Dorian Baxter

His Grace Dorian Baxter
Christ the King Graceland Independent Anglican Church of Canada
Installed	2003
Successor	incumbent
Orders
Ordination	15 May 1983
Consecration	9 March 2003
Personal details
Born	Dorian Baxter (1950-04-03) 3 April 1950 Mombasa Island, Kenya
Nationality	Canadian
Children	Rachel, Malaika
Alma mater	York University and the University of Toronto

Dorian Baxter (born 3 April 1950 in Mombasa Island, Kenya) is an Anglican minister in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada who uses the music of Elvis Presley in his services, using the name The Reverend Elvis Priestly.

Background

Baxter was baptized and confirmed by the first Black Bishop of Mombasa in Mombasa Cathedral. His father Arthur Baxter was a Major in the British Army and his mother Ena Baxter was a Corporal. From 1962-1967, he competed in the Amateur Boxer in Kenya National Championships, but failed to medal. In 1966, he became the Kenya National Backstroke Champion. Baxter came to Canada, landing on 28 March 1968, moving to Toronto.

Education and Ministry

He obtained his B.A. from York University in Humanities and his Master's Degree in Divinity from the University of Toronto. He has been an educator for 33 years commencing his career as a classroom teacher with the York County Board of Education in 1970. In 1972, he was invited by the Headmaster of St. George's College, Jack Wright, to join the staff. Baxter taught grades 4 through to 10, coached the school swim teams, and ran the Independent Schools Athletic Association (Swimming) in Ontario.

In 1980 Mr. Baxter resigned after a quarrel with the headmaster, Mr. Allen. Allen attempted to fire Baxter before the end of the school year. Over 400 parents protested and Baxter was immediately reinstated and an apology letter was written to him by Mr. Allen.

At the end of the school year, he resigned and entered Wycliffe College of the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto. He was ordained in St. James Cathedral on 15 May 1983 after serving as Head of Divinity, elected by the student body at the College. He served as a priest with the Anglican Church of Canada at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Thunder Bay, Ontario and as Priest-in-charge of the Anglican Church of the Holy Spirit in Manitouwadge, Ontario. He then was an associate professor at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

In 1996 Baxter began incorporating the music and look of Elvis Presley into his services. That year, he won the Canadian Showstopper at the Collingwood Elvis Festival. In 1997 he won the Grand Champion of Showstoppers at that same festival. After that year, festival founder Billy Cann was ousted and control given to the town's business groups, a decision which Baxter objected to before Collingwood Town Council. Baxter joined Cann to establish a competing Elvis festival in Orillia and has since refused to return to the Collingwood festival.

In 1998, Bishop Ronald Ferris of the Diocese of Algoma removed Baxter from his parish and revoked his license to perform Anglican weddings because of his use of Elvis in Anglican services, saying it was "in poor taste." In 2002, the church revoked his invitation to be the keynote preacher at the Masonic divine service in a Toronto Anglican church. Baxter has said he found this particularly difficult, as he has been a Freemason for more than 25 years and was Worshipful Master of his lodge in 1980. Baxter attended the service anyway!

Baxter says that the controversy re: Collingwood originated when the media reported that Yvonne Prince had falsely told reporters he performed weddings and funerals dressed as Elvis, which he denies doing. Instead, he says, he performs the services in traditional clerical garb and changes into the Elvis clothes for the reception. He is now fully recognized federally and provincially as the Archbishop of the Federation of Independent Anglican Churches of North America. As the governing authority of this Federation, Archbishop Baxter legally performs weddings himself and licenses his own priests and bishops to perform such weddings.

In 2003, he set up an independent church, Christ the King Graceland Independent Anglican Church of Canada in Newmarket, Ontario, where he continues to conduct services using Elvis' music, with his signature Elvis pompadour and sideburns. Baxter was consecrated on 9 March 2003 in Newmarket by the Rt. Rev'd Christopher Andrew Jukes of Calgary, Alberta, who at that time was a bishop in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches using the traditional ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer (1962 Canada). He also established the Federation of Independent Anglican Churches of North America with himself as Archbishop; this organisation was incorporated by Federal Canadian Letters Patent on 1 October 2003.

Political Life

Baxter has run for federal Parliament four times in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, under the Progressive Canadian Party banner. In the 2004 federal election, he received 1,079 votes, placing last out of five candidates. In the 2006 election he received 729 votes, and in the 2008 election he received 1,004 votes. He placed fifth out of six candidates in both 2006 and 2008. In the 2011 election, he received 1,001 votes, placing fifth out of six candidates, surpassing only Yvonne Mackie of the Animal Alliance Environment party. Baxter also ran in the 2010 byelection in the riding of Vaughan, finishing seventh of out eight candidates with 110 votes.

He founded NAPPA (The National Association for Public and Private Accountability) after an 11-year battle with the Canada Children's Aid Society over custody of his two daughters.

Baxter serves as official Padre to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 426 and well as official chaplain to the Newmarket Veterans' Association.

Electoral record

Canadian federal by-election, November 25, 2013: Toronto Centre
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Chrystia Freeland	17,194	49.38	+8.37	$ 97,609.64
	New Democratic	Linda McQuaig	12,640	36.30	+6.09	99,230.30
	Conservative	Geoff Pollock	3,004	8.63	−14.01	75,557.39
	Green	John Deverell	1,034	2.97	−2.05	21,521.10
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	453	1.30		–
	Libertarian	Judi Falardeau	236	0.68	+0.18	–
	Independent	Kevin Clarke	84	0.24		560.00
	Independent	John "The Engineer" Turmel	56	0.16		–
	Independent	Leslie Bory	51	0.15		633.30
	Online	Michael Nicula	43	0.12		200.00
	Independent	Bahman Yazdanfar	26	0.07	−0.12	1,134.60
Total valid votes/expense limit			34,821	99.49	–	$ 101,793.06
Total rejected ballots			177	0.51	+0.12
Turnout			34,998	37.72	−25.21
Eligible voters			92,780
	Liberal hold		Swing		+1.14
By-election due to the resignation of Bob Rae.
Source(s) "November 25, 2013 By-elections Poll-by-poll results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 20 August 2020. "November 25, 2013 By-election – Financial Reports". Retrieved 9 May 2014.

Canadian federal by-election, Toronto-Danforth: March 19, 2012
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Craig Scott	19,210	59.4	–
	Liberal	Grant Gordon	9,215	28.5	–
	Conservative	Andrew Keyes	1,736	5.4
	Green	Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu	1,517	4.7	–
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	207	0.6	–
	Libertarian	John Christopher Recker	133	0.4	–
	Canadian Action	Christopher Porter	77	0.2	–
	Independent	Leslie Bory	76	0.2	–
	Independent	John Turmel	57	0.2	–
	United	Brian Jedan	54	0.2	–
	Independent	Bahman Yazdanfar	36	0.1	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			32,318	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			–	–	–
Turnout			32,318	43.4	–

See also

• Elvis impersonator

External links

• Christ the King Graceland