Voices From the Crowd

Launched on Canada's Sesquicentennial Anniversary to capture Canada's stories of faith from coast to coast, the Voices from the Crowd initiative serves as a powerful collection of unique narrative. We continue to collect stories that reveal the depth and diversity of Canada's unique landscape of faith. Do you have a story to share? Add your voice to the collection today!

Timothy Eaton

Michael D. Clarke

December 9, 2016

Timothy Eaton is known from coast to coast in Canada for revolutionary merchandising and for building a retail empire by supplying the needs of city dwellers and country folk alike. Despite his fame, Eaton preferred to remain largely in the background; he never became a public figure, and he refused to enter politics. He had three principal interests: his church, his family, and his store.

Timothy Eaton is known from coast to coast in Canada for revolutionary merchandising and for building a retail empire by supplying the needs of city dwellers and country folk alike In 1909, Eaton’s wife learned that the Methodists were trying to raise money to build the first great Methodist church ...

Two Sides to Outremont

Gideon Strauss

December 7, 2016

"All it took was walking down Avenue Bernard." Read Gideon Strauss reflect on the surprises that await, hidden in Outremont’s antagonisms.

A few weeks after taking up residence on Avenue Bernard I received a notice in the mail inviting me to participate in a borough referendum on a by-law made by the borough council sometime earlier, resulting in a ban on the establishment of new places of worship in much (some say all) of Outremont On...

Cathie Nicholl

Lloyd Mackey

December 2, 2016

Through Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and Pioneer Camps, Cathie Nicholl played a major role in faith formation and leadership development for many Canadian high school and university students.

Inter-Varsity and its high school affiliate, Inter-School Christian Fellowship played significant roles for decades in giving a faith-based perspective, to thousands of students in Canada’s public education systems She never did get to university – at least not as a student – instead, beginning work...

David See-Chai Lam

Lloyd Mackey

November 25, 2016

David See-Chai Lam, a Hong Kong-born businessman/philanthropist, served several years as British Columbia’s lieutenant-governor. A strong evangelical Baptist by faith, he also brought Confucian concepts of “harmony” into play in creative encouraging conflict resolution and management in business, public and religious life.

The chief markers of his next 17 years in Hong Kong were his advancement in the family-owned Ka Wah Bank, his marriage to Dorothy Lam, his emerging skills as a prudent and wise financial investor and his increasing sense of wanting to be independent – yet in harmony with – his family and other Hong ...

Ernest Manning

Lloyd Mackey

November 18, 2016

Ernest Manning is best remembered as Alberta’s premier from 1943 to 1968 – the longest-serving premier in the Commonwealth. Manning’s understanding of the Scriptures gave him an appreciation of human need as enunciated by proponents of the social gospel.

At Ernest Manning’s funeral in February 1996, Reform Party of Canada leader Preston Manning suggested that his father’s last political words could well be: “Do not let internal discord do to Canada what wars, depressions and hard times were unable to do When oil revenues brought Alberta into unprece...

Friday Prayer at Dundas and Chestnut

Farhad Khadim

November 16, 2016

This is a story of how people of faith refused to be victimized by terror. It resulted in the establishment of Toronto’s downtown Masjid Mosque which turned the corner of the corner of Dundas and Chestnut into a place of prayer and spirituality for thousands of Canadians each week.

I soon became aware that Muslim congregants in downtown Toronto struggled to find a permanent community-based place to offer prayers; Friday prayers proved to be especially difficult as it is incumbent on Muslim men to perform the prayers in congregation Today, Masjid Toronto is a place of prayer an...

Pauline Vanier

Deborah Cowley

November 11, 2016

The wife of the Governor General, Pauline Vanier was “one-half of a perfect partnership in the service of Canada.” She was courageous in her compassion, heroic in times of danger, and passionate about the welfare of the family.

Pauline Vanier lived a full and fulfilled nineteen years in the l’Arche community, where she was active until the last day of her life After Pauline’s death, Cowley and her late husband, George, collaborated in writing One Woman’s Journey: A Portrait of Pauline Vanier (1994) After a two-week retreat...

Of Earth and Son

Deani Van Pelt

November 9, 2016

Deani Van Pelt keeps close to her the constant reminder that the words on her son's tombstone – words from the gospel, words of faith – would not be there without the support of the community who helped raise her son into a devoted follower of Christ.

When you read the words on his stone, know that without the love of others, those words, those Psalm and gospel words, would not be there The sacred words on that stone would not be there without the love and care that others poured into our son ...

Playing in the Fields of the Lord

Katie Maryschuk

November 7, 2016

How are faith, academics, and athletics all connected? We asked Kim Chapdelaine, assistant track and field coach at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC about that. For Chapdelaine and her family, coaching is intimately tied to seeking God’s kingdom.

The impact on them is unbelievable and they don’t have the support of the other athletes, there is no prayer, no study groups, no structure in place where you feel like you can turn to someone for support and understanding that God is central to all of that It is identifying with them, this is why y...

Georges Vanier

George Cowley

November 4, 2016

His first words as Governor General of Canada were a prayer seeking blessing and humility. He lived and served through both World Wars, promoting healing and serving as a skillful diplomat.

The announcement that General Georges Vanier had been appointed the governor-general of Canada came at a meeting of the Canadian cabinet in Halifax at which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presided In 1927, Vanier held the rank of lieutenant colonel and was sent to Geneva as a Canadian military advis...