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How Koreans came
to call Toronto home*
By: Jung-Gun Kim
From: Polyphony Vol.6, 1984 pp. 176-180
© 1984 Multicultural History Society of Ontario
*This article is based on the last chapter of the author's thesis, "
'To God's Country': Canadian Missionaries in Korea and the Beginnings of
Korean Migration to Canada," Ed.D., University of Toronto, 1983.
The Canadian mission movement in South Korea had as its essence pastoral,
medical and educational work in the mission field; it was not simply impersonal
financial aid from abroad. Contact between Canadian missionaries and their
Korean faithful was personal, and it extended over a period of time and
in a variety of capacities. What is more, until the establishment of bilateral
government relations between Korea and Canada, this contact between the
Canadian missionaries and Korean Christians was the major point of encounter
between the peoples of Korea and Canada. Only in 1963, when Korea opened
a mission in Ottawa, were formal diplomatic relations between Korea and
Canada begun. Only in the fall of 1973, as a result of Canada's desire to
intensify relations in the Pacific Rim countries, was a Canadian Embassy
opened in Seoul.
Not surprisingly, the result of the intense personal contacts between Canadian
missionaries and their Korean flock was an increasing flow of Korean Christian
immigrants to Canada. In very important ways this refugee group, so deeply
influenced by Canadian missionaries, pioneered Korean immigration to Canada.
In the 1940s a mission-sponsored student became the first permanent Korean
settler in Canada. Many other students followed him in later years. In addition
to the students who became immigrants, a limited number of independent immigrants
from Korea made their way to Toronto by the 1960s. They too were, directly
or indirectly, missionary connected people; and they were most often people
of northern Korean origin. Finally, it was from among this refugee group,
known as "the Canadian Christians,'' that the initiative and encouragement
of the mass Korean immigration to Canada of the late 1960s and early 1970s
came. That mass migration includes Koreans of every denomination and most
political persuasions, but the earlier community had a more precise origin
in the missionary experience. It is that earlier community which is described
here.
To identify the roots of Korean settlement in Canada, one must focus on
one man, Tae-yon Whang of Toronto. Whang came to Canada in 1948 as a mission-sponsored
medical intern. He opted to remain in Canada after his training. Whang became
the first recorded Korean to settle permanently in Canada; many other mission-sponsored
students had tried earlier, but to no avail. They had either to return to
Korea under pressure from the missionaries or cross the border to avoid
that pressure. Whang, who still resides and practises medicine in the Rosedale
area of Toronto, is regarded in the Toronto Korean community as ''the first
immigrant" and the pioneer of the present-day Korean community in Canada.
(1)
In becoming the first mission-sponsored student turned immigrant, Whang
set a precedent that many Korean students in Canada would follow. Some Korean
students stayed on as Whang did, changing their status from visa student
to immigrant, with or without the missionaries' consent. Others returned
to Korea upon completion of their studies in Canadian institutes then; some
time later, re-entered Canada, this time as immigrants. In the history of
the Korean community in Canada, these students turned immigrants formed
a unique group of settlers. As an elite Canadian-educated group, they provided
institutional leadership in the community. They also became the backbone
of intellectual life in the community, especially during its formative stage.
Just as Tae-yon Whang set the stage for those students who tried and succeeded
in "staying on" after their studies, David Chong's case exemplifies
the story of those who went back to Korea and "re-entered" Canada
in later years. David Chong was born in Kando in 1917. His father, a Christian,
was a teacher in a Canadian mission school and later an ordained minister.
In 1947 Chong was selected by the missionaries and recommended for a scholarship
to study in Canada. One missionary explained: "His father has been
closely related with members of our Mission for over thirty years, both
as teacher and as minister, and has served successfully in several pastorates.
(2) The reward for the father's service was the education of his son.
He was sent by the Canadian missionaries to Emmanuel College in Toronto
to begin two years of theological training. But, as soon as he settled in
Emmanuel, Chong declared that he would rather pursue a Doctor of Theology
degree which would require more than two years study to complete. The field
missionaries disapproved of Chong's decision: "What we want to train
is young men who will come back in a short time to do some active work.''
Chong was sent back to Korea in September 1949. (3) He had been in Canada
exactly two years. After receiving a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1958,
he served in various academic and pastoral positions, including the presidency
of the Kon'guk University in Seoul. In January 1968, Chong accepted a post
as visiting professor at Hamburg University, West Germany. In April of the
same year, he came to the Department of East Asian Studies, University of
Toronto, again as a visiting professor. What is more, in July of that same
year Chong accepted the position of minister of the then fledgling Toronto
Korean United Church. He decided not to go back to Korea and has lived in
Canada ever since. Chong stayed on as pastor of the church for one year,
but then he moved to Ottawa where, in July 1969, he became professor of
religious studies at Carleton University, a position he still holds. He
remains one of the rare academicians within the Korean Canadian community.
