This Ontario church run by controversial ‘prophet’ faces 50 bylaw charges

A church north of Toronto whose leader has been accused by some former congregants of sexual or financial misconduct is facing dozens of municipal bylaw charges, including charges of operating illegally on protected Greenbelt land.

Even as Miracle Arena For All Nations church has battled Vaughan, Ont., officials over its presence on protected land, it has received promises to work for a Greenbelt zoning “exception” from a provincial cabinet minister who has frequently visited the church.

In total, City of Vaughan officials have laid 50 bylaw charges against Miracle Arena — owned and run by self-proclaimed “prophet” Martin Kofi Danso —  and three current or former associates, the Investigative Journalism Bureau has found. Danso himself is not charged. The bylaw issues range from alleged zoning infractions to property standards and animal welfare charges.

Danso was the subject of an IJB investigation earlier this year into allegations of sexual and financial impropriety. He has never been criminally charged and has denied all the allegations.

The dispute over zoning for the land his church is built on goes back to 2020.

Danso said in a written statement that a church was allowed on the land based on a February 2020 zoning certificate he provided to IJB reporters. The document says a church is “permitted by the relevant zoning requirements.” But it cautions that site plan approval may be required and that the property may be designated as “protected countryside” under the Greenbelt Plan, which was established in 2005 and prohibits commercial development or expansion on protected lands.

The certificate also notes that “a building permit is required” before any construction or major alterations to the property.

Through his lawyer, Danso also said that the church is operating legally on the basis of a Sept. 19, 1988, City of Vaughan bylaw that zoned its location, 10800 Weston Rd., as agricultural, which also permitted a church and a dwelling on the property.

Vaughan city officials, however, told the IJB the “provincial Greenbelt Plan supersedes the city’s zoning by-law and does not allow for a place of worship on that property.”

Miracle Arena was “not lawfully established on this property…. It did not have planning approvals or building permits,” reads the City of Vaughan statement. Danso’s zoning certificate is only valid for six months and expired before the church was constructed in late 2020, the city statement says.

After the church was founded, then expanded, on Greenbelt land starting in 2020, Danso received support from Vaughan-Woodbridge MPP Michael Tibollo, now the province’s associate attorney general.

In June 2022, Tibollo addressed Miracle Arena congregants during his second visit in two months, pledging to assist the church in changing the Greenbelt zoning.

“One of the things we have always said is we will not touch the Greenbelt, but I think there are sometimes exceptions.… I will help and I made that commitment,” he said.

Tibollo has had public interactions with Danso at least 11 times between 2022 and 2025. He also introduced Danso on at least two occasions to Ontario Premier Doug Ford — by phone and at Tibollo’s own community summer barbecue — and encouraged other government ministers, including current Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce, to visit Miracle Arena. Scarborough Centre MPP David Smith is also among the politicians who have visited the church.

Tibollo did not respond to repeated requests for comment regarding his commitment to help change the zoning at 10800 Weston Rd. or his relationship with Danso. Ford, Lecce and Smith also did not respond to requests for comment.

The bylaw charges against Miracle Arena are to be heard in court in November and December. According to information published on the City of Vaughan’s property bylaws page, complaints and violations require “significant” investigation before a fine or penalty is issued. Charges are laid as a “last resort.”

Ontario’s Greenbelt is a protected swath of farmland, forests and wetlands spanning two-million acres across southern Ontario.

Danso and his wife, JoAnne, purchased the 12-acre plot of land where their church now sits in May 2020 for $5.6 million. The real estate listing at the time shows the property was zoned as “Greenbelt,” “agricultural” and “heritage.”

At the time, satellite images show a house and large shed on the property surrounded by dirt roads and fields littered with trucking, shipping and construction equipment. Those structures pre-date the property’s 2005 Greenbelt designation.

Once the Dansos took possession, the property began a transformation.

In videos Danso posted at the time of purchase, he described his desire to develop the land into a community with a large church and amenities such as a shopping mall, condos, a school and livestock.

In 2022, Premier Ford opened parts of the Greenbelt to housing and development, but not the parcel of land where Miracle Arena sits. Ford reversed the decision to open the Greenbelt in 2023 after investigations by Ontario’s Auditor General and Integrity Commissioner found the process favoured politically connected developers.

In May 2022, MPP Tibollo attended Miracle Arena ahead of the provincial election. Speaking to the congregation, he called Danso “an incredible leader” while detailing his own track record in the private and public sector.

A month later, Tibollo returned following his reelection and publicly thanked Danso and his congregants for their support before making his commitment to assist the church with the Greenbelt zoning issue.

Miracle Arena’s challenges reach beyond alleged breaches of Greenbelt zoning restrictions.

In an address to regional council for York Region in September 2023, Danso raised safety concerns about the sanitary conditions of the property, notably the strain on its septic tank, at a time when the church was providing shelter to African refugees.

Despite the zoning issues, Danso asked the city to help connect the building to the municipal sewage system to relieve the pressure on the septic tank.

Fitz-Roy Gordon, a current candidate for York regional council in the Oct. 26 municipal election, was working with refugees at Miracle Arena at this time through advocacy organization ANCHOR, founded by him and his wife, Shernett Martin.

