Immigration vs. Christianity in Canada, is it an issue?

A first-hand perspective by a son of Canadian Immigrants

I was born forty six years ago to German Immigrants that came over to Canada after World War Two. They grew up under a brutal Fascist regime that hated all things not German, including things that were even perceived as not German (interestingly enough, this was a prevalent nationalistic point of view that was becoming increasingly common in nations around the world, including Canada and Britain). Eventually those that were branded as not German enough were at first robbed of a life of dignity, then made to leave the country. As that became less efficient, people were sent to concentration camps and then eventually exterminated, murdered.

This is what my parents came away from. They were amazed at a land that seemed to make all kinds of culture welcome, no matter how strange. They were even more amazed at how it was possible for these diverse communities to co-exist without being forced to "ghetto-ize" or anglicize.

I grew up in an almost exclusively Eastern European neighbourhood in the west end of Toronto (1960/70s). Almost all of my neighbours were either Ukrainian or Polish immigrants. My neighbourhood smelled of cabbage rolls and perogies at dinner time on most days. I clearly remember mothers wearing babushkas and aprons calling their children home for dinner in either of those languages.

The close friends of my family were almost all German immigrants as was the congregation of the church we attended: German Evangelical Fellowship on Ossington Ave. I went to German school on weekends. We spoke German at home, ate German food, listened to German music and read German books. We also celebrated German cultural events with the rest of the German community. We worshipped in German. I still do.

Our closest friends were from Brazil, but because they had a varied ancestry, they spoke Portuguese, German and Russian.

My Father became a Canadian Citizen soon after he arrived in Canada. He was very proud and grateful to be a Canadian. His command of the English language left much to be desired at times. He certainly was more fluid in his mother tongue which was German. My mother was highly educated in several languages, English, French, Latin and of course, German. Her grammatical abilities in English and French were more advanced than most multi-generational Canadians that I knew, however, she never lost her very strong accent. She was much more fluent in her mother tongue as far as important issues were concerned, especially of the heart. She never became a Canadian Citizen and stayed a Landed Immigrant for a number of reasons. One was that her children could retain an automatic dual citizenship, the other was that she loved her homeland which was under communist rule (East Germany). She hoped that one day she would be heir to her family's estate as she was the last survivor. This seemed hopeless because of 1000 kilometres of barbed wire fence and landmines erected by a government that wanted to keep people out and in. She was however, very grateful to be a Canadian.

(She died before she could realize that dream of freedom for her family and people, and so her legacy was passed on to me and my children. I have now seen with my own eyes her dream become reality as Germany is now a unified nation as well as having been able to lay claim to our family's estate from a now non-existent criminal government.)

Later I moved to what is called "Little Italy" in the Dufferin & St. Clair area. Almost all of my neighbours spoke Italian. Many did not speak English. The food, the music, the movies and most events were thoroughly Italian. I worked at a bakery were most of my co-workers were Italian, Portuguese, Greek and Macedonian. Most spoke in their mother tongue with a sprinkling of English just to add to the complexity. It was rare for me not to at least have an accent of my own while conversing with others. Then I moved to "Little Greece" and was a neighbour to "Little India". It was like moving to another nation, and yet still in Canada. Incredible! I'll never forget it, while driving taxi in Toronto I had the pleasure of probably hearing just about every major tongue on earth. Wow!

As a young man in my twenties, I moved to Thunder Bay were I married my very beautiful, still German Immigrant, very European but every bit Canadian, wife Kirsten. Thunder Bay has the highest Finnish population in the world outside of Finland. It probably has the highest per capita sauna statistic in Canada as well. It's probably the only Canadian City that considers it normal to have a business meeting with 12 others dressed only in towels in a Sauna.

So what is my nationality and how does that affect me? I am very grateful to be a German-Canadian. I speak German and English. I wish I could speak French (the fact that I can't is the result of an unwise choice made while a student in high school), Spanish and perhaps Mandarin and even Urdu. I'm blessed to be a citizen of Canada. I also hold a German Passport and am welcome to live in that land as well because of my birthright.

A few years ago I felt led to stand in proxy for my people and repent to God and the Jewish people for what my ancestors did. I committed myself to not propagate, and stand against, the lies that rise like a tide from angry and jealous people filled with pride and eventually hate. I'm very sensitive to that sort of thing and tend, on discovering it, to want to rip it out by it's roots before it has a chance to grow. I don't want my children and their children and their descendants to ever carry that kind of burden again.

God recently let me know that He was the one who gave me my heritage and that no-one could take it away from me. Who am I to argue with God? As far as rights go, I was reminded that the only right I have is to spend eternity without God in hell. That really put things into perspective for me. I'm so happy that He saved me! I rarely demand my rights anymore. God doesn't let me get too far when I do (He's good at that and I'm grateful).

Most importantly I'm a citizen of heaven. My passport is the blood of the Lamb and I'm already recorded in His census. I'm learning the language of that Kingdom, it's ..... "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (or legislation).

With God's mercy and grace and by the power of His Spirit, I'll become fluent in His language. I'd rather learn to speak that than the language of Cain any day. I pray that the language of God becomes the prevailing language of this nation. God please bring Your will to bear on our nation Canada!

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (1 Peter 3:8-12 NIV)

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A few facts:
(to clear up some alarming misconceptions I've noticed)

Canada's official languages are English and French.

One of the reasons that our flag was changed to a Maple Leaf was because of the fact that we really are not a British nation.

The first people to live here were native aboriginals. They were eventually subjugated by the French and English armies and European greed. That's why Ojibway is not an official language.

The second people to arrive in Canada were Norse warriors. Norwegian is not an official language here either.

The next European people to arrive here were business people first and military people second. Christians came later, and that was because they were being persecuted at home for not fitting in. They were hoping to find a safe place were no-one would notice they were different.

Strangely enough, the first major explorers to North America were looking for a shortcut to India.

There is no scriptural basis for "Christmas" (regarding this popular issue). December 25th is absolutely not the birth date of Jesus but rather was first introduced as a Christian holiday by Pope Liberius in 354 and became the rule in the West in 435 AD when the first "Christ mass" was officiated by Pope Sixtus III. This coincided with the date of a celebration by the Romans to their primary god, the Sun, and to Mithras, a popular Persian sun god supposedly born on the same day. It also falls close to the midwinter solstice, which is also traditionally a pagan celebration. The birth of Jesus is believed (by scholars)to have occurred in autumn during the Jewish feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), which is sadly rarely celebrated by Gentiles (non-Jews).

Most holidays and feasts that were celebrated by Jesus and subsequently the first century church, as an example, are not celebrated in Canada or Europe, except for the feast of Pentecost, which has been celebrated since the time of Moses. Worldwide anti-Semitism has taken care of that.

Most opposition in North America to Christianity is from white Anglo-Canadians/Americans. Most are upper middleclass with a university education. Many are left leaning well educated liberals with a tendency towards self worship. Few are new immigrants.

Most anti-God anti-Christ rhetoric comes from non-immigrants.

Often, new immigrants are poor and have virtually no say in the affairs of this land.

Most new immigrants work extremely hard and often work two or more jobs to make ends meet. They rarely have time to sleep let alone demand rights.

There are more real Christians in China than there are people in Canada. Few speak English. Food for thought.

Most people in Canada are sadly NOT followers of Christ. They are perhaps religious. That is true of every Western nation on earth at this time.

There are more people suffering because of the name of Jesus in developing nations than in the West. More food for thought.

Developing nations are now sending Christian missionaries to Canada and the United States.