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Broadview Best of the Week - October 29, 2026
 

Last week, in response to our story about evicted tenants and Ottawa activists who staged a public hexing to curse their former landlord, we asked you what it would take to make housing more affordable in your community. Here’s what you had to say: 

“I served a suburban congregation in Georgetown, Ont., in the mid- to late 1990s. At a presentation that included former Toronto mayor John Sewell, he said, ‘If you have some land to offer towards establishing affordable housing, contact your councillor or mayor and they will be glad to make it happen.’ Being rather naive at the time, I brought together some members of the congregation. We plugged into wider conversations about the need for seniors’ housing in our region and began the journey. With the help of the Toronto United Church Council, we brought forward an architect’s design. Nothing happened for about four years. About six years after the plan had been hatched, the federal government offered funds for housing if those funds were matched by provincial dollars. With the joint co-operation of those levels of government, the local school board, the regional and municipal governments and a very persistent layman of the congregation, the project finally got built with about 30 units, including some transitional housing. Next to nothing in affordable housing has been built in the last 20 years in that community. Perhaps this can happen again if congregations step forward, along with all levels of government.”
                   
—Ross Leckie, Georgetown, Ont. 


“Creating affordable housing is a decision based on values and an acceptance of the right of every Canadian to have a roof over their head. Call it democratic socialism, but the time has come to shift our thinking from profit at all costs to a country where political decisions reflect equity and decency.”

—Margaret Thompson, Stratford, Ont.
 
 
 
 
 
FROM OUR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER ISSUE
This church closed 20 years ago. Its story isn’t over.
By Will Pearson
 
 
FROM OUR WEBSITE
A synagogue and a church break bread
By Josiah Neufeld
 
ROM OUR WEBSITE
 
 

The Focus - October 29, 2026

Rev. Éric Hébert-Daly, the next general secretary of The United Church of Canada. (Photo courtesy of The United Church of Canada)
Meet the New General Secretary

By Janice Young

It’s official. Rev. Éric Hébert-Daly was covenanted at the end of last weekend’s annual General Council meeting to the role of general secretary of The United Church of Canada. He’ll take his post on January 1, 2027, immediately after Rev. Michael Blair retires.

As someone who knows the job that Hébert-Daly is walking into, Blair said the committee made a “great choice. I think he brings a fairly strong kind of strategic lens to work in ministry,” he told Broadview shortly after the decision was made public in late September. 

Hébert-Daly is the first francophone general secretary, something Blair said will prove useful while pointing out that both he himself and his predecessor, Nora Sanders, struggled with speaking French. “He’ll bring strength in that. He knows the francophone community because that’s his particular role.”

In my conversation with him last week, Hébert-Daly expressed optimism and enthusiasm for the work ahead. While there are several major issues before the church — the Indigenous Church’s journey to autonomy, the work towards communion with the United Methodist Church, the ongoing struggle to support shrinking congregations while trying to attract new members, for starters — Hébert-Daly was unwavering in his belief in the United Church.

“I’d love to see a church that’s maybe a little smaller, but is known nationally — even by those who don’t come to church — as the place you go for deep spiritual experience, deeper conversation and community. Wouldn’t it be great if that were our reputation?” he said.

Read our wide-ranging conversation, about everything from working with Jack Layton and the NDP to the role of evangelism in the United Church, here.
 
Let Me Know: If you could bring one concern to the attention of the general secretary, what would it be? If we publish your suggestion in the next newsletter, maybe he’ll see it! Email: j.young@broadview.org.
 
Thrifty Ministry
Volunteers Joan Burge (left) and Carol Burrill pick a door-prize winner at the Grande Cache United thrift store. (Photo courtesy of Grande Cache United)
From our September/October issue comes this story of a small congregation in rural Alberta that opened a thrift shop to sell donated items, and created a community hub that financially supports more than just the church.

“We didn’t think it’d work,” says Carol Burrill, manager of the Grande Cache United thrift store.
 
New Leader, New Vision
Rev. Janet Anstead, new general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches. (Photo courtesy of Janet Anstead)

The Canadian Council of Churches has a new general secretary. Rev. Janet Anstead replaces outgoing general secretary Peter Noteboom. She recently spoke with journalist James Adair about her new role, the future of Christianity and, well, world peace.

Read the full interview here.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
FROM OUR WEBSITE