In late-October, Rev. Peter Noteboom, General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), was selected as the recipient of the 2025 Marjorie MacKinnon Award – presented annually in recognition for “outstanding effort in the promotion of ecumenism.”
The ecumenical award was presented by the Toronto Commandery of the Order of St. Lazarus, which is an international ecumenical Christian order focusing on palliative care.
The Marjorie MacKinnon Award is the latest in a trio of recognitions for the Toronto resident, as he earlier received the King Charles III Coronation Medal and the Martin Luther University Global Advocacy Award this year.
“My feeling these days around these awards, and also the work of the Canadian Council of Churches and the space that I’m in, the word ‘miraculous’ just comes to mind,” Noteboom shared.
“Between the team of people that I work with at the Canadian Council Churches, it just feels miraculous to be working with these folks on justice, ecumenism, reconciliation – it feels really great. In a world so polarized or divided as we know, everyone here is out to show respect and love to one another, despite our differences, we are able to find common ground. It feels a bit miraculous to be right in the middle of all those different things. It’s not just my work, it’s my calling, my vocation.”
Rev. Noteboom accepting his award (Photo courtesy of the CCC).
Noteboom has been in his role as the CCC General Secretary since 2018. He is the co-chair of the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, advocating for religion in a pluralistic society and in Canadian public life. He also serves as a member of the Interfaith Committee on Canadian Military Chaplaincy and a similar role within the Correctional Service of Canada.
The ELCIC serves alongside 25 other member denominations working together as the CCC. Founded in 1944 to promote cross-church unity in Canada, the CCC’s goals are to engage regularly in dialogue, promote peace and justice, and speak on social and moral issues including refugee rights and poverty.
The Marjorie MacKinnon Award includes a $1,500 bursary to which the awardee selects its recipient. Noteboom chose ELCIC member Boston Laferté to be this year’s beneficiary.
A student in the Juris Doctor & Juris Indigenarum Doctor law program at the University of Victoria, Laferté is also working towards completing his Master of Divinity at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon and is currently a candidate for ordination within the ELCIC.
Laferté has been a youth governing board member of the CCC for over three years. Noteboom praised his contributions to the council, “as a member of our burgeoning youth community here at the CCC, it just made a lot of sense to me that would put him forward as the recipient of the scholarship. He was very taken aback by the news and in a beautiful way accepted the honour,” he said.
Laferté, who serves as a lay delegate on the ELCIC’s Court of Appeal and co-hosts the ‘Let’s Talk Faith & Justice’ podcast alongside ELCIC pastor Rev. Lyndon Sayers, was a delegate for the BC Synod at both the 2023 Special Convention in Calgary and the 2025 National Convention in Winnipeg.
“I was very shocked,” Laferté shared when he learned he would be the bursary recipient. “I don’t even think I said thank you right away. In fact, I think the very first thing I said was “Really?” I am in law school and seminary, and it gets very expensive without much time for working, so I deeply appreciate being chosen for the scholarship.”
In accepting the bursary from the organizers of the Marjorie MacKinnon Award, he shared his reflections on the importance of the work of Noteboom and the CCC.
“I met Peter when I joined. He was immediately welcoming, and made sure mine and other youth voices were given true recognition in meetings of the council. He and others at the council have really motivated me in my ecumenical work and relationships,” Laferté said.
“The ELCIC and other main denominations really need ecumenism looking to the future,” he added. “Without it, there would be no Waterloo Declaration, no Moravian Full Communion relationship, and no shared congregations/ministries. People like Peter and others at the CCC are key in upholding and building on these relationships and showing denominations the paths forward… We don’t always think about ecumenism beyond our full communion partners, but there is really significant work and relationship building going on at the CCC every single day.”
