Jesse H. Arnup, (1881-1965) was a minister and Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Norfolk County, Ontario in 1881. He graduated from Victoria College in 1909 and received his D.D. from Wesley College, Winnipeg, in 1924. From 1910 to 1912 he was Secretary of the Layman's Missionary Movement of the Methodist Church, Assistant Secretary of Overseas Missions from 1913 to 1925, and Secretary of United Church of Canada Foreign Missions from 1925 to 1952. He served as Moderator from 1944 to 1946.
Marion Best was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. She received Nurse Training at the Royal Columbian Hospital, then worked there from 1968-1975. In 1977, she and her husband Jack Best received a joint call to the Naramata Centre in British Columbia, where she worked on programs and he worked on public relations and finances. She continued work there until 1987 when she began freelance consulting work with church and community groups, in the healthcare field. For many years, she was on the Executive of the World Council of Churches. She was also President of the British Columbia Conference, and on the United Church’s General Council Executive. A lay-leader, she served as Moderator of the United Church from 1994-1997, and in 1998 began serving as Vice-Moderator of the World Council of Churches. Best was Chair of the sessional committee that produced the 1988 recommendations on opening the ministry to gays and lesbians, in the report Toward a Christian Understanding of Sexual Orientation Lifestyles and Ministry.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 2018 to 2022.
Rev. Dr. Willard Brewing was born in Sussex Corners, N.B. He trained for the ministry in the United States and served the Reformed Episcopal Church in Canada as minister and bishop. In 1929, he accepted a call to St. Andrew's - Wesley United Church, Vancouver, where he remained until moving to St. George's United Church, Toronto, in 1938. He was elected as Moderator in 1948 and served until his retirement in 1951. He died in Toronto on August 13, 1960.
Peter Bryce (1877-1950) was a Methodist/United Church minister, administrator and Moderator. He was born in Scotland in 1877. He did mission work in Newfoundland in 1903; in 1906 he moved to Toronto and Victoria University. He was active in Earlscourt and other Sunday School and urban mission work. He later served as Secretary of Missionary and Maintenance (1927-1936), Moderator (1936-1938), and Minister at Metropolitan United Church in Toronto (1938-1950). He died in 1950.
Jordan Cantwell was born in New York in 1967; as a child her parents moved to the Canadian Prairies. She was involved with social justice movements in the 1980s and the United Church of Canada sent her to South Africa in 1993 as an Observer through the World Council of Churches. She officially joined the United Church in the late 1990s, and prior to being ordained worked at The Centre for Christian Studies when it first moved to Winnipeg. She also worked as a staff associate at Augustine United where she served the Oak Table outreach ministry. She earned her Master of Divinity at St. Andrew’s College, and was ordained in 2010. She interned at Delisle-Vanscoy United Church, and served there for seven years before becoming elected as Moderator in 2015. Cantwell’s spouse, Laura Fouhse is a diaconal minister in the United Church. Cantwell served as Moderator from 2015-2018.
George Dorey (1884-1963) was a Methodist/United Church minister, administrator and Moderator of the United Church. The bilingual George Dorey came to Canada from the Channel Islands in 1904 at the invitation of James Woodsworth. Educated at Victoria University (B.A.) and Emmanuel College (B.D.), Dorey entered the ministry of the Methodist Church in Saskatchewan in 1914, subsequently serving as Superintendent of Home Missions for South Saskatchewan, 1929-1936; Associate Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, 1936-1945; Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, 1947-1954; Acting Secretary of General Council, 1954-1955; and Moderator, 1955-1956. Dorey had an interest in social and religious work amongst 'new' Canadians in the West, especially in his capacity as Secretary for Home Missions in Saskatchewan. He was concerned that Protestant churches were not doing enough to bring the ethnic groups (Germans, especially the Mennonites, Ukrainians, Austrians and others) into the Canadian mosaic, although he expressed reservations about the idea of assimilation. In detailing his thoughts on home mission work he made use of data from the social surveys done in the 1910s to examine the religious, social and educational accomplishments and needs of new Canadian settlement in Western Canada. Following his retirement, Dorey served as President of the Canadian Council of Churches.
