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Asbury United Church in Perth was established in 1925; formerly Methodist; in 1926, Asbury united with Knox United Church (formerly Presbyterian) to form St. Paul's United Church in Perth.

Asbury Methodist Church traces its origins to the founding of the Perth Methodist Circuit in 1821; Asbury Methodist Church entered the United Church in 1925.

Enterprise - Roblin Pastoral Charge was formed ca. 1967 with the amalgamation of Enterprise and Roblin Pastoral Charges.

James A. Brown (1856-1932) served forty years as minister for the Presbyterian Church for the following charges: Belmont, Agincourt, Shakespeare, Fergus and Ingersoll.

Alfred Edward Lavell (1870-1951) was a Methodist Minister and recognized public servant. Born in Kingston to mother Betsey Reeve and father Dr. Michael Lavell, who was the surgeon and warden of Kingston Penitentiary and a Methodist layman. He graduated from Queen’s University with a B.A. in 1893, and notably invented the Gaelic Yell. He received his D.D. at Victoria University. He was ordained 1897 and served in the following charges: Jarvis, Rockford, Walsh, Ayr, Norwich, Waterloo, Niagara Falls, and Brantford. He was interested in all aspects of Church life and was honored by his Niagara Conference with various official posts. He spent considerable time on educational reform within the Church. He also served as chaplain in WWI and went overseas with the 125th Battalion. He earned the rank of major, but was sent home after contracting a series illness during the Salonika Campaign. In 1918 he moved to Toronto and was appointed Executive Secretary of the Ontario Parole Board. From 1931-1935 he served as Provincial Historian and wrote histories on educational, medical and penal institutions. In 1897 he married Laura Gillespie and had two daughters Mona and Mrs., Frederick A. Wade.

David Melville “Mel” John Buttars (1911-2000) was a United Church minister. He was born in Cobourg, Ontario in 1911 to Lillian Gray and David Buttars. He graduated from Queen’s University with a B.A. in 1936, a B.D. from Queen’s Theological College in 1939, Union Theological Seminary in 1941 and received a D.D. from Queen’s University in 1978. He was ordained in 1939 in Kingston and served for fifty-seven years at the following charges: Grananoque East, Bloomfield, Inglewood, Pickering, Albert St., Oshawa and Cobourg. He also held the following positions: Chairman of the Oshawa Presbytery, Secretary of the Dufferin and Peel Presbytery, President of the Bay of Quinte Conference, Member of the Home Mission Board, Evangelism and Social Service and other various committees including Amnesty International. He also worked a Chinese translator for the Government of Canada. He married Honor in 1939 and had three children John, Ian and Barbara.

The Rev. Elinor Katherine Harwood Leard was born October 20, 1922 in Raleigh Township. Elinor was educated at the University of Western Ontario (1938-1942); Radcliffe College (1942-1943); UCTS (1944-1945); Emmanuel College (1944-1949); Cheshunt College, Cambridge (1949-1950); Columbia University (1956-1957).
In 1939 she became a candidate for the UCC ministry; in 1948 she was accepted as a WMS missionary to India and travelled there with her husband Rev. G. Earl Leard to establish mission schools. In 1957, Elinor was ordained by the London Conference despite strong opposition against the ordination of married woman with children.
The Leards continued to work in India until 1960 when they returned to Canada; Rev. Elinor Leard was appointed as minister of the Grahamsville charge, followed by Emmanuel in Bramalea.

In 1964 Rev. Elinor Leard taught Latin, English and Library in Oakville and Etobicoke until 1988 when she retired.
Rev. Elinor Leard died January 8, 2008.

Highgate - Morpeth - Turin Pastoral Charge was established ca. 1969 when Highgate Pastoral Charge and Morpeth Pastoral Charges amalgamated; it closed in 2010 with the disbandment of Highgate United Church.

Highgate Methodist Church was established ca. 1835 as a Wesleyan Methodist church; it joined the United Church in 1925. Highgate United Church was located at 87 Main Street, Highgate. it closed in 2010.

