Binational was dissolved and ceased to be an MCC entity, leaving MCC Canada and MCC U.S. to jointly administer a single MCC International Program.

MCC Canada continues to provide national programs within Canada and deliver international programs jointly with MCC U.S. The MCC Canada Canadian Programs Department offers programs that address social and economic issues in Canada and form the core of MCC Canada’s mandate. MCC Canada’s commitment to international programming continues through the Shared International Program’s material aid, peace work, and assistance in economic development.