James Gareth Endicott (1898-1993) was a United Church minister and missionary to China. The son of James Endicott, he was born in China. He studied at Victoria College, where he was a student leader in the Student Volunteer Movement, the Student Christian Movement, and the Student Council. He was a missionary in China, starting in 1925. He resigned his ministry in 1946. In 1952 he was censured by The United Church of Canada for supporting the Chinese revolution and for accusing the United States of using germ warfare in Korea. He was Chairman of the Canadian Peace Congress from 1948 to 1971, and a member of the World Council of Peace. He was awarded the International Peace Prize by the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and he received an official apology from the United Church in 1982.
Walter Henry Farquharson (1936-) was born in Rosetown, Saskatchewan. He received a B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1957, and received a B.D. in 1961 and a D.D. in 1975 from St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon. He married Joan Casswell in Saskatchewan in 1958 and was ordained by Saskatchewan Conference in 1960. From 1960-1961, he was an assistant at Morningside Parish in Edinburgh, and from 1961-1976 as minister at Saltcoats in Bredenbury Pastoral Charge. In 1966 when Saltcoats had a crisis in their school he took up the challenge of teaching. He was appointed Principal of Saltcoats Junior High, completed his diploma in Education and taught at the Yorkton School Unit over seven years. Walter Farquharson served as Moderator from 1990-1992. Farquharson was also involved in many committees, he chaired Yorkton Presbytery, was President of the Saskatchewan Conference, Senate at St. Andrew’s College, Board of Directors at the Prairie Christian Training Centre. He was a prolific writer of hymns, publishing over 60.
David William Giuliano (1960-) was born in Jerseyville, Ontario and raised in Windsor, Ontario. He married his wife, Pearl E. Ryall in 1979. He earned a B.A. from the University of Guelph in 1982, and following that, worked at the University as a Human Rights Commissioner, Conference Co-Ordinator and Residence Manager. He earned a Master of Divinity in 1986, and a Master of Theology in 1987 from Queen’s University. He was ordained by London Conference in 1987 and began work as a minister at St. John’s United Church in Marathon, where he remained until he was elected to serve as Moderator of the United Church from 2006-2009. Aside from pastoral duties, Giuliano served the church as Chairperson of the Pastoral Relations Committee and Outreach and Social Action Committee for Cambrian Presbytery, and a member of the Presbytery Planning Committee and Youth Event Planning Committee for Cambrian Presbytery, the Local Justice Concerns and Ordination Interview Committees for MNO Conference, and the National Learning on the Way.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1928-1930
The Very Rev. Dr. Wilbur Kenneth Howard (1912-2001) was a minister and the 26th Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Toronto. He spent his undergraduate years at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, completing his Bachelor of Arts in 1938. In 1941, he became the first Black graduate in Theology at Emmanuel College, receiving his Bachelor of Divinity. He was ordained by Toronto Conference the same year. He later did post-graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York and, in 1969, received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Emmanuel College. In 1975, he was given an LL.D. degree from the University of Winnipeg. Howard had a wide-ranging career before receiving a settlement, serving as Boys' Work Secretary for the Ontario Religious Education Council (1941-1949), Christian Education Secretary for Manitoba Conference (1949-1953) and Associate Editor of Sunday School Publications at the General Council Office (1953-1965) where he helped shape The New Curriculum. In 1965 he got the call to team ministry at Dominion-Chalmers in Ottawa, serving there until 1970, then Emmanuel United in Ottawa until 1981. While in Ottawa, he was at one time president of the Montreal and Ottawa Conference, and was also a member of the Refugee Status Committee through the department of Employment and Immigration for the Federal Government. He was also a member, then President of the John Milton Society for the Blind in Canada, and Chairman of the Ontario Advisory Council, Alcohol and Drug Concerns, Inc. In 1974, Howard became the first Black Moderator of The United Church of Canada, elected at the 26th General Council to serve the 1974-1977 triennium. After serving as Moderator, Howard returned to Emmanuel United in Ottawa until he retired in 1981. In 1991 he was received into the Order of Ontario. In 2001, Wilbur K. Howard passed away.
