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CANADIAN LANDSCAPES/ PAYSAGES CANADIENS
of the churches involved in the tournament follows: Haninjangno Church,
Dong Bu Church, Bethel Church, United Church, Young Nak Church. Jung
was the captain ofthe winning team, which made him feel proud and success¬
ful unlike his current life.
CONCLUSION
As the above analysis has revealed, literary works written by members of the
Korean diaspora in Canada contain several references to the Church. For Jean
Yoons Halmonee, it represents close ties with the home culture. For Mary/
Yu-Rhee of Ann Y. K. Choi, it is the embodiment of host culture education, for
her brother, Josh it is an opportunity to network, to reach out to the host cul¬
ture and to escape from the chores the family-run convenience store entails.
For Christina Park’s Nara, the missionary school is a safe haven from the
cruelty of the Japanese colonizers, the church community in Pusan offers her
protection, temporary shelter and fellowship in the years following WWII,
whereas First Presbyterian in Vancouver provides her with a sense of belong¬
ing in a strange new land, and reconnects her with her ethnic roots. Even for
a skeptic like Nara’s older daughter, Sun-hi, this connection is palpable. In the
play Kim’s Convenience, Ins Choi calls the Church the mother of the Korean
Canadian community, also emphasizing its importance. Through references
to activities such as the family singing contest or the inter-church soccer
tournament, the community forming effect of the Church is foregrounded.
Other important aspects mentioned are its business potentials and humani¬
tarian endeavours, some prominent examples which include Mr. Shin’s Honda
sales, moving downtown churches out to the suburbs in order to sell the plot
to developers, and using the money thus gained to finance North Korean mis¬
sion work. In sum, the roles the Church plays in the analyzed works are diverse
and mostly positive, especially in the case of the parents’ and grandparents’
generation. One commonly shared feature is the strong sense of belonging
diasporic Church members experience.
WORKS CITED
Choi, Ann Y. K. Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety. Simon and Schuster Canada, 2016.
Choi, Ins. Kim’s Convenience. Anansi, 2011.
Choi, Hyaeweol. “The Sacred and the Secular: Protestant Christianity as Lived Experience
in Modern Korea: An Introduction.” Journal of Korean Studies, vol. 25, no. 2, 2020, pp.
279-89.
Couto, Joe. “Ethnic Korean Churches Thrive in Canada.” 2003, https://www.christianity.
ca/page.aspx?pid=11357
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