Trinity United Church, located at 230 Barber Avenue North in Listowel, was established as Listowel United Church in 1925, formerly Methodist. Listowel Methodist Church was established in 1884 with the amalgamation of Sarah Avenue Primitive Methodist Church, and Fisher's Methodist Episcopal Church with the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Listowel. Listowel Methodist Church joined the United Church in 1925. In 1968, Listowel United Church voted to change its name to Trinity once Calvary Evangelical United Brethren Church in Listowel became the second United Church in the community. It is still an active congregation of the United Church of Canada.

Robinson Memorial United Church, located at 1061 Richmond Street (at Sherwood Avenue) in London, was established in 1925, formerly Methodist. The church was first established as Richmond Street Mission, run from First Methodist Church, in 1891. A church was built in March 1912 and was called George Robinson Memorial Methodist Church. It joined the United Church in 1925 and was known as Robinson Memorial United Church.In 2011 the church closed and the congregation amalgamated with Colborne Street United Church.

Malahide-Richmond Pastoral Charge was formed in 2002 as a two point charge consisting of the Malahide and Richmond United Churches, previously known as Malahide Pastoral charge, a three-point charge that included Summer’s Corner United Church which closed and the pastoral charge changed its name.

Malahide United Church, also known as Dunboyne, was formed in 1925; formerly Methodist of the Malahide Circuit with congregations dating to 1820; in 1957, the churches Dunboyne, Luton, Copenhagen, and Mount Salem amalgamated into the Malahide United Church; in 1964 Summer’s Corner, Richmond and Malahide United Churches formed a three-point charge that would become Malahide-Richmond Pastoral Charge; Malahide United Church closed in 2013.

In 1978 a National Ethnic Committee was established, following up on the work of a Task Force on Minority Ministries authorized by the Division of Mission executive in March 1972 and two conferences. Its mandate included: to give greater visibility to this work; to provide support to ethnic congregations; to liaise with Conferences and Presbyteries re the development of new ethnic congregations; and to inform Presbyteries of the work of this committee.

In 1982, the National Ethnic Committee organized a National Ethnic Convention, held in Hamilton, Ontario. They also formulated new Guidelines for Ethnic Ministry to be submitted to the 29th General Council.

In 1987 the National Ethnic Committee asked the Division of Mission to replace the Committee with the Ethnic Ministries Working Unit. The Ethnic Ministries Working Unit was established in 1988 as a successor to the National Ethnic Committee with the purpose of raising the profile of ethnic members within the Church, as well as raising the profile of the church among the various ethno-cultural communities in Canada.

In 1991, the Ethnic Ministries Convention in Montreal adopted a motion to petition the 34th General Council to establish a national-cross-Divisional task group on Ethnic Ministries to do a feasibility study towards the establishment of a “Division of Ethnic Ministry” or some other national structure. A petition for this was accepted by the 34th General Council and a Feasibility Task Group on Ethnic Ministries was created. The Task Group produced “The Proposed Model for the Ethnic Ministries Council of the United Church of Canada” at the 35th General Council. The resolution on the Proposed Model for the Ethnic Ministries Council was almost unanimously accepted.

In August 1994, the General Council established a national administrative council structure for Ethnic Ministries. Ethnic Ministries Council was officially inaugurated in 1996 and replaced the previous Program Unit on Ethnic Ministries, a part of the Division of Mission in Canada. The Ethnic Ministries Council was one of six national administrative Divisions of the General Council office of the United Church of Canada, funded by the Mission and Service Fund. The purpose of EMC was to empower and equip racial and ethnic minorities and Ethnic Ministry congregation members of the United Church of Canada to participate fully in the Church’s life and mission as a developing, growing and gifted presence.

In 2001, the General Council Executive voted to change the structure of the national work of the Church from five Divisions and one Council to 10 working units. In April 2002, Ethnic Ministries Council was restructured, and renamed Ethnic Ministries Unit (EMU).

In 2008, the unit was changed to Intercultural and Diverse Communities in Ministry Unit. Under another major restructure in 2010, The Intercultural and Diverse Communities in Ministry Unit work was placed under the newly formed Communities in Ministry Unit which amalgamated with Partners in Mission in 2013 to form Church in Mission.

Edith Rankin Memorial United Church was formed in 1958, with the congregation from the former Collins Bay on Hillside Congregation.

