Timeline of Events and Responses

(also see the Frequently Asked Questions and our collections of church reflections and press coverage)

February 2021: survivors of sexual violence share their stories with the Anglican Journal.

May 2021: Anglican Journal staff notify the survivors that a draft article containing personal information was circulated to the four institutions that mishandled their allegations. (According to this RNS article William Cliff, Bishop of Brandon, is one of the draft recipients.)

June 10-11, 2021: Anglican Journal editor Matthew Townsend and staff writer Joelle Kidd resign.

August 11, 2021: John Fraser delivers his investigative report on the breach to General Synod.

September 2021: Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) writes a summary response to John Fraser’s report.

November 2021 (estimated): Archbishop Nicholls quotes her summary report in remarks to a closed meeting of the Council of General Synod of the ACC.

February 17, 2022: ACCtoo launches our open letter.

February 18: Archbishop Nicholls sends us a response to our open letter (PDF) and asks us to post it on the ACCtoo website. On February 23 we receive a clarification from Archbishop Nicholls: “In my letter of response to the Open Letter I stated that the former editor and journalist did not participate in the review. They did participate with the investigator but did not meet with me. I apologize to them for the implication that they had not participated.”

March 2: ACCtoo delivers a copy of our open letter with 228 signatures to Primate Linda Nicholls, General Secretary Alan Perry, the members of the Council of General Synod, and the members of the Anglican Journal Editorial Board.

March 13: the Council of General Synod (CoGS) releases a statement responding to our open letter.

March 15: General Synod publishes Archbishop Nicholls’ September 2021 summary response to the Anglican Journal investigation report (PDF). Note that it says the General Secretary shared the draft and names John Fraser as the investigator. The summary also states “this report will be shared, in camera, with the Council of General Synod at its next meeting.”

March 16: ACCtoo sends a private response to CoGS asking clarifying questions about their statement.

March 18: ACCtoo releases a public response to the Council of General Synod statement.

March 23: General Synod releases a statement from General Secretary Alan Perry (PDF). Note that he says the draft was shared on his watch.

March 24: we publish a video statement by Cydney regarding another breach by General Synod.

March 28: we publish a statement by Matthew Townsend, former editor of the Anglican Journal. We also publish a copy of his resignation letter from May 28, 2021 (PDF).

April 21: we publish a response to our open letter from the Anglican Journal Editorial Board.

May 26: we publish “Before You Report,” a guide for anyone considering reporting abuse, assault, or misconduct in the Anglican Church of Canada.

We continue to wait for the Council of General Synod’s response to our March 16 questions.