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About Us
History
- Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) was historically the "Mission Office" of the Jesuits in English Canada.
- In 1946, following the tradition and vocation of the Society of Jesus, the Upper Canada Province accepted the invitation to send Jesuits to the Darjeeling region in North East India.
- In 1947 the Province established the Darjeeling Mission Service in order to assist and support this mission.
- In 1955 it was incorporated as the Canadian Jesuit Foreign Mission with a fourfold mission:
- to promote and foster interest in and furnish assistance to foreign mission
- to do education and consciousness raising (through meetings, lectures, etc.
- to publish information and educational material
- to receive gifts.
- In 1979, the name of the corporation was officially changed to The Canadian Jesuit Missions, in order to include the missions to the aboriginal populations of Northern Ontario.
- In 1995, while the official name remained the same, the office began to be known as Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) and this is the name it uses today. This was motivated by a wish to reflect changes in the understanding of mission and international work.
- Over the years the Upper Canada Province has supported the work of missionaries in Northern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Armenia, in Zambia and Uganda; and more recently in Jamaica, in Nairobi with an Africa wide initiative and in Ukraine.
- The support has been given mostly, but not exclusively, through Canadian missionaries working in these countries. In some cases, the work in provinces where there was no presence of a Canadian Jesuit, has also been supported.
- We have supported work in the following areas: pastoral work, education, agriculture, income generating projects, work with youth, training, cooperatives, humanitarian assistance.
- In January 2004, Jenny Cafiso, a lay woman, was named the new director of CJI by the Provincial.
- On January 24, 2004 a new Board of Trustees of CJI met for the first time with a mandate given by the Provincial to implement the mandate of CJI. It is currently composed of 4 Jesuits and 4 lay people.
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