Breakaway believers warn PC party of 'Dominionist' religious movement

It looks like a bit of visual fun, a knowing wink to Canadian history.

In 2019, members of the Canadian Prophetic Council were meeting in Charlottetown and decided to pose for a photo in front of the lieutenant-governor's residence.

They were recreating an iconic image in the country's history.

In 1864, the Fathers of Confederation were photographed in the same location, in the same poses, during a break in their deliberations on the creation of Canada.

Among those in the 2019 photo was Faytene Grasseschi, a leading figure in the Christian conservative movement based in New Brunswick since 2020.

Sitting in the Sir John A. Macdonald position was Tatyana Russell-Chipp, a musician and missionary at Grasseschi's church in Quispamsis.

The new photo was more than a cheeky homage, said Russell-Chipp, and was meant as "a prophetic act."

"Like, 'we're going to be who you were, in a new time, in order to be God's hands and feet for Canada, to reestablish the Dominion of Canada as something that honours God,'" Russell-Chipp said in an interview.

The Fathers of Confederation called the new nation the "Dominion of Canada," inspired by Psalm 72:8 — "He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth."

For some believers, that choice of words was a sign from God, according to former followers.

"It's prophetic to them," said Brent Harris, a Saint John city councillor who worked as a minister for churches affiliated with Grasseschi's church in Quispamsis.

"Using that word was the Lord coming in to put his fingerprint on the nation, and when the resurrection happens, you know this will be the nation of Canada rising to its proper place in the kingdom," Harris said. 

To pave the way for that, adherents believe that "true believers must be elected," said Marci McDonald, the author of a 2010 book on the Christian conservative movement.

Grasseschi now leads the Canadian Prophetic Council, which lists "belief in the supremacy of the Word of God" as its first core value.