1989 – Dai comes to Canada from China. He finds a welcoming community at Knox, Spadina. Shortly after, he begins a mission outreach to Chinese immigrants in downtown Toronto.
1995 – He studies at Knox College, graduating in 1998, and is ordained the same year.
1998 – Dai returns to China as a missionary with the Amity Foundation, supported by the PCC. Returns to Canada in 2003.
May 2005 – Dai submits a petition to East Toronto Presbytery to have his Mandarin ministry established as a congregation. Presbytery endorses the proposal in principle, but asks Dai to work further on the budget.
May 2005 – Dai submits a formal complaint to presbytery, claiming racial discrimination regarding his Mandarin ministry, and against him personally. Dai told the Record he submitted all the information that was required of him. Presbytery sends Dai’s letter to synod.
Oct. 2005 – Synod appoints a special commission to investigate the complaint. Rev. Daniel Cho is convener.
Sept. 2006 – Synod commission finds Dai’s claims to be without merit.
Jan. 2007 – Dai submits a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), citing racial discrimination by the church as a whole, and by some individuals. Concurrently, according to Rev. Tim Purvis, he begins flooding presbytery with accusatory emails numbering at least 1,000, and copies them to secular media and international Christian organizations. His presence at presbytery becomes more and more disruptive.
Sept. 2008 – Frustrated by Dai’s disruptive behaviour and disregard for the church’s procedures, Purvis files a complaint against Dai with the presbytery.
Presbytery sends the complaint to synod. Synod appoints a special commission to investigate, headed by Rev. Sean Foster.
June 2009 – HRTO issues an interim decision reminding Dai of his 21-day deadline for filing a complete application, and ordering Dai to immediately stop copying his emails to the tribunal.
July 2009 – Dai fails to appear for the synod trial. A second date is scheduled for August. The trial proceeds.
Sept. 2009 – The synod commission finds Dai guilty on all three charges; Dai is deposed as minister and suspended from membership of any PCC congregation for five years.
Oct. 2009 – Dai appeals the synod decision to General Assembly.
April 2010 – HRTO issues an interim decision dismissing all of Dai’s allegations regarding discrimination related to the Mandarin ministry proposal.
June 2010 – General Assembly orders a special commission, convened by Rev. Wally Hong, to investigate Dai’s appeal.
Dec. 7, 2010 – HRTO dismisses all remaining allegations.
Dec. 15, 2010 – GA commission denies Dai’s appeal, and calls for excommunication.
Dec. 2010 – Dai emails church staff, and others, noting his gratitude to the church for its efforts, yet calling for it to “acknowledge the racial exclusion of mainland Chinese and to challenge the racism directly and publicly in its final judgment.” He also submits an application to have his Shenzou ministry received as a congregation of the PCC. – AM