The Committee is one of the four committees of the Executive of the General Council that was established after the restructuring of General Council divisions in 2001. It is responsible for overseeing and monitoring the financial life and policies of the General Council, including assets, income, expenditures, considerations of its short- and long-term financial issues, risk management, and investment and fund management; overseeing the long-term financial planning of the General Council; recommending the overall expenditure and income budget to the Executive; monitoring income, expenditures, assets, liabilities, and capital initiatives and reporting them regularly to the Executive and; recommending financial strategies.

The Permanent Committee on Finance is made up of 9 to 12 voting members reflecting the gender, race, ethnic, age, vocation, and geographical diversity of The United Church of Canada and three voting members of the Executive of the General Council. The General Council Officer for Finance is the staff resource to the committee.

The Permanent Committee on Governance Planning and Budgeting Processes (PC-GPBP) was one of the four Permanent Committees set up to assist the General Council Executive in it’s work. The Committee was charged with assisting the Executive to develop it’s governance, planning and budgeting processes. It created and recommended strategies or processes through which the Executive could carry out its governance planning and budgeting roles. Specifically, it reviewed work coming before the Executive; ensured planning with the committees and units was held up and came to the Executive in a coherent, integrated and manageable form; co-ordinated and presented policy recommendations; ensured accountability for delegated tasks; made decisions as delegated in the area assigned and delegated other functions to Working Units, sub-committees or other task groups; ensured and modelled the principle of collaboration between staff and elected members; carried out other functions as requested and advised and guided the Executive on matters relevant to its mandate.

This committee was a Permanent Committee of the General Council from 2003-2008 at which point a new Terms of Reference was adopted and most work of the Committee moved to the Committee on Governance and Agenda.

Huntington University Huntington University was founded in 1960 as a federated university of Laurentian University. The course of study was in Religious Studies and Philosophy and it was affiliated with the United Church. Many of the Chancellors and Presidents of Huntington were United Church ministers, including Rev. Douglas Joblin. In 2007 the chapel was transferred to the care of the first University Chaplain.

In 1974 a group of Canadian Churches and their development agencies collaborated to establish a fund for the support of projects and programs for international development. These churches and development agencies included: The Anglican Church of Canada-Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Roman Catholic Church-The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, The Presbyterian Church in Canada-Inter Church Aid World Development Service and Relief Committee, and the United Church of Canada-Division of World Outreach. The purpose of the fund was the following: to increase the capacity of participating Canadian churches to respond quickly and effectively to expressed development needs; to encourage the planning and decision making capacity of churches’ and NGO’s in developing countries and regions; to act on behalf of participating Canadian churches as a receiving body for development funds from governments or other agencies for overseas projects or programs and for interpretation. Types of projects and programs accepted for funding were related to these areas: education, literacy and culture; community development; agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry; health and welfare; service and credit cooperatives; research, planning and evaluation; leadership training; irrigation, wells and water schemes; small industries; national and regional NGO infrastructure for development planning and implementations; and fostering and pioneering in development creativity and new models. The fund was governed by a Board of Directors which was made up of Church leaders from the representing member churches and Christians working in the field of development. In 1997 a new ecumenical organization was formed called the Inter-Church Action for Development, Relief and Justice (ICA) which ended ICFID. The new entity carried many of ICFID’s responsibilities and also incorporated the experience of the Development and Service Committee of the Canadian Council of Churches.

Alderwood United Church was established in 1951. Services were originally held at Sir Adam Beck Public School on Horner Avenue in Etobicoke until 1958 when a new church building, located at 44 Delma Drive, Etobicoke, was built. In 2017, St. Paul's United Church, Long Branch (Etobicoke, Ont.), amalgamated with Alderwood United Church with services held at the Alderwood location. It is still an active congregation.

St. Paul's United Church in Etobicoke was established in 1925, formerly Presbyterian. Located at 85 Thirty-First Street, it served the Long Branch community of Toronto. On January 1, 2017, it amalgamated with Alderwood United Church with services at the Alderwood location.