Expatriate students were not the only Koreans residing in Toronto in the
early 1960s. Other Koreans, intent on building new lives, trickled into
Canada as visitors, obtained work permits and eventually became immigrants.
The transformation from visitor to temporary worker to immigrant was the
common route taken by this second stream of Koreans in Canada. Ch'ung-lim
Chon and his ''trade company" were at the centre of this group. Chon
initiated a small-scale migration among his Christian friends and relatives.
Ch'ung-lim Chon grew up in the original Canadian mission field in Kando,
Manchuria and spent his early years in close association with missionaries.
His father was once assistant to missionary E.M. Palethorpe and also managed
the Christian Book Room in Yongjong city, Kando under the direction of Canadian
missionaries. Chon's father eventually became a minister himself. Chon believes
that his strong early association with Canadian missionaries became the
determining factor in his immigration to Canada. In 1962 Chon and his family
of four were among the first non-student Korean immigrants to Canada. Entering
Canada on a visitor's visa, Chon set out to establish a new life. His pockets
were filled with names and addresses of former missionaries to Korea.
The aid and welcome offered by these Canadians eased the Toronto settlement
process for Chon and his family. In September 1962, he obtained a work permit
from Canadian immigration authorities. Rev. David Proctor of the Cliffcrest
United Church in Scarborough and son of a former missionary to Korea, accompanied
him for the interview with officials. Two years later Chon's whole family
was granted permanent visas. This was just the beginning. Chon's letters
back to Korea encouraged others to follow his lead. Soon a chain of migration
among Chon's friends and relatives in Seoul developed.
By using the same entrance mechanism and the support available from former
Korea missionaries and their descendants, Chon's friends from Seoul entered
Canada one after another. Chon instructed each would-be immigrant in turn
on how the immigration process worked and to whom one could turn for help.
Ch'ang-wu Kim arrived in 1963; Ch'ang'gun Yun followed in 1964 and Sun-ch'ang
Kim in 1965. Chon later set up "a trade company'' in Toronto and, using
the seal of the company, imported "a huge cargo of human goods and
a little of corduroy textile'' from Korea. Rev. David Proctor and his Cliffcrest
United Church made themselves available as a reliable and efficient stepping-stone
in the settlement process for these ''imported human goods." Wherever
there was need, Rev. Proctor and his church members were ready to help;
they accompanied confused immigrants to immigration offices, social workers'
offices, employment offices and health insurance offices. Once settled and
granted permanent visas, these new immigrants, like Chon, set about opening
the immigration door to their own relatives and friends. Thus they added
new links in the chain of migration.
By 1965 there were approximately seventy Korean immigrants in Canada; the
community was centred in Toronto. The mission sponsored students, students
who became immigrants, mission connected independent immigrants who had
ventured to Canada on visitor's visas and succeeded in settling, and a handful
of other individuals, largely friends and families of the pioneers, constituted
the population of this tiny Korean enclave at the time.
Important though it was, however, the missionary connection was not the
only factor attracting Koreans to Canada. The 1960s saw Canadian immigration
regulations altered from a regional quota system, which had restricted immigration
from Asia, to an individual merit system. The doors were now open for qualified
Koreans to enter Canada on immigrant visas.
In 1966 about one hundred Koreans had settled in the Toronto area, but a
year later the community had more than doubled in size. This group comprised
the single major settlement of Koreans in Canada at the time. (4) Once the
new immigrants succeeded in locating themselves in Toronto, their first
collective move was to organise a church. Until that time, many Koreans
attended Sunday services in Canadian churches. Korean churches served a
dual purpose. They became both a place for worship and the centre of social
and ethnocultural life.
While the early settlers laid plans for their church, a former Canadian
missionary to Korea was actively pursuing plans to bring these new immigrants
into the United Church fold. Rev. W.A. Burbidge harboured "a secret
desire to see their numbers increase and be prosperous in Canada.'' He encouraged
the Board of Home Missions of the United Church of Canada to take an interest
in these Koreans. "The numbers of Koreans coming to this country,"
he explained, "make us think we should take a positive interest in
them.... We should do all we can to steer them to the United Church. It
is we who have spent time and effort on behalf of the Presbyterian Church
in Korea and would hope this will mean something to the folk who come here."
