An E-mail of interest about the history of our diocese.
The following is a transcript of an e-mail from David Jones, Chancellor of the Diocese of Edmonton.
Sent: January 4, 2005 11:55 AM
To: ross.whitelaw@shaw.ca
Subject: Diocese of Athabasca website
Hello,
I have just had the pleasure of looking at your very helpful and attractive website. Congratulations!
I would like to draw your attention (or the attention of the appropriate person) to a query I have about a statement on the Welcome Page. It says that Diocese was originally known as the Diocese of the Mackenzie. I believe this is incorrect. Rather, I believe that the Diocese of Athabasca has always been called that, since its creation in 1874 by the division of the original Diocese of Rupert's Land (with the Synod being organized in 1876) at the same time that the Dioceses of Saskatchewan and Mosinee were created.
The Diocese of Mackenzie River was created in 1883, and consisted of that part of the Diocese of Athabasca lying north of the sixtieth parallel. The Diocese of Mackenzie River was discontinued in 1933 (the only Canadian diocese to be discontinued, at least until the recent events in Caribou), at which time the Deanery of Mackenzie River (south of the Arctic Circle) was added back to the Diocese of Athabasca. For three years in the mid-1940s, the Deanery of Mackenzie River came under the direct care of the Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land, and then was added back into the Diocese of the Arctic.
By the way, there is also an interesting history to the boundary between the Diocese of Athabasca and the Diocese of Edmonton. In 1874, when the original division of the Diocese of Rupert's Land took place, the new Diocese of Saskatchewan occupied the lower (east-to-west) portion of what is now the civil provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and the Diocese of Athabasca occupied the northern (east-to-west) portion, although the exact boundaries were indeterminate. In 1883, the boundary between the civil districts of Athabasca and Alberta was established near the 55th parallel of latitude, which is very close to the line between townships 69 and 70, and lies north of Athabasca and Lac la Biche. The Provincial Synod of 1885 adjusted diocesan boundaries to coincide with the civil districts which was presumed to have been the boundary between the Dioceses of Athabasca and Saskatchewan when the Diocese of Calgary was formed (by the Provincial Synod in 1887, which is reflected in the Appendix to NWT Ord. 33 of 1891-2 incorporating the Diocese of Calgary, which refers to its being the "Civil District of Alberta"). However, at some point after Bishop Pinkham (the Bishop of Saskatchewan) became Bishop of Calgary in 1888, he agreed with Bishop Young from Athabasca (who was the first Bishop to be consecrated in Rupert’s Land, not in England) to move the boundary 36 miles south so that Athabasca Landing would be within Bishop Young’s diocese. This allowed Bishop Young to live at Athabasca Landing rather than at Fort Vermilion, which had previously been his See City. The exact date of his move is not known, but it occurred the Hudson’s Bay Company moved its operations from Fort Vermilion to Athabasca Landing and built the corduroy road from there to Edmonton. By 1894, there were church buildings being built at Athabasca. This is how the northern boundary of what is now the Diocese of Edmonton was established at the line between townships 63 and 64. In 1933, the Diocese of Edmonton tried to get the boundary restored to the original line, but its memorial to Provincial Synod was tabled without action.
With respect to the western boundary, it originally would have included all of the Peace River country. Certainly, all of the Peace River country was part of Rupert's Land. In 1863, the Imperial Parliament established the boundary between Rupert's Land and British Columbia as the great divide and then north at 120 degrees of longitude. At some point (perhaps at the Provincial Synod of 1885, or perhaps in 1933--I haven't checked), the western boundary of the Diocese of Athabasca was made coincidental with the boundary of the Civil Province of Alberta.
The eastern boundary is also interesting. When the Provincial Synod established diocesan boundaries in 1885 to coincide with the boundaries of the civil districts, the boundary between the civil districts of Athabasca and Alberta (on the one hand) and civil districts of Saskatchewan and Assiniboia (on the other hand) was located 10 ranges (that is, 60 miles) further west than the current boundary between the civil provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The current boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan was established in 1905 when they became civil provinces--but this did not automatically change the boundaries between the dioceses. The Provincial Synod did this for the Dioceses of Athabasca and Edmonton (which had been carved out of Calgary in 1913) in 1926, but the boundary of the Diocese of Calgary was not moved eastward until the 1950s.
Finally, the Diocese of Athabasca has had at least three See Cities: Fort Simpson, Fort Vermilion, and Peace River (not to mention the Bishop residing for a considerable period at Athabasca Landing, but I am not sure if it was ever his "seat").
Much of this information comes from T.C.B. Boon's The Anglican Church from the Bay to the Rockies. Again, congratulations on your fine web site!
Yours faithfully,
David Jones
Chancellor of the Diocese of Edmonton.