UNITARIANS OF ONTARIO

Transcription

1 UNITARIANS OF ONTARIO By Mike McPhee [Presented at Sydney Unitarian Church on 23 July 2017.] Welcome back to our celebration of the 150 th anniversary of Canada s foundation, though by now Canada Day (01 July) has passed. My intention was to take you through Ontario and the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta that is, from the Ottawa River to the Rocky Mountains but this has proved to be impossible. I should have realised that Ontario, the westernmost foundation member of the Confederation of 1867, has about one-half of the Unitarian congregations in Canada and so would need a whole instalment devoted to it. As we saw last time, virtually the whole of what became Eastern Canada was first colonised by France, starting in the very early 1600s. This set the scene for intermittent warfare between French and British forces that continued until Britain prevailed in As fur trading had priority over settlement in New France and it was hoped that an inland passage to the Pacific could be found, exploration to the west of Quebec was rapid. Starting from the eastern end of Lake Ontario, a network of fortified trading posts was built that extended to the western end of Lake Superior by By the time of the British conquest, French explorers had travelled far into the Prairies and south of the Great Lakes. Even the Mississippi River was discovered there and followed almost to the Gulf of Mexico. 1

2 After the American Revolution, tens of thousands of United Empire Loyalists came north in order to live under British rule. Some came to Montreal and the Eastern Townships on the south bank of the St. Lawrence River, but others crossed from New York into the lands west of the Ottawa River. The logical places for new settlements were around the former French trading posts, so Fort Frontenac became the town of Kingston and Fort Niagara became Newark. However, the new arrivals disliked the provisions for the French language and French civil law in Quebec, so a new colony called Upper Canada was declared in 1791 (and Quebec was renamed Lower Canada). Upper Canada was called Canada West when the two colonies were amalgamated in 1840 and that became the province of Ontario under the Confederation of Ontario is the second-largest province of Canada and its 14 million people constitute 40% of the national population. The region between the Ottawa River and Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario is known as Southern Ontario and most of the province s population and arable land are there. Northern Ontario is sparsely populated, as the Laurentian Mountains border the lakes and the extensive Hudson Bay Lowlands further north, once important to the fur trade, are mostly muskeg swamps. The mountains are rich in natural resources and many centres for mining, forestry and hydro-electricity industries are situated there. Much of the north was transferred to Ontario from the North-West Territories in

3 The first capital of Upper Canada was Newark but Governor John Simcoe soon moved it to the site of the former Fort Rouillé, where the British had built Fort York nearby in (Little remains of the former but the barracks of the latter still remain in the city centre.) The settlement around the fort was called York but it was renamed Toronto in Toronto today is the most populous city in Canada, with a metropolitan population of 5.9 million. Its 46 km of shoreline includes the bustling port, while the CBD is a commercial hub that hosts the headquarters of the five largest national banks and those of many large industrial firms. Toronto s most famous landmark is the CN Tower, built in 1976 by the government-owned Canadian National Railway corporation. Standing at 553 metres, it is the tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere. Due to disastrous fires in 1849 and 1904, and to major urban renewal projects in the 1960s and 70s, the city has few truly old buildings. Worthy of mention are the provincial Legislative Building, completed in 1893, and University College, established in 1853 and now part of the University of Toronto. (The actual building goes back to 1827, when it was called King s College and belonged to the Church of England.) 3

4 Other noteworthy places include the parklands on the Toronto Islands, only a short ferry ride from the city. (Strangely enough, the islands were cut off from the mainland by a hurricane in 1858.) Also, there is the historic village of Unionville in the outer suburb of Markham. Once a mill town, it has now been restored and constitutes a major tourist attraction. And it is here that we find the oldest Unitarian group in Ontario; namely, the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto. It was founded in 1845 by some British immigrants, led by Dr. Joseph Workman from Northern Ireland. His family emigrated to Montreal in 1829, the same year that the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian split from the parent church in Ireland. Workman studied medicine at McGill University before moving to Toronto, where he became a city alderman, the first head of the Board of Education and a member of the Royal Commission that secularised King s College. One of his brothers helped to found the Unitarian Church of Montreal, the only older Canadian congregation, in The first minister in Toronto was Rev. William Adam, a former Baptist missionary in India. He arrived there in 1818, mastered Sanskrit and Bengali, and joined a working group that was translating the New Testament into the latter language. There he met the monotheist Hindu, Rammohun Roy, who converted him to Unitarianism, and the two of them founded the Calcutta Unitarian Society in Adam later became a professor of Oriental Literature at Harvard University, which didn t suit him and he became a minister, instead. His first position was in Toronto and he later went to the First Unitarian Church of Chicago. 4

