The Diocese of Rupert's Land is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights of the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...

. It is named for the historical

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

n territory of

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

, which was contained within the original diocesan boundaries. The diocese is located in southern

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and north-western

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, consisting of the area immediately surrounding

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, stretching north from the Canada–US border to near the top of

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg () is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its southern end is about north of the city of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake and the third- ...

, and extending over the Ontario border to incorporate the parishes of the former southern region of the Diocese of Keewatin. Its See city is

, and its approximately 14,000 Anglicans on the parish rolls are served by 74 congregations, of which 32 are located in Winnipeg. Major centres, apart from Winnipeg, include Selkirk,

Portage la Prairie Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. In 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Highway (exactly ...

, and

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The history of the name exten ...

. The area of the diocese was the cradle of European settlement in western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and was thus the original locus of Anglican missionary activity there. The first Anglican service was held at the Red River Colony in 1820, and three years later the first Anglican church in western Canada was constructed. In 1849, the diocese was formally established with jurisdiction over all the territory of present-day Canada west of

, as well as parts of northern and western Ontario. In 1866, there were two archdeaconries: W. Cochrane was Archdeacon of Assiniboia and James Hunter of Cumberland. The first

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

was convened twenty years later, and the diocese was incorporated in 1886. The diocese played an important part in the growing autonomy of Anglicanism in Canada. After the Diocese of British Columbia was hived off in 1859, Rupert Land's second bishop, Robert Machray, helped divide the still sprawling diocese into four smaller ones, creating in 1874 the new dioceses of Athabasca,

Moosonee Moosonee () is a town in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, on the Moose River approximately south of James Bay. It is considered to be "the Gateway to the Arctic" and has Ontario's only saltwater port. Nearby, on Moose Factory Island, is the com ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

and a new

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

which was also named after Rupert's Land. Machray would go on to become the first Primate of the Church of England in Canada, playing an instrumental role in establishing the

Lambeth Conference The Lambeth Conference convenes as the Archbishop of Canterbury summons an assembly of Anglican bishops every ten years. The first took place at Lambeth in 1867. As regional and national churches freely associate with the Anglican Communion, ...

of worldwide Anglican bishops, now one of the instruments of unity of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the diocese also played a key role in the missionary activity of the Anglican Church in western Canada, particularly in the prairie provinces and the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

. The original vast territory of the Diocese of Rupert's Land is now served by 18 dioceses (British Columbia has been divided into 5 dioceses, gained 1, and is now a separate province, Athabasca has been divided into 4 and lost 2, Moosonee has been transferred to the province of

, Saskatchewan has been divided into 5 and the residual Rupert's Land further subdivided into 4). Before the August 2014 incorporation of the north-western Ontario parishes (formerly part of the Diocese of Keewatin), the geographical expanse of the diocese was 72,500 square kilometres. The most recent bishop of Rupert's Land (the 13th) was the Geoffrey Woodcroft, who was consecrated in 2018. The dean of the diocese and rector of St. John's Cathedral was the

Very Reverend The Very Reverend (abbreviated as The Very Revd or The Very Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. The definite article "t ...

Paul Johnson until 2024. In 2025, Naboth Manzongo was elected as the next diocesan bishop. The diocese sponsored a lay order, the Company of the Cross, which ran a controversial school for boys called Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School that was closed in the 1990s. The school was conservative and prided itself in pushing boys to their physical and psychological breaking points. It spawned two other schools, Saint John's School of Alberta and Saint John's School of Ontario, where 12 boys and a teacher died on a poorly planned canoe trip.

Bishops of Rupert's Land

* David Anderson, 1849–1864 * Robert Machray, 1865–1904; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1875–1904;Primate of All Canada, 1893–1904 * Samuel Matheson, 1905–1931; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1905–1931; Primate of All Canada, 1909–1932 * Isaac Stringer, 1931–1934; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1931–1934 * Malcolm Harding, 1934–1942; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1935–1942 * Louis Sherman, 1943–1953; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1943–1953 * Walter Barfoot, 1954–1960; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1954–1960; Primate of All Canada, 1949–1959 * Howard Clark, 1961–1969; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1961–1969; Primate of All Canada, 1959–1971 ** John Anderson (suffragan 1967–1969; translated to BC) * Barry Valentine, 1969–1982 * Walter H. Jones, 1983–1993; Metropolitan of Rupert's Land, 1988–1993 * Patrick Lee, 1994–1999 * Don Phillips, 2000–2018 * Geoffrey Woodcroft, 2018–2025

Notes

External links

Diocesan website

Province of Manitoba Act of incorporation

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070929093121/http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2000-03-28_xx.news Anglican Journal article on the election of Bishop Phillips
''The Rainbow in the North: A Short Account of the First Establishment of Christianity in Rupert's Land by the Church Missionary Society'', by Sarah Tucker (1851)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rupert's Land Religious organizations established in 1849 Rupert's Land, Anglican Diocese of Anglican dioceses established in the 19th century Winnipeg dioceses 1849 establishments in Canada Anglican Province of Rupert's Land