Douglas Clarke Lapp (1926-2005) was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He received a BA (Hons) in Philosophy and History from the University in Toronto in 1948, a B.D. from Emmanuel College (Toronto) in 1953, a Masters of Theology from St. Pauls University (Ottawa) in 1969, and a PH.D. in Theology from the University of Ottawa in 1975. He was received as a candidate in the United Church of Canada in Spring, 1944, then entered the mission field. He was in the mission field at Wood River, Alberta in 1945 and Nipawin, Saskatchewan in 1946. Lapp was ordained by Montreal and Ottawa Conference in June, 1953. He served Chelsea Pastoral Charge from 1954-1955, 1957-1959, Dominion Chalmers U.C (Ottawa) from 1962-1967, Brittania U.C. (Ottawa) from 1967-1970, Stoney Creek Presbytery (Hamilton), 1970-1976, Metropolitan (Toronto) from 1976-1984, Westdale (Hamilton), 1984-1990. He was also very busy with other church positions. He was Boy’s Work Secretary of B.C. Conference from 1948-1950, and the Ontario Council of Christian Education from 1955-1957. He was the Field Secretary for the Board of Christian Education of Hamilton Conference from 1959-1962. He was Chairman of Ottawa Presbytery from 1969-1970, Toronto Area Presbytery from 1981-1983 and President of Hamilton Conference from 1990-1991. He was a member of the General Council’s Judicial Committee from 1984-1986. He was also Chair of the Moderator’s Task Force on Indian Residential Schools in 1990, and a member of the Task Group on Executive Positions in the General Council Office, 1993.

He was married to Ethel Mary Upton, and had 5 children: Laureen, Murray, Peter, Robert and Valerie.

Queensville - Sharon Hope Pastoral Charge was formed in 1954. In 2004 it was discontinued, with Sharon-Hope and Queensville becoming separate pastoral charges

St. James United Church, was established in 1927.The trustees of St. James U.C. first bought land in the Township of Sandwich East at William Street and Remington. The original building from Giles Boulevard United Church was moved to the site at that time. A new church was built in 1963 at 2595 Remington Avenue after the old building was sold.Over time, the congregation could not afford a minister and after a few lay ministers, a shared congregation of St James U.C. and Free Will Baptist was formed under the name 'Remington Park Community Church'. St. James United Church disbanded October 21, 2001.

Rev. R.B. Ledingham (d. 1935) was a Presbyterian minister. He was born in Ontario and was native to the County of Grey. In his early years he attended a high school in Owen Sound and later taught school. To further his education he went out west to attend Manitoba College where he graduated with an arts degree in 1902. Later he returned to Ontario and studied Theology at Knox College, Toronto. His first call to serve was in Waldemar, Ontario, and he subsequently served at various charges out west in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. After serving out west he went to Glasgow Scotland in 1909 to study at the United Free Church College. After his studies he returned to Canada and continued to serve in charges out west. In 1922 he was called back to Ontario to the congregations of Esson and Willis, and three years later served at Harriston. From 1931, and presumably until his death, Rev. Ledingham served at Weston Presbyterian Church. He was married and had three sons and three daughters.

Seymour Pastoral Charge was established in 1925, formerly Seymour East Methodist Circuit and Seymour Methodist Circuit. Seymour Pastoral Charge included Tabernacle United Church (English Line, Ont.), Zion United Church (Petherick's Corners, Ont.), and Stephen's United Church (Hoards Station, Ont.). In 1968 it amalgamated with Campbellford Pastoral Charge to form Campbellford-Seymour Pastoral Charge, which added Stanwood United Church (Ont.). The two pastoral charges again separated in 1975 to form Seymour Pastoral Charge, which retained Stanwood United Church (Ont.) and Campbellford Pastoral Charge, which became a single-point charge for St. John's United Church (Campbellford, Ont.). Seymour Pastoral Charge became a single point charge in 2016 at Seymour United Church (Hoards Station, Ont.).
•Seymour United Church, formerly Methodist, was established in 1925. The original building, a Methodist Episcopal Church, had been constructed ca. 1871 from land donated by Stephen Scott at Hoards Station, Ont.. The church was dedicated as Stenphen's Methodist Church after the donor. The church joined Union in 1925 and became Stephen's United Church. In 1956 a new, bigger building was contructed and the church was re-dedicated as Hoards United Church. In 2016, the church was again renamed as Seymour United Church (Hoards Station, Ont.).
•Zion United Church (Petherick's Corners, Ont.), was established in 1925, originally Zion Methodist Church.
•Tabernacle United Church (English Line, Ont.) was established in 1925, formerly Methodist. The church was closed in 2016 and sold. The congregation had started attending services in Hoards, now Seymour, United Church since the beginning of 2016.
•Stanwood United Church (Ont.) was established [ca.193-?]. It joined Seymour Pastoral Charge when Seymour and Campbellford Pastoral Charges amalgamated in 1968. The church was closed in 2016 and sold. The congregation had started attending services in Hoards, now Seymour, United Church since the beginning of 2016.

