How churches are supporting LGBTQ+ asylum seekers

One Sunday in October 2023, six Nigerians walked into Hillhurst United in Calgary in search of a place to worship. The group had been in Canada for a few weeks, during which time they’d received devastating news from home. A neighbour in Nigeria contacted Tunde (name changed for safety reasons) to warn the group to stay in Canada because they’d been outed as queer. The group was still hoping to return home when local authorities and anti-LGBTQ+ gangs attacked their families. Several family members were badly beaten, and some of their businesses were burned down. “We were declared wanted; they attacked my wife and brother,” says Tunde, whose family is still in hiding.

That Sunday, the group was hesitant about going to church. Same-sex relationships are illegal in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries, including Nigeria, and queer people face gender-based violence and persecution. Tunde recalls seeing people stoned to death after being outed in church in Nigeria.

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“It took me three weeks to make up my mind, because of the trauma we went through back home,” says Tunde. But after seeing the rainbow flag outside Hillhurst United and reading that the congregation is committed to inclusion and justice for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, they decided to take a leap of faith.

Hillhurst member Pierann Moon spotted the group at the back of the church that Sunday, and approached. At the time, she was involved in church social justice work for refugees. Hearing the group’s story moved Moon to start the asylum seekers support group (ASSG) at Hillhurst with the Nigerians as its first members. “They felt that none of them would survive if they went back home,” she says. “At best, they would have been in jail for 14 years, but more likely would have died.”

Churches across Canada are increasingly finding refugees at their doorsteps.As an affirming denomination, the United Church is becoming a destination for African LGBTQ+ asylum seekers fleeing persecution in their home countries. While working with refugees often begins with basics like food and shelter, newcomers also need strong advocates who can help them confront systemic barriers and navigate Canada’s asylum system — which has become more complex with the recent passage of Bill C-12 (the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act). The work for churches is time consuming, emotional, expensive and complicated. But for the congregations that have heeded the call, the greatest takeaway is how deeply they have been enriched by the experience.

The six Nigerians claimed asylum in Canada, and ASSG assisted them throughout the process. Canada’s refugee protection claim process is marked by long wait times for in-person hearings and strict evidentiary requirements. The Nigerians provided video recordings, newspaper clippings and police reports to prove the threat to their lives if they returned home. After two years, all six had their asylum claims accepted. They are now living in Calgary and have become members of Hillhurst. “They took me in like a brother; we are treated like family,” says Tunde.

Today, a six-person committee of Hillhurst United members leads the ASSG. To manage newcomers’ needs, Moon developed ASSG’s four-tier support system.

The first tier helps newcomers find a good immigration lawyer. According to Moon, scammers at airports approach asylum seekers speaking African languages, then take their money with the false promise of getting them a lawyer.

The second tier is practical resources: how to find food banks, safe accommodations, low-income transit passes and winter clothing. One man who came to ASSG at Hillhurst had suffered a brain injury in his home country from a beating due to his sexual identity. It caused him trouble reading and processing information, so ASSG members helped him fill out forms.

The third and fourth tiers of support are social gatherings and ongoing peer support through online group chats. At after-church gatherings, asylum seekers share their food and music. “People say that this really helps maintain their mental health, and it’s also good for us [Canadians],” says Moon. “People loosen up, and we’re more colourful and discover our rhythm in our feet.”

As news spread about Hillhurst and the ASSG, the number of asylum seekers in the group has grown from the original six to 215.

ONTARIO HAS THE HIGHEST number of asylum claimants in Canada, and some congregations there are stepping up to provide support. In Hamilton, New Vision United has been an affirming congregation for over a decade. As more LGBTQ+ migrants from East and West Africa joined the congregation, the church adapted to welcome them.

Dixon Challoner, past chair of New Vision’s church council, says many African members have described the initial months after their arrival as isolating because they had no one with whom they could connect or who could empathize with their experience. So, in addition to assisting with practical supports such as food and shelter, New Vision prioritizes social connection and emotional support for LGBTQ+ newcomers.

“It’s about creating spaces that are for people’s identities, when people’s identities have been so shamed and so silenced,” explains Challoner. For the past two years, New Vision has funded a newcomers’ booth at Hamilton Pride and has organized a group trip to the much larger Toronto Pride. “Pride can be a very white space, with some exceptions,” he says. “So collectively, we thought there needs to be a kind of claiming space in an affirming place like Pride.”

Furthermore, each week the congregation sings “Know That God Is Good,” a short hymn translated in five African languages, and they pray for those awaiting hearings and legal decisions. “It’s about not being alone,” says Challoner. “There’s a community of faith that is actively praying with you and for you in this period of time.”

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In nearby Toronto, in summer 2023, a surge of hundreds of people arrived from African countries claiming asylum at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The newcomers were turned away from the city’s already strained shelters and left to camp out in front of shelters and churches, without the most basic resources, while the different levels of government pointed fingers at each other.

East End United was among the churches that stepped up to help. Led by Rev. Bri-anne Swan, the Toronto congregation took in 30 people for two months, providing them with meals, showers and shelter.

While the crisis of summer 2023 galvanized many faith communities — especially Black-led churches — it also revealed an uglier truth for Swan. “If the folks who were arriving and claiming asylum at Pearson International Airport in 2023 had not been from African countries, if they had not been Black, I am certain that the various levels of government would have figured out what to do immediately,” she says.

Many critics are seeing both racism and systemic discrimination in the new Bill C-12, which imposes strict timelines on filing claims, limits access to in-person hearings and restricts asylum claims after a year of being in Canada.

Jennifer Hompoth, council chair at Hamilton’s New Vision United and member of The United Church of Canada’s migrant network, says the network’s concerns over Bill C-12 include unjust screening time for ongoing claimants and potential deportation. She cites instances where claimants work multiple jobs in Canada for years alongside getting their degrees, and days before graduating or getting their permanent residency, their claims fall through and they are hit with a deportation order.

“Bills such as C-12 actually duplicate and harmonize with the United States’ Trump border policies,” says Hompoth, referring to measures that limit asylum eligibility and shift responsibility away from federal systems, pushing claimants to seek protection elsewhere.

The increasingly restrictive immigration and border policies seem to be emboldening white-supremacist and hate groups in this country. In February this year, National-13, a Canadian-based neo-Nazi group, held a demonstration outside Hamilton’s city hall — a three-minute walk from New Vision United and its prominent Pride flag.

Challoner says society doesn’t realize how harmful restrictive policies and stigma are to asylum seekers, or how earnestly they just want to live in safety and peace. “I don’t think they realize the level of resourcefulness, courage and determination it takes for people to get from the Global South into Canada, specifically from Africa.”

Moon, Challoner and Hompoth hope more communities of faith will open their arms to asylum seekers, listen to their stories and welcome the diversity. These faith leaders say the arrival of newcomers has not only strengthened community bonds but also brought new perspectives that have deepened relationships and grown empathy within their congregations.

Tunde and the other five Nigerians at Hillhurst continue to check in with their families back home, with hopes of one day being reunited. Despite the loss and trauma, Tunde is grateful that he has found a life in Canada full of acceptance. “Being introduced to so many people, being welcomed in the house of the Lord and hugging a white man — I am still surprised,” he says. “I do not take it for granted.”

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Prarthana Pathak is a journalist in Brampton, Ont., and reports on the Peel region for The Local.

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