BRANTFORD, Ont. — How do you repair a disaster 142 years in the making? For Mennonite Disaster Service Canada and Mennonite Central Committee, it will happen one desk, one table and one bench at a time.
Fifty-seven years ago, a young Mennonite author published a book that turned the Canadian Mennonite world upside down.
More than 12,500 refugees have been resettled in Canada by Mennonite Central Committee since it negotiated a historic agreement with the government on March 5, 1979. The agreement established the framework for private agencies to sponsor more than 327,000 refugees for resettlement to Canada in the past 40 years.
Many Low German-speaking Mennonites have had little access to the outside world, but times are changing, and a new network wants to capitalize while it can.