In an interview, Gordon and Martin said “hundreds of people” shared one shower at Miracle Arena and just a few toilets. Soon the septic tank was backing up and sewage was spilling over the ground.

“It was awful. It was smelling — it was unsanitary,” Gordon recalls. “I know that the region and the city wanted them (the refugees) off that land.”

In the September 2023 address to city council, Danso said, “We were told that we need a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) to address some of the issues on the property.”

Vaughan City records show the church told the city it was in the process of getting an MZO. But Michael Minzak, press secretary for Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack, told the IJB that “no (Minister’s Zoning Order) was ever issued or contemplated.”

Speaking again before York Region councillors in January 2024, Danso characterized city orders to stop Miracle Arena’s religious services and remove structures on the church property used to house asylum seekers as “discrimination” and accused public officials of abusing their authority.

“As a clergyman, nobody has the power to stop me from exercising my spiritual duties, especially on this land,” Danso said, drawing cheers from church supporters in the council chamber.

As the IJB previously reported, several members of the church are facing criminal charges of fraud, laundering and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence related to funding of refugee housing on the property.

That matter remains before the courts. Danso has not been charged. In a press release published at the time, Miracle Arena said “the alleged conduct was undertaken independently and without the knowledge, authorization, or involvement of the Church.”

The 50 alleged regulatory bylaw infractions the church now faces date back to 2023.

Sixteen of the charges against Miracle Arena and three of its senior associates are zoning bylaw infractions; eight have to do with property standards; four are alleged site alternation bylaw infractions; while 22 charges relate to animal welfare, including that the church allegedly failed to provide food, failed to provide care and failed to keep an animal pen in sanitary conditions.

In interviews, former Miracle Arena parishioners told the IJB that the animals kept on the property — mainly alpacas, a horse and donkeys — were rehoused elsewhere after at least one animal died.

Danso did not respond to questions about allegations of animal harm or where animals were sent.

“The current land use at the property is now before the court. It would be inappropriate to comment any further on that,” reads a statement from Danso’s lawyer, Aaron Crangle.

“(Miracle Arena) has spent a considerable amount of time and money to get the property into compliance with any concerns or orders.”

The property disputes add to a controversy already surrounding Miracle Arena. A recent IJB investigation documented years of troubling allegations involving Danso and the church, ranging from allegations of sexual misconduct to alleged financial exploitation.

Several former parishioners told the IJB about alleged “grooming” behaviours by Danso. Some alleged Danso had non-consensual sexual encounters with them, including one woman who says she was a minor at the time.

Danso has never been criminally charged and previously told the IJB he denied all allegations of sexual or financial impropriety.

The church has continued to draw hundreds of parishioners to services. And as the church’s physical footprint has expanded on the Greenbelt, so too has its leader’s push for political influence.

“We need to help to do evangelism to take over the city,” said Danso in a September 2026 sermon in which he encouraged his flock to volunteer and knock on doors for certain municipal candidates. “We have to do everything we can to make sure we are taking over for the glory of God.”

“The Lord does not give a city to people by prayer,” he said in the September sermon. “Let’s do whatever we can to make it happen.… We must take it by force.”

In response to IJB questions, Danso’s written statement says “there is nothing wrong with MAFAN (Miracle Arena For All Nations) supporting politicians that have demonstrated support for the work that it has done.”

Among the candidates he has recommended to his congregants is Vaughan mayoral candidate Shelly Cerrelli, the sole opponent to incumbent mayor Steven Del Duca, who has clashed with Danso over his plans for long-term refugee housing on the Greenbelt property. Cerrelli’s campaign told reporters she has no connection to the church beyond visits made as part of her campaign outreach to faith communities across the region.

Her campaign listed several faith communities she has interacted with during the campaign and said she has not promised Danso or any religious leader or organization “favourable treatment” or “municipal approvals” in exchange for prayer, encouragement or support for her candidacy.

The IJB has identified at least three candidates receiving Danso’s support who have clear ties to the church. Robert Bazil, a candidate for Toronto City Council, and Andrea Francis Bucknor, a candidate for Peel Public School Board trustee, have both publicly identified themselves as members of Miracle Arena. Neither responded to requests for comment.

Another Miracle Arena-affiliated candidate is Matthew Boateng, one of Danso’s longtime supporters and a church minister. He is also running for Toronto Council.

He is listed as a board member for the church in charity documents and named as a defendant, along with Miracle Arena and two others, in the pending bylaw charges.

On his campaign website, Boateng cites his experience as “volunteer and ministry service with Miracle Arena for All Nations” and being a church “shelter supervisor.”

During a campaign launch speech in September, Boateng credited Danso and JoAnne Danso for being the people “that gave me this push to do this.”

IJB reporters sought comment from Boateng about the bylaw charges, his relationship with Danso and his campaign.

Boateng did not directly respond to most of the IJB’s questions, instead saying the inquiries were “harassment, voter intimidation and blatant election interference.”

The IJB also asked Boateng if Danso, Miracle Arena or other high-ranking political figures had donated money to his campaign.

Boateng denied receiving “the financial contributions in question,” but added, “according to the City of Toronto, any resident of Ontario who is a resident, can contribute to a municipal campaign.”

The Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health is a collaborative investigative newsroom supported by Postmedia that partners with academics, researchers and journalists while training the next generation of investigative reporters.

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