There are seemingly not enough social impact investment opportunities to quench investor appetite in Canada.

If we remove the opportunities to invest in green energy, and instead analyze opportunities to invest in communities, we see very little by way of investment. Considering this state of the social impact investment landscape, how can investors intent on having an impact, fund opportunities that create lasting social change while generating a fair return?

111-year-old building could be included in a residential or commercial project

Le hasard de la météo a voulu que les Autochtones de Montréal célèbrent leur journée nationale dans une église, comme un pied de nez à cette institution qui les a empêchés pendant si longtemps de vivre leur culture et de l’exprimer.

We face a parallel national challenge: how to “build back better” in the wake of a crippling pandemic that has exposed the myths of a Canadian society free of systemic racism and baked-in social inequality.

Here in the capital of closed churches in Quebec, a pastor has helped turn St Jax into a community centre, a place to explore faith — and a home for a circus.

Is colonialism in the past? The Rev. Graham Singh, priest at St. Jax in Montreal and executive director of the Trinity Centres Foundation—which helps “transform church properties for community impact”—doesn’t seem convinced. In this podcast conversation, Matthew Townsend, editor of the Anglican Journal and Epiphanies, talks with Singh about decolonization, the church and changes that may yoke those subjects together. This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

You cannot buy community resilience with $500 million to a single charity. Community grows organically through an often-awkward network of associations, non-profits, racial groups, religious groups, schools, government, charities and agencies, wrestling for oxygen and light at street level.

Opinion: It's time to hand churches back to communities that need them

We need a totally new model for co-owning these spaces, as equals across race, religion and community perspective.