Ernest Marshall Frazer Howse (1902-1993), minister, author, and journalist, was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland and educated in Belleville, Ontario, and at Dalhousie University (B.A. 1929), Pine Hill Divinity College (B.D. 1931), Union Theological Seminary (S.T.M. 1932), and the University of Edinborough (PhD 1934). He served charges in Beverly Hills, California (1934-1935), Westminster United Church in Winnipeg (1935-1948), and Bloor Street United Church in Toronto (1948-1970). He served as Moderator of the United Church of Canada (1964-1966). Howse was the author of several books including, 'Saints in politics' (1952), 'Spiritual values in Shakespeare,'(1955) and 'Roses in December,'(1981). His journalism appeared in several major Canadian newspapers, including the Toronto Star and Toronto Telegram, the Winnipeg Free Press and Victoria Sun-Times. In addition, he wrote columns for the United Church Observer, and served on the editorial board of the Christian Century.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1946-1948
Sang Chul Lee (1924-) was born in Siberia, a son of Korean immigrants. At seven, he moved to Manchuria and while there, attended a school operated by the Canadian Mission Board. After World War II he moved to South Korea, and received his theological education there and in Switzerland and Vancouver, Canada. His ordination was in the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK), a partner church of the United Church. With his family, Lee emigrated to Canada in 1965; serving a three-point charge in Vancouver. He came to Toronto in 1969 and for twenty years was pastor of the Toronto Korean United Church. Lee served as Moderator of the United Church from 1988-1990. He served as Chancellor of Victoria University, Toronto from 1992-1998.
Wilfred Cornett Lockard (1906-1991) was born in Dundalk, Ontario. He received a B.A. from Victoria College, at the University of Toronto in 1929, and a M.A. from Emmanuel College in 1932. He was ordained by Toronto Conference in 1933, and also married his wife, Margaret that year. He served as minister in North Leith Parish, Edinburg from 1933-1935 while earning his Ph.D. in Church History. Following that, he was Secretary of The Student Christian Movement and Padre of Hart House at the University of Toronto from 1935-1940, during which time he was also the first Secretary of the Canadian Committee of the World Council of Churches. He was Minister of Sherbourne Street United in Toronto from 1940-1942, and Kingsway Lambton in Toronto from 1942-1955. He was the first Principal of United College, Winnipeg from 1955-1967, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg from 1967-1971. He served as Moderator of the United Church from 1966-1968, and also served the General Council office as Chairman of Toronto West Presbytery, the Board of Schools and Colleges of the United Church (1946-1955), the Department of Ecumenical Affairs for the Canadian Council of Churches (1946-1955), Winnipeg Presbytery (1962-1963). Lockhart died in 1991.
W. Clarke MacDonald (1920-1993) was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia. MacDonald graduated from Dalhousie University in 1941. Afterwards, he took his theological training at Pine Hill Divinity Hall in Halifax, was ordained by the Maritime Conference in 1943. In 1944, he received his Bachelor of Divinity from Pine Hill, and married Muriel MacDonald. From 1944-1962, he served pastorates including West Bay (Cape Breton), Black River Ridge (New Brunswick), Port Hawkesbury and Trinity Church (Cape Breton) and also served as Secretary of the Maritime Conference from 1961-1962. From 1962-1971 he was minister at St. Luke’s in Toronto, then, was appointed Secretary of the Board of Evangelism and Social Service in 1971. He served as Moderator of the United Church from 1982-1984. After serving as Moderator, he returned to his position of Deputy Secretary of the Division of Mission in Canada, with the responsibility for the Office of Church in Society and also, was chairman of the ecumenical Project Ploughshares. He retired in 1986 and died in 1993.