Wesley Methodist Church, formerly Wesleyan Methodist, was part of the Wesley Methodist Circuit which also included preaching places at Chemong, Lakehurst.

Associate Secretaries of Ministry Personnel were Audrey McKim, 1976; Janet McPherson, 1978-1986; Rev. George Lavery, 1987-1993; Patricia Talbot, 1994-2001.

In 2009 the Committee on Theology & Faith and the InterChurch Interfaith Committee were integrated to form the Theology and Interchurch and Interfaith Relations Committee.

The Division of Communication was formed in 1972. The Division’s general purpose was to service the communication needs of the Conference Divisions, Committees, courts and congregations, and to promote an understanding of the use and impact of mass media among United Church people and to stimulate a Christian response. The work included audio-visual work, AVEL, broadcasting, computers, media and news services, Observer insert, publications, resource centres, including Grand River Spiritual and Educational Resource, television and websites. In 2014, it became the Communication & Public Relation Divisions.

First United Church was established in 1925, formerly Methodist. The church was originally located in the town of Port Credit. Port Credit was a independent municipality until 1974 when it merged with the city of Mississauga. In 2019 the church amalgamated with Christ Church to form Christ First United Church.

The Division of Ministry, Personnel and Education was formed in 1972, and included the Christian Vocations, Continuing Education, Education and Students, Pensions, and Settlement Committees. The Division’s purpose was to identify changing concepts of Christian vocation and emerging styles of ministry, to enlist and maintain the training of persons for professional ministries, to place ministers, and to sustain ministers through continuing education. It later included work relating to internships interim ministry, and sexual abuse awareness and response

The Division of Stewardship began as a Committee under the Division of Finance and Administration and became a Division by 1986. Its mandate included providing stewardship education and support to congregations. It ceased to exist ca. 1999 and the Stewardship Committee continued as a Conference Standing Committee.

Presbyteries in the United Church of Canada are courts of the Church within geographical boundaries made up of a number of Pastoral Charges. Presbytery membership consists of ordained ministers of the Charges within the Presbytery and an equal number of lay persons. A grouping of Presbyteries within a larger geographical area makes up a Conference, a higher court of the Church. The functions of the Presbytery include: overseeing Pastoral Charges within its bounds, including the designation of new Charges; receiving and disposing of petitions and appeals from lower governing bodies or courts; transmitting the above to higher bodies or courts; licensing lay persons recommended after examination; overseeing education of students looking forward to ministry and supervision of members of the Order of Ministry within its bounds. Shining Waters Presbytery was established in 2012 with the restructuring of Bay of Quinte Conference; it includes pastoral charges which were formerly part of Peterborough Presbytery. It disbanded on December 31, 2018 with the reorganization of the church court structure. Communities of faith within its boundaries became part of East Central Ontario Regional Council

Jun Kabayama was born July 11, 1895 in Kagoshim-Ken, Japan. He took Commerce at Kansai Gakuin College. Following graduation in 1919, he joined the Japanese Army for one year before taking a job at the Public Department at Kobe City Hall before returning to Tokyo to attend Kansai Gakuin and learn under Dr. Armstrong. In 1923 he moved to Shizuoka and worked at a Mission Centre, and as Deputy Director of the Shizuoka Home of Inomiya. In 1924 he was asked by the Japanese Methodist Church to become a missionary. He was ordained by the Northern Division of the Japanese Methodist Church in 1929 and invited to come to Canada by the superintendent of the Home Mission Board of Orientals of the United Church of Canada. He served in Ocean Falls from 1929-1942, and was then forcefully relocated under the War Measures Act into an internment camp in British Columbia. He was then relocated and worked in Lethbridge, Alta (1942-1952); Okanagan Japanese (1952-1963); and Fraser Valley Japanese (1963-1965). Kabayama retired in 1965 and died in 1979.