5 It is unclear where the congregation s first building was located but its second church opened its doors in Their present Gothic-style building was erected in the 1940s and underwent extensive renovations in In addition to some prominent ministers, their members over the decades included Dr. Luigi von Kunits, first conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Edward Fisher, founder of the Conservatory of Music, Arthur Lismer, painter and member of the Group of Seven, Emanuel Hahn, sculptor and coin designer, Sir Francis Hicks, premier of Ontario, William Dennison, mayor of Toronto, and Emily Stowe, the first practicing female doctor in Canada. In the 1950s and 60s, the denomination experienced phenomenal growth and a number of new groups were formed. Today, metropolitan Toronto is home to the Neighbourhood UU Congregation just east of the CBD, the Don Heights Unitarian Congregation to the north, the Unitarian Congregation of Mississauga in the west and the Unitarian Fellowship of Northwest Toronto. Some of the congregations have full-time ministers. Our tour will now proceed from east to west, starting with Ottawa, the national capital. This city of 940,000 inhabitants was established in 1826 as the headquarters of the British military engineers who built the Rideau Canal from there to Kingston. Known as Bytown, it was renamed after the Ottawa River in 1855 and briefly served as the capital of the united province of Canada before the Confederation. The picture shows the Parliament Buildings, completed in 1876, on one side of the canal and the Langevin Block across from it, which contains many government offices. Across the Ottawa River and connected by a bridge is Gatineau (formerly Hull), Quebec. Together, the two cities comprise the National Capital Region with a total population of 1.3 million. Unlike our A.C.T., it is not a political entity. The First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa dates back to the late 1800s, though one of Joseph Workman s brothers attempted to found a group there somewhat earlier. Their first premises were downtown but they are celebrating 50 years in their present building in the west end this year. There is also the UU Fellowship of Ottawa, founded in 1996 in the east end, which acquired their permanent home in

6 Before we move into Southern Ontario, with its plethora of cities and Unitarian groups, it may be helpful to have a closer look at its geography. Note especially the Niagara River, between Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and also the St. Claire River, Lake St. Claire and the Detroit River connecting Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Where Lake Ontario drains into the St. Lawrence River are the Thousand Islands there are really more than 1800 of them and they constitute a submerged mountain range between the Canadian Shield and the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. The islands became a popular tourist area in the late 1800s and, such was the fashion of the times, most of the hotels and large private homes were built to look like castles. The Canada-US border runs through the middle of the river, so some of the islands are American territory. As mentioned earlier, the city of Kingston was a United Empire Loyalist settlement from the early 1780s. A naval base and shipbuilding yard were soon added and the existing fort was expanded, both of which proved their worth during the War of By 1840, the city was the largest settlement in Upper Canada, for which reason it served as the capital of the united Province of Canada in Now, with a metropolitan population of 161,000, Kingston is home to Queen s University and the Royal Military College of Canada. There is also the Kingston Unitarian Fellowship, details of which are scarce but it does have a minister. 6

7 Between Ottawa and Toronto are the Kawartha Lakes, which drain via the Trent River into Lake Ontario. That river is now part of a system of canals and locks connecting the southern lake to Lake Huron, and there we find the city of Peterborough. Founded in 1850 in an existing farming area, it was one of the first places in Canada to generate hydroelectricity and that attracted a number of industries that still remain Today, the city has a population of 82,000 and is home to the elegant Trent University. The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough was founded in 1961 and met in rented premises for 35 years. They called their first minister in 1994 and built their permanent home in the following year. At the western end of Lake Ontario is the city of Hamilton, founded in a farming area shortly after the War of It grew into a manufacturing centre, also boasting the first commercial telephone system in Canada in Its many attractions include Dundurn Castle, built in 1835 as the residence of Sir Allan McNab, who later became prime minister of the Province of Canada. Its extensive grounds prompted the city to purchase the property in 1900 for a public park. Hamilton has a metropolitan population of 721,000 and its steelmaking industry produces 60% of the country s raw steel products. Its McMasters University is one of the foremost in Canada 7

