A Brief History of Law and Religious Institutions in Canada

• Author: M.H. Ogilvie
• Pages: 31-54

31

CHAPTER 2

A BRIEF HISTORY OF

LAW AND RELIGIOUS

INSTITUTIONS IN

CANADA

A. INTRODUCTION

The history of religious institutions and the law in Canada was, until

the late twentieth century, the history of Christianity in Canada in its

many forms, its relationships with governments (whether foreign, col-

onial, federal, or provincial) and w ith the society in which it found itself

and whose shape it inf‌luenced in fundamental ways. Indeed, the as-

sumption brought to the New World by most of the Christian commun-

ities of post-Reformation Europe was that the alliances of church and

state enjoyed in the originating states in Europe would be replicated in

the New World, as would the societies of Western Europe, newly purged

of their undesirable characteristics. While the motives for the establish-

ment of overseas colonies were primarily economic, political, and stra-

tegic, it was also widely accepted by contemporaries not only that the

familiar p atterns of Chr istendom would be continued in the New World

but also that this was necessary to civilize the New World and advance

the kingdom of God throughout the whole world.

Once the major states of early modern Europe had l aid claim to their

overseas colonies, the inevitable inter-colonial rivalries, whether eco-

nomic, political, or military, grew up, ref‌lecting not only local annoy-

ances but also European-based rivalries, including inter-state religious

frictions. In addition, since many overseas colonies comprised settlers

of rival religious denominations w ithin Europe, intra-colonial religious

disputes and manoeuvring for supremacy also inevitably occurred.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND T HE LAW IN CA NADA32

In the New World as in the Old World, the division between Roman

Catholic and Protestant remained the major fault-line along which

states would be built, outranking in social and political importance the

divisions of the Protestant Reformation — Anabaptist, Anglican, and

Reformed, whose European rivalries also continued in North America.

Indeed, much of Canadian political and social history from the found-

ing of New France to the era of the Charter can be written as t he history

of Christianity in Canada, its religious institutions, and the state, so

profound has the role of the Christian churches been directly on nation-

al life but also indirectly through the peculiar ways in which social and

political issues have been framed for much of the history of both public

and private life in Canada. While the sectarian disputes of the nine-

teenth century were explicitly framed as denominational rivalries, the

secular debates of the twentieth century on major social issues retained

a theological undercurrent about how best to order a moral society in

the northern part of the Western hemisphere.

It is impossible to write a thorough history of religion in Canada

in one chapter suitable as an introduction to that subject and as back-

ground to a legal text. This chapter will survey superf‌icially the major

events insofar as they are related to the legal topics to which this book

is primarily devoted.1

1 This chapter i s based on several general hi stories of religion in Can ada and not

on any origin al research. General h istories of religion in Ca nada are rare, al-

though the recent rev ival of interest in the subject a mongst Canadian his torians,

as evidenced by t he large number of special topic b ooks published in the past

two decades, sug gests that this h istory will become bett er understood. Reference

to some of these relev ant works will be made in foot notes as appropriate to the

text. The general h istories in chronological or der are as follows: H.H. Walsh, The

Christian Church in Cana da (Toronto: Ryerson, 1956); H.H. Walsh, The Church in

the Fren ch Era (Toronto: Ryerson, 1966); John S. Moir, The Church in the British

Era (Toronto: Ryerson, 1972); John Webster Grant, The Church in the Can adian Era

(Toronto: Ryerson, 1972); updated and ex panded edition by John G. Stackhou se

(Vancouver: Regent College, 1998); Robert T. Handy, A History of the Churches in

the United States and Can ada (Oxford: Oxford University Pre ss, 1976); Mark A.

Noll, A History of Chr istianity in the United States and Cana da (Grand Rapids, MI:

Eerdman s, 1992); Terrence Murphy & Roberto Peri n, eds., A Concise History of

Christianity in Ca nada (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1996); John S. Moir,

Christianity in Ca nada: Historical Essays (Yorkton, SK: Redeemer ’s Voice Press,

2002); and Robert Choquette, Cana da’s Religions: An Historical Introductio n (Ot-

tawa: Universit y of Ottawa Press, 200 4). For a legal history of relig ious freedom,

see Janet Epp Bucking ham, Fighting Over God: A Legal and Political History of

Religious Freedom in Canada (Montreal and Ki ngston: McGill-Queens Univer sity

Press, 2014). Three recent collections of ess ays explore specif‌ic topics and c on-

tain exte nsive bibliographies: Marg uerite Van Die, ed., Religion and Public Life in

Canada: Histor ical and Comparative Perspectives (Toronto: University of Toronto