Lynden Harold Winter Barclay (1912-1953) was a minister in the United Church of Canada. He attended high school at Glebe Collegiate in Ottawa. After graduation he attended McGill University, receiving a B.A. in 1932. He then earned an M.A. in Education at Queen’s University in 1934. He graduated from Emmanuel College in 1941 and was soon ordained into the United Church. He took some further post-graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in 1942. He was a minister at Radville, Saskatchewan 1942-1944; Kenogami, Quebec 1944-1948 and Woodroffe in Ottawa from 1949-1951. He took a study leave in 1942 and was studying for his doctorate of theology at Emmanuel when he was killed in a car accident in 1953. His parents were Dr. and Mrs. G.O. Barclay who served at Bell Street in Ottawa for over 40 years.

Robert Frederick ("Bob") Smith was born in Montreal in 1934. After receiving his B.A. from the University of Alberta in 1956, he earned a diploma in Theology at St. Stephen’s College (1958), a B.D. from the University of Alberta (1964), and a Th.D. at Boston University School of Theology (1973). He was ordained by the Alberta Conference of the United Church in 1958, and married Margaret Ellen Maguire that year. After ordination, he served in pastoral ministry at St. Luke's, Fort St. John, British Columbia (1958-1961); Trinity, Edmonton (1961-1965); Memorial Congregational Church of Atlantic, Quincy, Massachusetts (1965-1968); Richmond Hill (1968-1974); Eglinton, Toronto (1974-1982); Shaughnessy Heights, Vancouver (1982-1993); and First, Vancouver (1993-1998).

Throughout his ministry, Smith has served on numerous committees, including the Doctrinal Commission; General Commission on Church Union; Committee on Union and Joint Mission; Co-Chair of Roman Catholic-United Church Dialogue; the Committee on Theology and Faith; the Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee, and the Division of Mission in Canada's Advisory Group on Residential Schools.

Smith has also served as head of several church courts: as chair of York Presbytery (1972-1974) and Toronto Area Presbytery (1977-1979); President of Toronto Conference (1981-1982); and as Moderator of the United Church of Canada (1984-1986). As Moderator, he made the Apology to First Nations Peoples on behalf of the Church in 1986.

Mardi Tindal, a layperson, was an administrator and a Moderator of The United Church of Canada (2009-2012). She was born in 1952 and grew up in Victoria Square, Ontario (now part of Markham). She graduated from York University with a B.A. psychology and holds an M.A. in educational psychology from the University of Toronto. She worked as a consultant on leadership and program development and Coordinator of recreational ministries and youth resources with the Division of Mission in Canada at the General Council Office. She also served as Communication and Stewardship officer at Hamilton Conference, director of Camp Big Canoe and was executive director of Five Oaks Centre before becoming Moderator. From the 1980s to the 1990 she was co-host, producer and writer of Spirit Connection. Mardi Tindal served as Moderator from 2009-2012. She is married to Douglas Tindal.

Kathryn Virginia ("Ginny") Coleman (1949-) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. She attended McMaster University from 1968-1971, then from 1973-1975 studied at the Centre for Christian Studies, receiving a diploma as a Professional Christian Educator in 1975. She was received as a candidate in 1973, and ordained in 1975 by Hamilton Conference. She served as Director of Education at St. Paul's United in Orillia from 1975-1980, then St. Paul's in Midland from 1981-1982. She was the secretary of Ministry Personnel Services in the Division of Ministry Personnel and Education from 1984-1991, and Executive Secretary of Hamilton Conference from 1992-1994. She was General Secretary of the General Council from 1994-2002 and 2002-2005 she was Executive Secretary of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario Conference. From 2005-2011 she worked as a Diaconal Minister in Little Britain, Manitoba.