8 And here we have an actual church! the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton. Founded in 1889, no mention is made of its previous locations; however, the present building dates from about In addition to a fulltime minister, they have recently engaged a part-time minister to lead an outreach project. Not far to the east is the city of Guelph, which began in 1827 as the headquarters of a company commissioned to develop and settle the land between there and Lake Huron. The town was built to a radial plan in a bend of the Speed River, though growth was slow until the Grand Trunk Railway connected it to Hamilton and Toronto. Now with a metropolitan population of 141,000, its landmarks include the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate, the Old City Hall and the University of Guelph. The Unitarian Congregation of Guelph began as a fellowship in 1960, meeting in rented spaces until they purchased their first building (above) in By 1992, that premises was too small for them, so moved to their present location, which they share with a daycare centre and other community groups. And now the treat you ve all been waiting for Niagara Falls! These are really three adjacent waterfalls, of which the Horseshoe Falls (or Canadian Falls) are the largest, with 90% of the total flow, the widest at 790 metres, and the highest at 57 metres. The American Falls are between 21 and 30 metres high, due to massive fallen boulders at the bottom, and only 290 metres across. A staggering 6400 cubic metres goes over the falls in one second in peak flow, though the annual average is only 2400 cubic metres. The first Welland Canal was built to get shipping around the falls in 1829 and hydroelectric facilities were first built there in

9 Downriver from the falls, at the north end of the Welland Canal, is the city of St. Catharines. It started as a United Empire Loyalist settlement in the 1780s and was incorporated in With a metropolitan population of 392,000, it is famous for its many parks and gardens The Unitarian Congregation of Niagara was founded in 1954 and has been in its current building since Roughly midway between the Niagara and St. Clair Rivers is the city of Kitchener, which was founded in the early 1800s by German Mennonites from Pennsylvania. Unlike the United Empire Loyalists, these immigrants were seeking a place where they could practice their religion in peace and, as more people of German extraction arrived, the settlement became known as Berlin from 1833 to Today, Kitchener is considered the centre of a metropolitan area that takes in the adjacent cities of Waterloo on the north and Cambridge on the south, though each has its own municipal government. All three are on the Grand River, which flows south into Lake Erie, and the total population is just over 1 million. The Grand River Unitarian Congregation was founded in 1956 as the Waterloo County Unitarian Fellowship and used rented space until 1963, when they acquired a building in Waterloo. They moved to a larger place in Kitchener in 1995 and to their present location in From 1986 to 1998, they shared a minister with the congregation in neighbouring London, but they have had full-time ministers since that time The history of London, a short distance to the west, was very different, as its site was selected in 1793 as the future capital of Upper Canada. Lieutenant-Governor John Simcoe chose the name and even called its river the Thames, though his plan never came to fruition. Indeed, the area was not settled until 1826 and London became a city in It now has a metropolitan population of 500,000. 9

10 The Unitarian Fellowship of London was formed in 1953 by five families who objected to the amount of Christian influence in their children s schools. They met in members homes for a year but the group soon had the numbers to rent a premises. They built their first meeting place in 1961 and hired their first minister in Over time, the staff grew to include chaplains, an office manager and a Religious Education coordinator. They moved to their present location in However, I can t leave this place without showing you the impressive buildings of the University of Western Ontario. It was founded in 1878, taking in the existing Huron University College that started in On the Detroit River across from the city of that name is Windsor, Canada s southernmost city. Having been settled by French farmers in 1749, it is also the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement west of Montreal. United Empire Loyalists arrived later but the city still has a significant Francophone minority amongst is metropolitan population of 330,000. There was a Unitarian Universalist Church of Windsor that started as a fellowship in about Unfortunately, the church disappeared sometime after 2006, taking its history with it. Inland of Windsor is the town of Kingsville, incorporated in 1901 and now hosting a population of 22,000. While otherwise unremarkable, it does have suburbs and the UU Church of Olinda is the oldest Unitarian or Universalist building in Canada still in use. Founded in 1881 as the First Universalist Parish of Olinda, it is the sole survivor of six Universalist churches in communities along the north coast of Lake Erie. 10

