A few kilometres from the parish where Apgar-Taylor now works, another American oversees Sunday mass: Rev. Joshua Lawrence at First-St. Andrew's United Church, also in London.

The civil rights activist from Texas moved to the southwestern Ontario city with his wife, Amariee Collins — who is of African American descent — and their young son four years ago. They made the move to escape what the pastor sees as an increase in racism and intolerance since the rise of the Trump-popularized Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

"There have been acts of violence," Lawrence said. "Black churches have been burned in the South. The issues of slavery, the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan ... white terrorism. All of these things have begun to resurface in other forms."