The Right Reverend Riscylla Shaw

Name: Riscylla Shaw
Current Office and Location: Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Toronto, Toronto

List of ecclesiastical offices held including dates (most recent to least recent):

Episcopal ministry:

• Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Toronto, 2017–present

Parish ministry:

• Incumbent, Parish of Christ Church, Bolton, Diocese of Toronto, 2009–2016
• Incumbent, Parish of Minden-Kinmount, Diocese of Toronto, 2003–2009
• Assistant Curate, St. Stephen’s Maple and All Saints King City, 2000–2002
• Youth Minister, St. Mary’s Richmond Hill and Holy Trinity Thornhill, 1999–2001
• Chaplain, Sibbald Point Provincial Park, 1998
• Student Chaplain, Toronto General Hospital, 1996–1997

Ordination information:

• Diaconate: May 6, 2001, Toronto, The Most Rev. Terence Finlay
• Priesthood: November 18, 2001, Toronto, The Right Rev. George Elliott
• Episcopate: January 7, 2017, Toronto, The Most Rev. Colin Johnson

Other accomplishments:

Education

• Palestine of Jesus course, St. George’s College, Jerusalem (2023)
• International Master’s Program in Management, Lancaster University (2018-2020)
• Indigenous Knowledge course, Humber College (2015)
• Master of Divinity, University of Toronto, Wycliffe College (1999)
• Bachelor of Arts, Honours, University of Toronto (1996)

Local & National Leadership

• Retreat leader & guest speaker: Sisters of St. John the Divine, Dioceses of Ontario, Yukon, New Westminster, Montreal, Queens Theological College – Newfoundland
• Councillor with Oshawa Durham-Region Métis Council (2018-2025)
• Diocesan Regional Dean, member of Area Council, Synod Council, Committee on Spiritual Renewal, Intercultural Committee/Antiracism training; Continuing education leader, mentor
• Sacred Circle: 2015 Port Elgin, 2018 Prince George, 2021 online, 2023 Orillia
• General Synod: 2016 Richmond Hill, 2019 Vancouver, 2023 Calgary

International Leadership

• Anglican Consultative Council member, 2023 held in Ghana
• World Council of Churches, Central Committee member 2022- present
• Lambeth Conference 2022

Indigenous Leadership

• Ambassador & Animator of Reconciliation, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools (TRC); (2009 – Present)
• Actively present as a witness at all seven TRC national events, 2010-2015
• Contributor to publications on TRC Call to Action #6 Decolonizing Discipline (2020), Indigenous Realities (2022), Faith As Protest (2023)
• Voices of Indigenous Followers of Jesus in the Ecumenical Movement, Canadian Council of Churches, presenter (2023)
• Lulea, Sweden, Canadian Indigenous Anglican partnership, international witness to Sweden’s Apology to the Sámi Peoples (2022)
• Road to Warm Springs, The National Consultation on Indigenous Anglican Self-Determination (2017)

As Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Toronto:

• Serving the North & East Archdeaconries, which consist of 90 rural and small-town parishes and ministries, including the cities of Barrie, Peterborough, and Durham Region
• Prioritizing 1) development of regional ministries in innovative and collaborative partnerships; 2) supporting good governance and new models for financial sustainability; and 3) fostering a unified vision of the Anglican Church of Canada that celebrates our diversity.
• 2024 – present Episcopal Visitor, Worker Sisters of the Holy Spirit
• 2023 – present Anglican Consultative Council member
• 2023 – present Diversity Officer, Diocese of Toronto
• 2022 – present World Council of Churches, Central Committee member
• 2019 – present Jubilee Commission member
• 2019 – 2023 Reconciliation Pathfinders
• 2014 – 2019 Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice, member and co-chair

Personal information:

In Romans 8.38-39, Paul writes “nothing shall separate us from the love of God.” One of my favourite verses, it reminds me of the divine grace in which we are constantly upheld. Being upheld does not mean sitting in simplistic platitudes or sentimental pep talks. It often looks like collective grief at the suffering in the world. In my church leadership, it also looks like taking agency, coming together in worship, prayer, laughter and tears, the whole breadth of our humanity.

As a follower of Jesus, I pray and act concretely to build communities of hope, compassion and courage. Our work is to heal and to bring hope; it is also to challenge unjust and oppressive structures of varying kinds — political, economic, and social.

Embracing continuity and change is in my DNA. As a Canadian and a Red River Métis citizen, I value building bridges between communities, worldviews and institutions. This work is complex. To do it with integrity, respect and courage requires deep listening and willingness to hear with the ears of my heart.

I am both a cradle-Anglican, and the child of a church organist who played at every church in town. The second of four children, we were raised on a farm in the Diocese of Algoma. I was formed by the faith of my Mother and my maternal Grandfather, a survivor of Residential School and veteran of World War II. Our home was filled with music, hospitality, commitment to service and courage in the face of challenge.

I am married to my husband of more than 27 years. We have two dynamic and creative young adult children and two lively little dogs. I love the northern lights, fresh air, and finding fossils and rocks on the beach. During my sabbath leave last summer, I deepened friendships and studied the Gospel and culture with the Māori Anglicans in New Zealand, broke bread with our Anglican siblings in Hong Kong, and walked the Camino del Norte in Spain on a solo, unsupported journey of over eight-hundred kilometers. In this experience of solitude and prayer, physical exertion, testing and discernment I was “blessed beyond measure.”

What is the most important challenge, and the most important opportunity, facing the Anglican Church of Canada today, and how would you address them as Primate?

There are many challenges facing the Anglican church today. Everyone shares a different priority: declining attendance, climate emergency, reconciliation with Indigenous communities, youth engagement, worship and renewal. Each perspective is valid, and each one reflects a piece of the whole picture. The biggest opportunity this presents the Anglican Church of Canada today is to work together as the Body of Christ, within our competing concerns. This is not a simple task, as the reality is that our intentions are in tension with each other.

Paul reminds us of this in his first letter to the Corinthians when he writes “together, with our many parts, we form the one body of Christ.” As Christ’s Church, we have the opportunity to share our values as a unified church with the world. What we all bring is vital to the flourishing of the whole.

My vision is to nurture our diversity into the strength of the church. I would address this by using collaborative and adaptive leadership, in which we set a course together to navigate the future. Key roles of Primatial leadership include asking discerning questions, careful listening, courageously looking directly at what is taking place in our communities, our country, our world, and prayerfully challenging the church to adapt and respond in faith and witness to God’s radical, inclusive Gospel love.

The Primate will champion the work of “Creating Pathways for Transformational Change” from the Primate’s Commission in a sustained, long-view perspective. This work will bridge connections across regions, cultural and theological differences, by fostering relationships and supporting mutual flourishing.

We must do this in ways that recognize the suffering in our communities, the identity crisis in our public life, unequal socio-economic systems, the ways that our church continues to be complicit in harms to Indigenous peoples, and the ways the “earth groans” because of unsustainable human activity. And we must do this in ways that acknowledge the contradictions and messiness of our task ahead. We need to have hard conversations about our role as an urgent prophetic voice in Canadian society, even with our declining numbers and the reality of our own economic situation in the Anglican Church. I welcome all as we do this together. We need to bring our competing concerns as gifts to the table, trusting that we are incomplete without the insights of neighbour. This is how I see the church seeking God’s way forward: breaking bread together, as one body: one Church.