Canada

Christian rock band Downhere has snagged their third Canadian Grammy for their album Ending Is Beginning.

"We're extremely honored to have won our third Juno award,” said co-lead singer and guitarist Jason Germain last week following the band’s win at the Juno Gala Dinner & Awards.

“It is so special to us to win such a prestigious award in our home country, and we hope this record is able to reach even more people because of it,” he exclaimed. more >>

Religious individuals have a significantly lower chance of committing suicide, according to the results of a recent study in Canada.

Individuals identifying themselves simply as “spiritual” but not religious, however, are not much less likely to commit suicide than anyone else.

Conducted using data drawn from the Canadian Community Health Survey on almost 37,000 Canadians across the country, the latest study by a team of psychiatric researchers based at the University of Manitoba was the first to use national data to look at the relationship between spirituality, religious worship and suicidal behavior in the general population and people with a history of a mental disorder. more >>

TORONTO – With the U.S. dollar surging against Canadian currency, a vacation north of the border is suddenly affordable again. The U.S. dollar was worth $1.23 Canadian in late November, a comeback from a one-to-one exchange rate last year.

In addition to being a good deal, Americans headed to Toronto may also find Canada's largest city refreshingly hip, diverse and utterly cosmopolitan.

Here are some tips to help you explore the city known as "Tronno" or "T-dot" while saving those loonies (the colloquial term for Canada's $1 coin). more >>

Parishioners at an Anglican church in Canada voted unanimously on Sunday to join a conservative network and essentially leave a denomination they feel is abandoning traditional Anglicanism.

By a 109 to 0 vote, St. Aidan's in Windsor, Ontario, has realigned with the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) – a breakaway body of now 19 parishes that is under the jurisdiction of the conservative South American Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, one of 38 Provinces that make up the global Anglican Communion.

"We are delighted to welcome the people of St. Aidan’s into a faithfully Anglican and unabashedly Christian organization," said the Venerable Charlie Masters, Executive Archdeacon of the ANiC. "They join a growing movement of North American Anglicans seeking to remain in full communion with the global Anglican Church." more >>

Christian rock band Starfield is on the second leg of their Canada “I Will Go” tour after making a number of appearances in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The four-member group, which originated from Canada, will be visiting 12 Canadian cities this month alongside evangelist Will Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

According to Starfield guitarist/vocalist Jon Neufeld, the first two shows in Canada – in Belleville and Barrie – were both “great.” more >>

NEW YORK – Praise and criticism have followed the Church in China’s Bible Ministry Exhibition from its first opening in Los Angeles to the last leg of its U.S. tour in New York.

As persecution watchdogs and some Chinese-American Christian leaders are quick to point out well-documented religious and human rights violations in China, others, including the Exhibit’s most honorary chairman and advisory committee members, are taking a more moderate approach, praising the Exhibit as well as pointing out the issues in China that require improvement.

The Exhibit was received warmly by some as a rare opportunity to understand and see the growth and expansion of Christianity and the Bible ministry in China. Among the long list of prominent American Christian leaders supporting the Exhibit are the Rev. Billy Graham, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, and Crystal Cathedral’s founder and former senior pastor Dr. Robert H. Schuller. more >>