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The Anglican Church of Canada is the Canadian branch of the Anglican Communion. It is made up of 800,000 members worshipping in 30 dioceses; over 2 million Canadians, or 6.9% of the population, declared themselves as Anglican in the 2001 Census. The Primate of the church is the Most Rev. Andrew Hutchison.

The chief governing body of the church is the General Synod which meets every three years and is made up of lay people, priests and bishops from each diocese.

The first Anglican clergy arrived in Canada as chaplains on John Cabot's expedition in 1497. The first Anglican eucharist on Canadian territory was conducted in 1578 by Robert Wolfall who was chaplain to Martin Frobisher's expedition to the arctic.

Members of the Church of England established the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1701 which provided missionaries to Canada until 1940. Another Anglican mission, the Church Missionary Society was established in 1799 and sent missionaries to try to convert Canada's First Nations until World War I. The Church of England in Canada (as it was called until the 1950s, established numerous residential schools which sought to assimilate native peoples into British concepts of civilization.

The Anglican Church was a dominant feature of the compact governments that dominated the colonies in British North America. Adherents to the Church of England were also numerous amongst the United Empire Loyalists who fled to Canada after the American Revolution.

After the conquest of Quebec and the American Revolution, many leading Anglicans argued for the Church of England to become the established church in the Canadian colonies and the Church of England was established by law in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Lower Canada's Roman Catholic minority made establishement in that province politically unwise and in Upper Canada leading dissenters such as Methodist minister Egerton Ryerson argued against establishment. The unpopularity of the Anglican dominated Family Compact made establishment a moot point once responsible government was established following the Upper Canada Rebellion and the Durham Report.

One major issue in the mid-19th century was the that of the Clergy reserves, land which had been reserved for use by the Protestant clergy. Anglicans argued that the land was meant for their exclusive use while other Protestant denominations demanded that it be divided among them.

Until the 1830s, the Anglican church in Canada was treated as the property of the Church of England with bishops being appointed by the church in England and funding coming from the British Parliament. The first Canadian synods were established in the 1850s giving the Canadian church a degree of self-government. As a result of a Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decision in 1861 (Long v. Gray), all Anglican churches in colonies of the British Empire became self-governing. Even so the first General Synod for all of Canada was not held until 1893. In that meeting Robert Machray was chosen as the Canadian church's first Primate.

In recent years the Anglican Church of Canada has been a leading force for liberal reform within the Anglican Communion. In the 1970s Primate Ted Scott argued at the Labeth Conference in favour of women's ordination. The Anglican Church of Canada ordained its first female minister in 1976 and its first female bishop in 1993. More recently, beginning in 2002, the New Westminster Diocese has permitted the blessing of same-sex unions, a move that has resulted in condemnation from other Anglican churches around the world and has threatened an international schism. Just over a decade earlier, in 1992 an Anglican priest, Jim Ferry was brought before a Bishops' Court for being in a same-sex relationship. Ferry was stripped of his licence to preach and "inhibited" from practicing other Anglican rituals. Ferry left the church and joined the Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto; in 1998, Ferry was partially reinstated. As of 2004 the Anglican Church has not resolved the either the question of ordaining non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy or the question of blessing same-sex unions.

Primates

Primates of the Anglican Church of Canada are elected by the general synod and remain in office until they reach the age of 70. There have been twelve primates in the history of the church:

Robert Machray (1893-1904)
William B. Bond (1904-1906)
Arthur Sweatman (1907-1909)
Samuel Pritchard Matheson (1909-1931)
Clarendon Lamb Worrell (1931-1934)
Derwyn Trevor Owen (1934-1947)
George Frederick Kingston (1947-1950)
Walter Barfoot (1950-1959)
Howard Clark(1959-1971)
Ted Scott (1971-1986)
Michael Peers (1986-2004)
Andrew Hutchison (since 2004)

Anglican cathedrals in Canada

External links

Anglican Church of Canada official site
Anglicans in Canada - historical resources

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 The '''Anglican Church of Canada'''  is the [[Canadian]] branch of the [[Anglican Communion]]. It is made up of 800,000 members worshipping in 30 [[diocese]]s; over 2 million Canadians, or 6.9% of the population, declared themselves as Anglican in the [[2001]] [[Census]]. The [[Primate]] of the church is the Most Rev. [[Andrew Hutchison]].
-The chief governing body of the church is the [[General Synod]] which meets every three years and is made up of lay people, priests and bishops from each [[diocese]]..
+The chief governing body of the church is the [[General Synod]] which meets every three years and is made up of lay people, priests and bishops from each [[diocese]].
 The first Anglican [[clergy]] arrived in Canada as [[chaplain]]s on [[John Cabot]]'s expedition in [[1497]]. The first Anglican [[eucharist]] on Canadian territory was conducted in [[1578]] by Robert Wolfall who was chaplain to [[Martin Frobisher]]'s expedition to the [[arctic]].