11 The church adopted the UU name after the merger in the US of 1961 and had its own ministers until In the next year, the minister of their partner church in Hungary visited with his wife and delivered two wellpublicised sermons that attracted members of the local Hungarian community. The Detroit River flows south from the small and shallow Lake St. Clair, which somehow comprises both a water sports centre and a commercial shipping passage. The latter required dredging a channel through the middle of the lake, while the former is sustained by a large number of boat clubs and holiday resorts on both the Canadian and American sides. The lake freezes over in winter, so small icebreakers are needed to keep the channel open. The city of Sarnia is at the junction of the St. Clair River and Lake Huron, with Port Huron, Michigan, directly across from it. Unusually, the first settlers were French people from Detroit, who moved there after the War of to live under the Crown. The town was incorporated in 1856 and grew very quickly, due to the discovery of oil nearby and the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway, both in In 1890, a rail tunnel was built under the river, the first such tunnel in the world. The city became a refining and petrochemical centre with a large silo at its port for grain coming through the Upper Lakes. Today, it has a metropolitan population of 90,000, dwarfing Port Huron at 30,000. And here we find the only bi-national congregation in Canada! the Unitarian Fellowship of Sarnia and Port Huron. It started in 1956 as the Fellowship of Port Huron and met at first in private homes and rented premises. Some Sarnia residents attended their meetings and, in 1960, the renamed Port Huron-Sarnia Fellowship took turns meeting on either side of the river. Over time, the Port Huron meeting place was lost and the Sarnia members became predominant, so the present name of the fellowship reflects that. The group had part-time ministers in the 1960s and 70s, but it is now lay-led and still rents its meeting place. All the same, they marked their 60 th anniversary in fine style (pictured above) in the local Holiday Inn. 11

12 Coming around Lake Huron, we find two small groups in cities known just as much for their scenery as for their history. The Huronia Unitarian Fellowship in Barrie has existed since 1995, but they have always been lay-led and meet in members houses. The Owen Sound Unitarian Fellowship on Georgian Bay is more recent, as it doesn t have a website. The city is now popular with retirees, which is ironic because it was once such a rowdy port that the sale of alcohol was banned for several decades until On the St. Mary s River, connecting Lake Superior to the western end of Lake Huron, are the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie. Now in Canada and the US, they were actually one settlement when the French established trading posts there some time after 1668 and they remained so until the border was clarified after the War of It appears that there are no Unitarian communities on either side of the river, despite populations of 78,000 and 14,000, respectively. North of the Canadian city is the Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park, accessible only by hiking trails and a tourist railway. The canyon s walls reach 175 metres in height and four of the Agawa River s tributaries cascade into the canyon as waterfalls. Several members of the Group of Seven, including the aforementioned Arthur Lismer, painted in the region in , using a boxcar fitted out as a cabin for their base. If you think that s good, try Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park near the western end of Lake Superior. The canyon is 2 km long, 200 metres wide and 100 metres deep. And then there is the Sea Lion rock formation in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park near our final urban destination. The actual Sleeping Giant is a formation of mesas that resemble a man lying one his back. The Indian legend says that a demigod named Nanabozho was turned to stone for revealing the location of a rich silver mine to the white man. 12

13 Thunder Bay was formed in 1970 by the amalgamation of the cities of Fort William and Port Arthur. The former started as a French trading post in 1683 and later became a railhead of the Canadian Pacific Railway, while the latter was established after a road to Fort Garry in Manitoba was constructed in The two settlements became the gateway to the Prairies, for which reason the region became known as the Lakehead. They were rivals, sometimes bitterly so, for the railway s business but, over time. such industries as grain elevators, timber, pulp and paper, and manufacturing provided enough income and employment to satisfy both communities. Thunder Bay now has a metropolitan population of 122,000. Not a great deal is known about the Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship, other than that it has existed for at least 50 years. It was lay-led for most of that time but a part-time minister has been there on a monthly basis since Nonetheless, it has a very active program, a plethora of working committees staffed by members and what appears to be a very effective network with other groups in the community. So, we leave Ontario in the footsteps of the early French explorers along the Grand Portage, which is a series of small lakes and rivers that now forms the border between Canada and the US. A portage is just a region where people had to carry their canoes and goods around rapids and other obstacles. This was particularly the case west of Crane Lake, where a continental divide causes the rivers and lakes past it to flow to the west. ( BWCAW is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on the Minnesota side of the border and Quetico Provincial Park adjoins it on the Canadian side. Both are pristine areas with minimal roads and facilities.) 13

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