Irene Evans Parker was the first female General Secretary of the General Council. She was a Mission Officer and Chairperson of the Executive Committee of Applewood United Church in Mississauga, Chairperson of Halton Presbytery, chairperson of the pastoral relations committee of Halton Presbytery. She was Deputy Secretary of Regionalism and Personnel in the Office of the Moderator from 1985-1987 and during that time was also Acting General Council Secretary for the General Council. She retired from the General Council Office in 1987.

R. Gordon Nodwell (1928-2017) was a United Church minister and scholar. He was born on a farm in Dufferin County Ontario in 1928. In his early career he was an elementary school teacher and an accountant before receiving the call to ministry in 1952. Between 1950 and 1956 he studied at Queens University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and later a Master of Divinity. During his studies he served as a student minister at the following charges: Portsmouth UC, St. Matthew’s United Church and Asbern/Grahamsale Manitoba. He was ordained by the Toronto Conference in 1956. Following his ordination he became as reserve Chaplain serving with the R.C.A.F. in France in the summers of 1957 and 1958. Upon his return he ministered at Mount Denis United Church from 1961 to 1968 and then Deer Park United Church from 1976-192. From 1968 to 1976 he was a professor of pastoral theology and taught at Pine Hill Divinity Hall and the Atlantic School of Theology. Aside from his professorship and ministerial work he was involved in United Church governance including roles on the Committee on Christian Faith, Working Unit on Evangelism and Worship, Halifax Presbytery, Committee on Genetic and Ethics, and the Maritime Conference Interview Board. He was also involved with ecumenical societies such as the Canadian Association of Pastoral Education. Hr married Jessie Borthistle in 1952 and they had three children: David, Christina and Paul.

The Ontario Prohibition Union was founded as a successor organization to the Ontario Branch of the Dominion Alliance at the Alliance’s Annual Convention held in Toronto, March 18, 1924. Following several turbulent and controversial years of Alliance activity, leading temperance workers were urged by the Prohibition Federation of Canada to constitute a more representative organization to unify temperance forces in Ontario. This new group was initially called the Ontario Temperance Alliance but was changed to the Ontario Prohibition Union (OPU) at a subsequent meeting. The need for greater unity in the prohibition effort was cited in the new organization’s constitution:

The temperance workers of Ontario will expect that, in its leadership of the Prohibition forces, the Ontario Prohibition Union will, very earnestly seek the co-operation of all organizations and individuals that are all in sympathy with its one great object “The total and immediate suppression of the traffic in all intoxicating Liquors and beverages.”

Policy of the Organization was set at Conventions and carried out by an Executive Committee. The Union’s activities spanned an increased emphasis on temperance tracts, non-partisan political activity urging the abolition of the liquor traffic, the organization of county units, and assistance to ‘dry’ forces in local option contests, and the forwarding of information received at OPU offices regarding bootlegging and Liquor Control Act violations to the Provincial Attorney-General’s office.

After the passing of the Liquor Control Act in 1926 approving government control of liquor sales, prohibition sentiment experienced a gradual decline, especially in urban area. In 1934 the OPU was again reorganized, this time to reflect a stronger emphasis on education rather than legislation, and emerged the Ontario Temperance Federation.

The Ontario Temperance Foundation defined itself as “An interdenominational, non-partisan organization maintained largely by support of church congregations and individuals to co-ordinate the efforts of religious and other groups concerned with the promotion of sobriety in personal conduct and social behavior.” The Ontario Temperance Foundation emerged as the most influential temperance group in the nation.

Throughout its history the Federation found its main source of support in the United and Baptist churches, and to a lesser extent among Presbyterian, Congregationalists, and a number of smaller Protestant denominations. Little or no support was provided by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches and in many cases was never actively strong.

Combining scientific temperance with the moral appeals of earlier prohibitionists, the Federation became active in many fields, including education, youth work, legislation, community organization, and an administrative role as coordinator of provincial temperance forces. The Federation dissolved in 1968 to become the Alcohol and Drug Concerns Inc. The aim of the new organization was to promote lifestyles non dependent on drugs and alcohol, foster public awareness on the harms of those substances, advocate reduction of their use, counteract advertising promoting the use of substances, reinforcing the spiritual dimension of the work, and creating support and funding resources for the previous initiatives. In 1987 the organization surrendered its Ontario Charter and filed a National Charter to operate on a national level.