CECA was nominated for the 1998 Ethics in Action Award for Ongoing Social Responsibility as a result of the work undertaken in developing National Forgiveness Day.

The Ethics in Action program was created in 1994 through a partnership between VanCity Savings and the Workplace Ministry Society. The Awards recognize ethical decision-making and ethical action in business.

CECA desires National Forgiveness Day to promote peace. Convincing society of accepting an unpopular perspective is the challenge. The tool available to us is Forgiveness Day, an annual reminder of our social responsibilities to each other. This repetition of simple truth focuses attention to the basic reality of coexistence. Without forgiveness leading to reconciliation, human intimacy would be impossible. Yet with forgiveness, persons can resolve differences and free emotions from anger and malice.

Human imperfections are what make us fallible. Forgiveness results from recognizing our own potential for offense and extending an offender a similar grace we ourselves would expect in their shoes.

"Since nothing is ever faultless, and nothing we attempt ever without error, and nothing we achieve without some measure of finitude and fallibility (which we call humanness) we are saved by forgiveness."

David Augsburger