(5)
Koreans in Toronto soon began to gather at the home of former missionary
Mary Grierson where they were led in worship by a Korean student studying
at Emmanuel College. A week after Easter 1967, Rev. David Proctor's Cliffcrest
United Church sponsored a Korea Night for this group, and the first Sunday
in May of the same year Koreans were invited to the Manor Road United Church
for communion and a service in Korean. Rev. E.A. Nichol, a former missionary
to Korea, was minister at this church. (6)
This interaction among the Korean Christians and former missionaries, stimulated
by the support of the Home Missions Board of the United Church of Canada,
led to the organisation of the "Ad Hoc Committee to Consider Ministry
to Korean Christians in Toronto-Hamilton Area" in March 1967. This
committee was made up of three groups: Korean Christians, former Korea missionaries
and representatives from the Home Missions Board. At its first meeting,
Ch'ung-lim Chon and Chae-pong Pak represented the Korean Christians, W.A.
Burbidge, E.A. Nichol and G.F. Bruce attended for the missionaries, and
the Home Missions Board was represented by J.M. Boyd, E.M. Highfield, O.
Howard and A.E. Mackenzie. The planning of this committee resulted in the
formation of the first Korean congregation in the community. Its first Sunday
service was held on April 23, 1967, ministered by W. A. Burbidge at St.
Luke's United Church on Sherbourne Street. Sixty organising members attended.
The congregation, which started as the Toronto Korean Church, was named
the Toronto Korean United Church and became a part of the United Church
of Canada within two months of its inception. Thus began the institutional
life of the Korean Canadian community. A year later, W.A. Burbidge, its
first minister, could report:
The first anniversary of the Toronto Korean United Church
was celebrated on April 21st, with Dr. William Scott as preacher and an
attendance at church worship of 109. The previous evening an anniversary
party was held in St. Luke's church gymnasium with Dr. David Chung [Chong]-
young man who grew up in United Church Mission in Korea and a distinguished
scholar and leader-as speaker and an attendance of 125 persons.... There
is no immigrant group I am sure that has as high an average educational
standing as the Korean immigrants at this time. Recently I had baptisms,
six families were involved. Every one of the fathers and mothers were graduates
of some institution of higher learning above high school. We have doctors
and dentists and Ph.D. in this congregation with scores of B.A. and B.Sc.
Many are pursuing their studies or are planning to do so for higher degrees.
We are dealing here with a very high calibre people -the cream of Korea.
Our United Church of Canada is honoured to have a part in getting them settled
and well settled in Canada. (7)
In recognition and appreciation of the former missionaries' help in their
initial settlement process, in the development of their church and the community
at large, members of the Toronto Korean United Church sponsored a Korea
Missionaries' Night in December 1967. A variety of entertainment was provided
and citations presented. Participating missionaries included: Rev. and Mrs.
W.A. Burbidge, Rev. and Mrs. D.J. Proctor, Rev. Proctor's mother, Rev. and
Mrs. E.A. Nichol, Mrs. Mary Grierson, Rev. and Mrs. William Scott, Mr. and
Mrs. G.F. Bruce, Rev. Elda Daniels Struthers, Miss Ann Davison and Miss
Frances Bonwick. On another occasion in 1979, Mrs. Mary Grierson was cited
by the same church. Affection for the missionaries ran deep. When Rev. W.A.
Burbidge died in Toronto in 1978 and Rev. William Scott in Brantford, Ontario
in 1979, Korean Christians mourned their passing. They had lost their "fathers
in faith."
The Toronto Korean United Church has since emerged as the centre of the
institutional life of the community. It continues both as a community centre
and as a church. It has sponsored an annual public lecture series, Korean
Caravan "Seoul House," and a Korean language school. It established
a Korean-language weekly newspaper, the New Korea Times, which was
in turn taken over by one of its members, Ch'ung-lim Chon. This congregation
also published a monthly cultural and literary journal, Pioneer, produced
a weekly half-hour radio program of religion, news and culture, called "Voice
of Hope" and a television program, "Korean Celebration."
The church's fifty-member choir, directed by Dr. Chae-hun Pak, matured into
the Toronto Korean-Canadian Choir, which has performed in various halls
and auditoriums, including Toronto's Massey Hall in 1982.
