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Canada Christian College

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Canada Christian College

Canada Christian College and School of Graduate Theological Studies, also known as Canada Christian College, is a private, degree-granting evangelical Bible college in Whitby, Ontario, Canada that was founded in 1967. The College is recognized by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities in Ontario to grant fourteen degrees and is listed as a Designated Learning Institute. As of 2025, over 7,500 people have graduated from Canada Christian College.

Canada Christian College traces its origins to Richmond College, which was founded in September 1967 as a Christian liberal arts college by Elmer McVety (1928–1993), Canadian evangelist John Wesley White (1928–2016) who served as chancellor, and his brother, Hugh White, who served as the first dean. The college, which expected to have 100 students in its first year, was originally located on a 7-acre site at Lake Shore Boulevard and Dixie Road leased from the federal government that was formerly a Canadian Army arsenal. Its degree-granting powers were based on a letters patent from Manitoba rather than a provincial charter from Ontario. McVety was "removed from the board" of Richmond College in June 1969 following a dispute but remained chairman of the Association for Education and Evangelism, the organization he founded in Manitoba in 1963 under which the college issued its degrees. (The Association for Education and Evangelism became the Canadian Non-Denominational Association for Education and Evangelism in 1980 and is known today as the Evangelical Association). In 1974, the association launched a theological school named Canada Christian College, with classes being held at space rented from McMaster University in Hamilton until 1980, while Richmond College continued to offer arts programs at its campus at Leslie Street and Steeles Avenue. In 1981, when Richmond College closed, custody of student records was assigned to Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia.

Classroom space was rented from McMaster University in Hamilton from 1974 until 1980. Beginning in 1979, Canada Christian College also rented classroom space in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) building at 252 Bloor Street West, near the University of Toronto campus, as well as classroom and office space in Newtonbrook Plaza at 5799 Yonge Street in Willowdale. In June 1985, Canada Christian College acquired space at 455 Huron Street in Toronto. In 1991, it relocated to a 50,000 square foot facility at 245 Dalesford Road in Etobicoke. In the summer of 1995, the college purchased and moved to a 110,000 square foot campus at 50 Gervais Drive in Don Mills. In 2018, Canada Christian College acquired and renovated a new lakefront campus in Whitby, Ontario with an approximately 200,000 square foot building, 600 feet of lakefront and 12 acres of land with a projected value of $43.8 million.

In 1982, the right of the Canada Christian College to grant degrees was revoked by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. The revocation followed allegations from provincial officials that BA and MA degrees offered by Canada Christian College were "misleading" because they implied a general arts education. They also alleged they were "useless" for further study or teaching jobs in recognized universities and that the religious studies degrees were similarly suspect as the school was not accredited by any recognized religious educational body. At the time, the school had 300 students. According to Elmer McVety, most of the college's courses were prepared by the Christian International University in Phoenix, Arizona, an unaccredited institution whose programs were considered "academically substandard" by the state of Texas.

Elmer McVety died in 1993 and his son, Charles McVety, took over leadership of the college.

After having its Ontario degree granting authority revoked, Canada Christian College was able to continue issuing theological degrees under the authority of its Manitoba letters patent. However, in 1991 an official at the Ministry of Colleges and Universities stated that the Canada Christian College's granting of degrees appeared to contravene the Degree Granting Act of 1983. Minister of Colleges and Universities Richard Allen agreed that the college was not authorized to grant degrees and pledged the college would be made to comply with the law and only grant diplomas and certificates. In 1998, the ministry ordered the school to close. That year, Progressive Conservative MPP Jim Brown introduced a private member's bill which sought to grant the institution degree-granting authority in Ontario; the bill died on the order paper without being voted upon. The next year, in 1999, Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees introduced a successful private member's bill (Bill PR-4) securing degree-granting authority for the college in Ontario.

The college is currently an accredited private degree-granting institution listed by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities and is permitted only to grant degrees "in the field of religious studies and research in higher Christian learning."

The college is recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities to grant fourteen degrees and is listed as a Designated Learning Institute. As of 2025, the college reports that more than 7,500 people have graduated from Canada Christian College.

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