Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights

The Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights, founded in 1875 as the Province of Rupert's Land, forms one of four ecclesiastical provinces in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Territorial evolution

The territory covered by the province is roughly coterminous with the western portion of the former Hudson's Bay Company concession of Rupert's Land, as well as the North-Western Territory of British North America. It today consists of the present day provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as well as the extreme western portion of Ontario and the Nunavik area of Quebec. It also includes all of the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

At almost 6.5 million square kilometres, it is the largest ecclesiastical province by area in the country, and was even larger when it was created. The Anglican Diocese of Moosonee was joined to the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario in 1912. The five dioceses in British Columbia were also originally part of Rupert's Land Ecclesiastical Province, until they became an Ecclesiastical Province of their own in 1914. Furthermore, the Diocese of Selkirk was part of Rupert's Land until it joined the British Columbia province in 1943, as the Anglican Diocese of Yukon.

In 2024, the provincial synod voted to rename the province as the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights.[1]

Dioceses

There are presently 10 dioceses in the province:

Metropolitan

The provinces of the Anglican Church of Canada are headed by metropolitan bishops, elected from among the provinces' diocesan bishops, who then become archbishops of their own diocese and the metropolitan of their province.

The current metropolitan of the Province of the Northern Lights is Greg Kerr-Wilson who is the Archbishop of Calgary.

Metropolitans of Rupert's Land

Source: [2]

Order Name Dates Diocese Notes
1st Robert Machray 1875–1904 Rupert's Land Primate of All Canada, 1893-1904
2nd Samuel Matheson 1904–1931[3] Rupert's Land Primate of All Canada, 1909–1930[4]
3rd Isaac Stringer 1931[5]–1934 Rupert's Land
4th Malcolm Harding 1935–1942 Rupert's Land
5th Louis Sherman 1943–1953 Rupert's Land
6th Walter Barfoot 1954–1960 Rupert's Land Primate of All Canada, 1950-1959
7th Howard Clark 1961–1969 Rupert's Land Primate of All Canada, 1959-1971
8th Fredric Jackson 1971–1976 Qu'Appelle
9th Frederick Crabb 1976–1981 Athabasca
10th Michael Peers 1981–1986 Qu'Appelle Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, 1986 — 2004
11th Kent Clarke 1986–1987 Edmonton
12th Walter H. Jones 1988–1993 Rupert's Land
13th Barry Curtis 1994–1999 Calgary
14th Tom Morgan 2000–2003 Saskatoon
15th John Clarke 2003–2008 Athabasca
16th David Ashdown 2009–2014 Keewatin
17th Greg Kerr-Wilson 2015- Calgary Archbishop of Calgary

See also

References

  1. ^ "'God is saying, "See, this is something beautiful"': Province of Rupert's Land changes name to Province of the Northern Lights". Anglican Journal. May 31, 2024.
  2. ^ Metropolitans of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land
  3. ^ "Canada. The New Archbishop". Church Times. No. 3579. August 28, 1931. p. 231. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved May 18, 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
  4. ^ "The Lambeth Conference". Church Times. No. 3516. June 13, 1930. p. 750. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved May 18, 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.
  5. ^ "Canada. The New Archbishop". Church Times. August 28, 1931. p. 231. ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved May 18, 2019 – via UK Press Online archives.