Canon Jean, mentor for new Canadians
Beloved ‘true pastor’ put immigrants and refugees on the right path in their new land
Canon Jean Archbell was the rector of a Dundas church, but it might be said she was also a rector for new Canadians and refugees.
The Burlington resident, who served at St. James Anglican Church, was well-known for her work with new Canadians and worked on a fundraising campaign in 2015 to help the Anglican Diocese of Niagara sponsor 50 Syrian refugee families.
She also worked on projects that sent aid to people in strifetorn areas of the world.
Canon Jean, who died July 1 at age 62 of cancer, was on hand in November 2016 to welcome a Syrian couple and 11 of their 12 children to St. James on Melville Street.
The family were treated to a home-cooked meal made by two Kurdish-Canadians, who themselves were refugees in the 1990s.
The diocese had been a private sponsor of refugees under a federal program for several decades and the Dundas group had been organizing for two months before the family’s arrival.
Canon Jean told The Spectator the group had “overwhelming support” for its work and had received a $3,000 donation from one person to help. A youngster at the church emptied his piggy bank and gave the money to Archbell for the family.
“Canon Jean was a passionate advocate for the most vulnerable people of our society, particularly refugees and newcomers,” said the Right Rev. Susan Bell, who was elected in March as the new bishop of the Niagara diocese.
“In recent years, she led efforts to welcome several refugee families to Dundas and Hamilton and supported countless other newcomers with care and compassion as they found their way in Canada. We are deeply grieving the death of Canon Jean but at the same time we give thanks to God for her steadfast witness to the Gospel.”
Canon Jean was raised in Burlington and attended the business program at Sheridan College in Oakville between 1978 and 1981. She met her husband, David, at Sheridan.
After a business career, and time out to help raise the couple’s two daughters, Archbell worked at St. Christopher’s in Burlington.
She was drawn to the church and went to Trinity College in Toronto from 1998-2001 to obtain her master of divinity degree. She served as director of pastoral care and in-reach at St. Christopher’s from 1996-2001.
She was ordained a priest and a deacon in 2001 and served as assistant curate and associate priest at St. Christopher’s from 2001-05.
She went to St. Elizabeth’s in Burlington as rector in 2005 and become an honorary canon at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton in 2013. She became rector at St. James in 2014.
Friends and colleagues remember Canon Jean as someone who had a wonderful enthusiasm for her ministry and was a positive, caring and strong leader.
She organized the East Burlington Seniors Lunch in 2014 — contacting every Christian church in southeast Burlington — and was a member of the Lutheran-Anglican-Roman Catholic (LARC) Interchurch committee that organized a 2017 event in Guelph to commemorate 500 years of the Reformation.
She attended the March 2017 session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York City.
“Jean touched the lives of everyone she met in her ministry,” said Rosemary Jackson on the Smith Funeral Home memorial page.
“She was a true pastor to all she met, sharing her gifts or prayer, her spirituality, humour and warm friendship.”
Canon Jean is survived by husband David, two daughters, a granddaughter, a sister, nephews and nieces.