The Anglican Church of Canada by Philip Carrington

Chapter 1: The First Canadians

The history of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) obviously starts quite late in the overall history of Canada. Carrington begins his history observing the fact that obviously the first Canadians, the first nations and Inuit, had been navigating these shores for centuries, as well there are various encounters with Europeans from 1000AD on. However, the ACC starts with the focused explorations of European sailors such as John Cabot and Jacques Cartier.

(As a bit of a side note, it is hard not to react against the arrogance of a man like Cartier who claims entire lands without consultation and who kidnaps men and takes them to France against their will. However, for the purposes of these notes I think that I have to first learn the story as it played out. It is interesting to note that it is at least partly in reaction to such arrogance that the ACC just repudiated the doctrine of discovery that these early explorers operated under. How that effects the way that we tell the story of Canada is yet to be worked out. Needless to say this book was written before such a conversation had taken place.)

What is notable about the early history of the ACC is how closely it is caught up in British imperial interests in North America. All of the early religious services are part of early explorations or early colonies that were settled for economic reasons. As well the conversion of the first nations that the Europeans encountered had much to do with the alliances that were formed. Carrington writes,

The Huron and Algonquin Indians to the north were friendly with the French, and became Roman Catholic; the Mohawk and Iroquois to the south were friendly with the Dutch, and later on with the English, and ultimately became Anglicans. (23)

Carrington observes that there were no signs of any conscious or organized effort on the part of the church of England “to bring the influence of religion to bear on the new world.” Rather, most of the credit for the introduction for the introduction of Anglicanism he gives to laymen who used the prayer book to bolster the religious faith aboard ships or in early colonies. It was not until 1649 that England created the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and since this was the year after Charles lost his head this was not a Prayer Book organization!

What was interesting to me which I didn’t know was that the 1662 BCP was created with the needs of New England in mind.