Many former and present members of this congregation-pioneers in the community
and with deep links to both former missionaries and the United Church of
Canada-advanced into prominent positions in the intellectual, political,
cultural and social life of the community. As noted, former minister of
the church David Chong, a graduate of Emmanuel College, has been a professor
at Ottawa' s Carleton University since 1969 . The present minister, Sang-ch'ol
Yi, a graduate of Union College of Vancouver, has been a board member of
the Korean Canadian Association of Metropolitan Toronto, editorial member
of the weekly New Korea Times, chairman of the Korean Human Rights Council
of Ontario and vice president of the Korean Christian Scholars Association
in North America. Yi has also distinguished himself in the hierarchy of
the United Church of Canada, where he has served as member of the executive
of the Division of World Outreach, member of the executive of the General
Council and chairman of the Task Force for Minority Ministry. The present
assistant minister, Ik-son Kim, a graduate of Pine Hill Divinity College,
Dalhousie University, is considered the foremost Korean spokesman on matters
of second-generation education. Chae-jun Kim, former president of the United
Church-supported Hankuk Seminary and former moderator of the Presbyterian
Church in the Republic of Korea, with which Canadian missionaries are associated,
has also been a prominent member of the community. He has been the editor
and publisher of the monthly, theThird Day, a Korean religious and
cultural journal. Chae-rin Mun, an Emmanuel College graduate, was the leader
of the Thursday Evening Prayer Meeting, a human rights group, and founder
and first general secretary of the Korean Senior Citizens' Association in
Toronto. Taek-kyun Chon was the president of the Korean Canadian Association
of Metropolitan Toronto and remains a community elder. Ch'ang-yol Kim, formerly
a mission sponsored student at McGill University, founded and has been the
long-time executive director of the Korean YMCA of Toronto. Ch'ung-lim Chon,
who graduated from Yongsaeng Academy in Hamhung, has been the editor and
publisher of the weekly community newspaper, the New Korea Times.
Ha-kyu Pak and Hi-sop Kim, awarded Doctor of Theology degrees by Emmanuel
College and Knox College respectively, were prominent ministers in the United
Church's work in Canada. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these
and many other Korean community leaders, all belonging to the same congregation,
set the structure and tone of Korean communal life in Canada. As of 1982,
a dozen Korean United Church congregations are operating in different regions
of Canada; half of them are located in the Toronto area. Each performs a
similar leadership role in its respective town or city. (8)
In recognition and support of the leadership role of this particular Christian
Korean group, Canadian religious educational institutions, through the intervention
of Korea missionaries and the United Church of Canada, have so far granted
four honorary doctorates in divinity to group members. Granting honorary
degrees is a time-honoured tradition of the United Church of Canada, rewarding
those loyal to the church. It is also a means of keeping its influence alive
in the Korean community. In 1958 Chae-jun Kim was honoured by the Union
Theological College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Chae-rin Mun's and Sang-ch'ol
Yi's degrees were granted by Emmanuel College, Toronto in 1973 and 1979
respectively. All of these men have played a prominent role in the Korean
community in Canada. Kwan-sik Kim, a mission-sponsored student at Knox College
from 1922-24, was also honoured by Emmanuel College in 1947. One cannot
underestimate the importance of these degrees. Within the Korean community
they are not only prized as a sign of recognition by the non-Korean community,
but are coveted for the prestige and influence they invest in the award
holder. In many respects they bestow a greater status than those degrees
earned through study. (9)
An image of Canada as "God's Country" remained a dominant theme
in the minds of the Korean Christians who chose to emigrate to Canada. Through
their experiences with Canadians, especially Canadian missionaries, they
developed a perception of the missionaries' country, Canada, as "God's
Country." Once uprooted and alienated in their own land as refugees
in South Korea, they were prime candidates for emigration. When conditions
allowed, particularly with alterations in the power structure of South Korean
society and changes in Canadian immigration regulations, they were already
prepared to cross the Pacific and become immigrants in Canada.
1. Interview with Tae-yon Whang, Toronto, November 8, 1977.
2. E.J.O. Fraser to A.E. Armstrong, February 18, 1947, Korea Mission Correspondence,
UCC BOM Box 6 File 146, UCCA.
3. D.H. Gallagher to E.J.O. Fraser and William Scott, February 23, 1949,
Korea Mission Correspondence, UCC COM Box 6 File 156, UCCA.
4. "Minutes of the Ad Hoc Committee to Consider Ministry to Korean
Christians in Toronto-Hamilton Area, April 24, 1967," W.A. Burbidge
Papers, Box 3 file 41, UCCA.
5. W.A. Burbidge to J.M. Boyd, January 30, 1967, W.A. Burbidge Papers, Box
2 File 23, UCCA; W.A. Burbidge to A.E. Mackenzie, February 8, 1967, W.A.
Burbidge Papers, Box 3 File 41, UCCA.
6. E.A. Nichol to W.A. Burbidge, February 22, 1967, W.A. Burbidge Papers,
Box 2 File 23, UCCA.
7. W.A. Burbidge, "Report to the Board of Home Missions and Toronto
East Presbytery After One Year of Work Among the Korean People in Toronto,
May 1, 1968," W.A. Burbidge Papers, Box 2 File 23, UCCA.
8. Interview with Sang-ch'ol Yi, Toronto, February 3, 8, 1972; April 7,
13, 1979.
9. A.E. Armstrong to E.J.O. Fraser, April 19, 1947, Korea Mission Correspondence,
UCC BOM Box 6 File 146, UCCA.
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