Angus James MacQueen (1912-) was a United Church minister and Moderator. He was born in Cape Breton, and was educated at Mount Allison University (B.A.) and Pine Hill Divinity Hall (B.D. and D.D.). After graduation Rev. MacQueen held pastorates in the Maritimes (1935-1946), Edmonton (1946-1951), London (1951-1964), and Toronto (1964-1980). He was elected Moderator in 1958.
Robert Baird McClure (1900-1991) was an overseas medical missionary and the first lay Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Dr. William McClure, a Presbyterian medical missionary to China. McClure spent most of his childhood in China. He graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1922 and returned to China as a Medical Missionary in 1924. He married Amy Hislop in China in 1926 after having met her as a student in Canada. After marriage in Tianjin, the McClures returned to Qinyang. They returned to Tianjin less than a year later as a civil war had broken out. McClure then relocated to a Presbyterian mission hospital in Taipei. In 1930-1931, McClure travelled to the UK, then Toronto to earn his FRCS degree. He and his family moved back to Qinyang in late 1931. In 1937, McClure became the Field Director for the International Red Cross. Throughout 1938-1945 he organized convoys of medical supplies into China via Burma, and other medical relief operations in remote locations. In 1946, he opened a United Church mission hospital in Hankou and spent two years there. In 1948 he returned home to Canada. McClure also served in Gaza, Palestine (1950-1954), Ratlam, India (1954-1967). He returned to Canada and was elected the 23rd Moderator of The United Church of Canada in 1968. After his term as Moderator, McClure continued to do volunteer medical work in Sarawak, Malaysia, Peru, in the West Indies and in Zaire. McClure became a companion of the Order of Canada in 1971, and a member of the Order of Ontario in 1990. McClure died in 1991.
Stanley J. McKay (1942-) was born and raised on Fisher River Indian Reserve. He attended Fisher River Indian Day School until he was 13 years old, then was sent to Birtle Indian Residential School to complete High School. After a year at the Manitoba Teacher’s College he taught at Norway House, Manitoba from 1962-1964. In 1967, McKay graduated with a B.D. from United College in Winnipeg, and married his wife, Dorothy. In 1971, he was ordained, the ceremony being held at Stevens Memorial Church on the reservation where he grew up. McKay served Fisher River from 1971-1975, and Norway House from 1975-1982 before being hired to coordinate the developments of the United Church’s national consultation process for the National Native Council, 1982-1987. During that time, McKay successfully advocated for the Church’s apology for it’s role in culture oppression of First Nations peoples in 1986. From 1987-1988 he served in Native Ministry at Winnipeg Presbytery and in 1988 was hired as the director of the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Resource Centre, a training centre for native ministries. McKay served as Moderator from 1992-1994.
Hugh Alexander McLeod (1894-1992) was a Presbyterian/United Church minister and Moderator of the United Church. He was born in Owen Sound, Ontario. Originally planning to pursue a career in law, he worked his way through university as a helmsman on the Great Lakes' steamboats. He served as a quartermaster aboard barges crossing the English Channel with ammunition during World War I. In 1921, he married Doreen Taggart. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister in Luseland, Saskatchewan, in 1920 and served various charges in Western Canada. In 1960, he was elected Moderator of the United Church.
