Organizers Campaign for Christian Heritage Month After Facing Resistance Securing Venue for Music Festival

Molly Banerjei, alongside her husband, Jay, speaks during a Christian Heritage Month celebration at Toronto City Hall on Nov. 26, 2024. Miguel Escobar/ClixterCanada

Organizers of a Christian music festival say they faced so much resistance trying to secure a Toronto venue that they launched a campaign to promote Christian Heritage Month in cities across the country.

More than 30 municipalities have declared December Christian Heritage Month, and organizers are now appealing to federal and provincial governments to do the same.

Molly Banerjei, a Toronto realtor and co-founder and CEO of the annual Christian Music Festival spearheaded the national campaign after running into more obstacles than usual trying to secure a date and time for the event.

While some “hassle” is typical, she said there were more objections than ever this year.

“They hardly ever give us any help or support, and instead they always try to cause issues for us every year. But this year it became a real problem, almost to the point that they were about to cancel us,” Banerjei told The Epoch Times.

On Nov. 14, Toronto City Council voted 11-4 to officially declare December as Christian Heritage Month. So far, 33 municipalities have made the declaration, including 27 in Ontario, two in B.C., three in Alberta, and three in Saskatchewan. The list includes some major cities such as Ottawa, Mississauga, Brantford, Saskatoon, and Regina.

According to the Christian Heritage Month website, the mission of the campaign is “to acknowledge the significant impact of Christian communities on Canadian history, values of compassion, service, and unity, and the cultural fabric of the nation.”

The site includes a petition to establish Christian Heritage Month in Canada. Banerjei said more than 10,000 of the goal of 20,000 signatures have already been received.

She says she begins most appeals to municipalities with a letter. If she is met with resistance, she seeks out a city councillor to help forward the idea.

“We make a delegation. We just go there and speak to the council and make a petition and say to them, ‘This is why this is good for the city. Now you tell us why you think it’s not and why it should not happen.’”

The most common objections, Banerjei says, are that Christianity is a “white man’s religion” and its part in residential schools.

“You can’t put the entire faith on trial just over that,” she says. “Christianity goes on 2,000 years, and look at me, I’m not white. This faith is followed by people from every ethnicity.”

Banerjei says Canada’s Christian values and heritage are responsible for many of the positive aspects of society that continue to draw people.

“We must love one another, serve one another, and Christians are involved always in doing good anywhere and everywhere. And we’re peace-loving people. We don’t hate anyone because we are taught even to love our own enemies. These are good teachings that have to be celebrated,” she said.

Support

After months of correspondence and persistence in an effort to find a venue for the music festival, which she co-organizes with her husband Jay, Banerjei finally managed to secure a good date at her requested location. Large crowds attended the eighth annual Christian Music Festival at Nathan Phillips Square on June 15.

Banerjei said politicians from different parties at the federal and provincial level visited the festival and liked her idea of a national designation for Christian Heritage Month. A Conservative petition soon followed to support the declaration.

In December 2023, Marilyn Gladu, Conservative MP for Sarnia-Lambton, tabled Bill C-369, An Act respecting Christian Heritage Month, to try to get a federal declaration.

“We have Sikh Heritage Month, Hindu Heritage Month, Muslim history month, Jewish Heritage Month and so many more. It is only fair and right that we have a Christian Heritage Month, since there are 19.6 million Christians in Canada according to the last census,” she told the House of Commons.

The bill has made no progress thus far, but Banerjei has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to request his support.

“In my email, I said to him my request is very simple, but it’s very profound, and I want you to know I’m not prepared to take no for an answer, and we’re going to take it all the way,” she said.

In the meantime, Banerjei is also approaching provincial governments, including Alberta’s, to declare December Christian Heritage Month.

“The premier of Saskatchewan … [is] looking at our petition. Ontario is very favourable,” Banerjei said.