According to the CIA World Factbook, Canada is "an affluent, high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class" and yet, 10.8% of the population live below the poverty line
27,956 refugees arrived in Canada in 2007
31,985 homeless individuals (including 4,779 children) stayed in a Toronto shelter at least once during 2002
Between 1999 and 2005, The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee reported over 300 deaths of individuals due to homelessness
Toronto has been strongly influenced by Canada's open immigration policy. Between 2001 and 2005, Canada attracted an average of 107,000 international immigrants each year. The City of Toronto welcomed two thirds (69,000).
When asked "Do you think God or a higher power exists?"
- 49% of Canadians responded, yes, I definitely do
- 33% responded yes, I think so
- 11% said no, I don't think so
- 7% responded no, I definitely do not
International Teams Canada is moved to serve where the need is greatest. In urban Canada the greatest need is felt among refugees, the unemployed and working poor, and the mentally and physically disabled and the marginalized.
The Urban Canada Network facilitates the networking of Canadian church partners that co-operate to share resources and ideas as we seek to get out of the pews and into the streets of our own neighbourhoods so that we can share the good news of peace, justice, and reconciliation in Christ for the transformation and good of the city.
Our church partners work to ease the burden of newly arrived refugees. We welcome and build relationships with new arrivals, support refugee housing, reach out to refugee youth, and look for opportunities to meet their most basic needs for such things as clothing, ESL classes, transportation and advocacy.
Some of our church partners are involved with serving and mentoring at risk urban youth. Sometimes engaging youth means connecting with neighbourhood schools, offering a breakfast program, tutoring, sports programs and drop-ins.
The greatest need for the working poor and unemployed is for friendship and encouragement, and so some churches offer employment counseling, help with CV writing, and food.
Urban Canada's partners are pro-active. We ask ourselves, what can we do for our neighbours? How can we serve them? Because we live with and know our neighbours, it's easy to answer that question. Sometimes that means handing out school backpacks in poor neighbourhoods, cleaning up parks, or advocating for the mentally disabled. Sometimes we serve our city best by planting a church in a place where there is none.
We've learned a lot from our neighbours and from other churches. We've learned that churches working together are stronger and can have a greater transformational impact on our cities.