Norman Bruce McLeod was Moderator of The United Church of Canada, 1972-1974. He was born in Toronto in 1929. He obtained his B.D. from Emmanuel College in 1953, M.A. from Columbia University and Th.D. from Union Theological Seminary in 1960. He was ordained by Toronto Conference in 1953 and served at the following churches in Ontario: Victoria Harbour, 1956-1958; St. Stephen’s on-the-Hill, Port Credit, 1958-1965; Westdale United Church, Hamilton, 1965-1970; Bloor Street United Church, Toronto, 1970-1975; and Richmond Hill United Church, 1979-1983; Metropolitan Toronto, 1984-1987; Bellefair, 1989-1994. Following retirement in 1994, he served as long term pulpit supply at St. John’s Stratford, 1994-1995; St. John’s Scarborough, 2000; Rosedale, 2000-2001. During his term as moderator he travelled extensively in Canada. In 1975 following his term as Moderator he became a Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and was responsible for public hearings across Ontario, receiving 300 written briefs and drafting "Life Together", the first revision of the Human Rights Code in 15 years.
In the 1980s and 1990s Dr. McLeod was often invited as international observer and went to Africa, Latin America and Asia. Inter-faith conversations were a hallmark of his service. He was a frequent contributor to the United Church Observer and for eight years, a weekly op-ed columnist for the Toronto Star.
Arthur Bruce Barbour Moore (1906-2004) was born in Keswick Ridge, New Brunswick. He received his early education in New Brunswick and Quebec and graduated from McGill in 1927 with honours in English and History. In 1930, he graduated from United Theological College in Montreal with his Bachelor of Divinity. Following graduation, he spent seven years as a minister in Quebec (Amherst Park United Church, Howick United Church) and four years as a minister of College Hill Church in Easton, Pennsylvania. From 1940-1942 he supplied at Parkdale United Church in Ottawa, then served at Westminster United Church in Saskatoon until 1946 when he was appointed Principal of St. Andrew’s college. He received a Doctor of Divinity in 1947, and was elected President of the Saskatchewan Conference of The United Church of Canada in 1949. In 1950 he was appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University. In 1952 he received his Doctor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan and a Doctor of Divinity from Trinity College in Toronto. From 1954-1958 he was Chairman of the Board of Overseas Missions of the United Church. In 1969, he was appointed President of the Canadian Council of Churches. From 1971-1972 he served as Moderator of the United Church. From 1973-1974 he served as an Interim Minister at St. Andrews Kirk in Nassau, Bahamas. In 1976 he served as Interim General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches and was also named to the Order of Canada. From 1977-1980 he served as Chancellor of the University of Toronto. Moore died in 2004. He was married to Margaret Moore who died in 2004.
Thomas Albert Moore (1860-1940) was a Methodist/United Church minister and administrator and Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He was born in Acton, Ontario. He studied at McGill University and Wesleyan College, Montreal, was ordained in 1884, and served Methodist circuits in Ontario. He was Secretary of the Lord's Day Alliance of Ontario, 1903-1906; Secretary of the Methodist General Conference, 1906-1925; Secretary of the Methodist Board of Temperance and Moral Reform/Evangelism and Social Service, 1910-1925; Secretary of the General Council of the United Church, 1925-1936; and Moderator of the United Church, 1932-1934. He also served in several other positions, including committees relating to church union (1925).
James Ralph Mutchmor (1892-1980) was a United Church minister, administrator and Moderator. He was born on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. He served in the Canadian Field Artillery in World War I, and returned home after being wounded at Vimy Ridge. After the war, he studied economics and theology in Toronto and New York. He was ordained a Presbyterian Minister in 1920, and ministered in Winnipeg, first at Robertson Memorial Church and House (1920-1932), then at John Black Memorial Church (1932-1936). During his residence in Winnipeg he was also the Secretary of the Manitoba Welfare Supervision Board from 1926-1936, and of its Child Welfare Board from 1934-1936. He served as the Secretary of the United Church Board of Evangelism and Social Service from 1938 to his retirement in 1963, was the Moderator of the 20th General Council of the United Church, 1962-1964, and the Secretary of the United Church Committee on Church and International Affairs, 1938-1964. During World War II he was Chairman of Chaplaincy Services and Secretary of its War Services Committee. He also served other Church and ecumenical organizations. He was secretary of the National Religious Advisory Council of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for 24 years, being responsible for the United Church broadcasts on Religious Period and Church of the Air on Sunday Afternoons, and was a recognized television personality. Mutchmor died on May 17, 1980.
