Migration and Christianity in a Canadian Context

Abstract

The experience of diversity is not unusual in Toronto, where I live. In fact, it is the norm. As of the 2006 Census, some 43 percent of the city’s population was of racial minority status, and the number is expected to rise to 63 percent by 2031.1 There are many places where diverse peoples coexist in public spaces, but Toronto is one of the most diverse in the world. Indeed, with increasing intensity, throughout the past 50 years globalization has dramatically increased transnational migration, consequently reshaping sociopolitical, economic, cultural, and religious identities in Canada. My own home church is an excellent example, a downtown United Church of Canada community. With a long-standing and active Jamaican constituency, and a new and growing Asian membership (mostly Korean, but also Japanese), our church is now learning about being an “intercultural” community, thinking differently about its identity and mission.