Rev. Dr. C.M. Nicholson was Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1950-1952
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1932-1934
Marion Pardy (1942-) was born in Gander, Newfoundland. She graduated from Covenant College (Centre for Christian Studies) and holds a B.A. (Honours) and a Masters degree from York University. She earned Doctor of Ministry from Boston University School of Theology in 1997. In 1968, she was ordained as a diaconal minister by Hamilton Conference and designated as a deaconess at Gower Street United Church (St. John’s). She was Director of Christian Education for Yorkton Presbytery from 1968-1970, Team Minister and Minister in Birtle Presbytery (1970-1973), Program Resource Field Staff for Manitoba Conference (1973-1975), Pastoral Assistant, Forest Grove United Church (1975-1977), and Team Minister at Cliffcrest United Church (1977-1981). She was ordained in 1982. Pardy has served the United Church General Council Office as well, she was a contributing writer for Loaves and Fishes, Religion and Life, Worldwind and Exchange, served on the Celebration Committee, Christian Initiation Task Force, Loaves and Fishes Committee, and was chairperson of the Ministry with Children Working Unit. In 1982, she was appointed as Special Assistant, Children in the Division of Mission in Canada. From 1990 she was pastor of Gower Street United Church in St. John’s. Pardy served as Moderator from 2000-2003, and was the first diaconal minister to do so. Following her term as Moderator, she represented the United Church on the Governing Board of the Canadian Council of Churches, where she served as Vice-President from 2004-2009.
Gary J. Paterson (1949-) was born in Whitehorse Yukon, and as an ‘army brat’ lived in Toronto and Germany before his family settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. He earned a B.A. in English Literature at the University of British Columbia and an M.A. in English from Queen’s University before becoming a sessional lecturer at the University of British Columbia. He then studied theology at Andover Theological School in Boston and the Vancouver School of Theology. He was ordained in 1977. He was a minister at Marpole United Church in Vancouver from 1979-1981. He served as minister in Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery from 1982-1989, First United in Vancouver from 1989-1993, Ryerson in Vancouver from 1993-2005, and St. Andrew’s-Wesley, Vancouver from 2005-2011. Paterson served as Moderator of the United Church from 2012-2015, and was the first openly gay person to do so. His spouse, Tim Stevenson, a Vancouver City Councillor is the first openly gay male to be ordained by the United Church.
William Phipps was born in 1942 in Toronto, Ontario. He earned his B.A. at Victoria College, his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1965 and his Bachelor of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago in 1968. While studying in Chicago he worked for the social activist, Saul Alinsky. Bill Phipps was ordained by Toronto Conference in 1969 and was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1970.
He served at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto from 1974-1983, Alberta Northwest Conference as Conference Executive Secretary, 1983-1993 and at Scarboro United Church in Calgary, 1993-2007, from where he took a three-year leave of absence when he was elected Moderator in 1997. In 1998, he issued the second formal apology to the First Nations people for all the sufferings they endured because of the church’s participation in the residential school system.
From 1999-2006 he was International President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. He has also worked as a poverty lawyer, community organizer, hospital chaplain and adult educator. Rev. Phipps retired from ministry in 2007 but continues to be active in social justice, the defence of Aboriginal rights and peace issues. He is married to Carolyn Pogue, a writer.
The Very Rev. Dr. George Campbell Pidgeon, D.D., LL.D., was a Presbyterian and United Church minister and the first Moderator of The United Church of Canada. He was born on March 2, 1872 in Maria, Québec, on the Gaspé peninsula, to Archibald Montgomery and Mary Campbell Pidgeon. He attended Morrin College (1887-1889) and McGill University (1889-1891), from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He then attended Presbyterian College, Montréal (1891-1894), where he received his Bachelor of Divinity and, later, an earned Doctor of Divinity in 1905.
Pidgeon was ordained on May 29, 1894 and was called to Montréal West Presbyterian Church, where he served until 1898. Subsequent charges and positions were Streetsville Presbyterian Church (1898-1903), Victoria Presbyterian Church in Toronto Junction (1903-1909), the registrar and professor of practical theology at Westminster Hall in Vancouver (1909-1915), and Bloor Street Presbyterian (later United) Church in Toronto (1915-1948). From September 1917 to May 1918, he was granted a leave to serve as a special preacher for the Y.M.C.A. in France during the First World War. Following his retirement from Bloor Street, he was granted the title Minister Emeritus.
Around 1917, Pidgeon became an active proponent of church union. From 1921-1925, he served as the convenor of the Joint Committee on Church Union, and in 1924 took over as convenor for the Presbyterian General Assembly’s Committee on Church Union. In June, 1925, he was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. A week later he was elected the first Moderator of The United Church of Canada, a role he held for one year.
Pidgeon was active in many causes, especially the temperance movement, moral reform, religion in education, evangelism, and ecumenism. Some of the positions he held and organizations he was involved with include: first convenor of the Presbyterian Church’s Board of Moral and Social Reform; president of the Inter-Church Council of Moral and Social Reform for British Columbia; chair of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions; chair of the Interdenominational Committee on Evangelization in Canadian Life; president of the Western Section of the Alliance of Reformed Churches; and president of the Social Services Council for Canada. He was also in attendance at many international ecumenical conferences as a representative for Canada, and was involved with the creation of the World Council of Churches and the Canadian Council of Churches.
Pidgeon remained in the public sphere after his term as Moderator concluded. His sermons at Bloor Street United Church were regularly broadcast over the radio. He wrote a number of books and articles, and had a weekly column, “Religion and Life”, in The Toronto Telegram from 1949-1960. His last public act for The United Church of Canada was laying the cornerstone of the United Church House on May 7, 1958.
While attending Presbyterian College, he met Mary Helen Jones, whom he married on March 23, 1898. They had three children: Mary Alice (b. 1899), Archibald Leslie Stephen (b. 1902), and Helen Campbell (b. 1911). George Pidgeon died on June 15, 1971 at the age of 99.
Richard Roberts (1874-1945) was a Presbyterian/United Church minister and Moderator of the United Church. He was born in Wales, where he also studied. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1897, and ministered in England until he resigned as a result of his pacifist views in 1915. He ministered in Brooklyn, New York, 1917-1921; and in Toronto and Montreal, 1922-1938. He was Moderator of the United Church, 1934-1936. He lectured briefly in Halifax before moving back to the United States in 1940.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1942-1944
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1952-1954
Peter Short (1948-) was born in Kingston, Ontario. He married his wife, Susan in 1953. He graduated from York University in 1973, Emmanuel College in 1977 and was ordained by the Maritime Conference in 1978. He served at Yellowknife United Church from 1983-1990, Beaconsfield United Church, Montreal 1990-1999, Wilmot, in Fredericton from 1999-2008. Short served as Moderator from 2003-2006. He also served the General Council office as a member of the Executive of the Department of Stewardship Services (1993-1998), chair of the Moderator’s Advisory Committee for the Very Reverend Bill Phipps (1997-2000), Chair of the Business Committee of the Executive of General Council (2000-2002), and Chair of the Agenda and Planning Committee for the 38th General Council. Short retired in 2010.
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.
Dr. Anne Squire (nee Park) (1921-2017) was Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 1986 to 1988. Squire was born in Amherstburg, Ontario to Methodist mother and Anglican father. She taught public school (1939-1945), church school (1945-1980) and served as a director at Camp Bitobi for twelve years. She received her B.A. (hons) (1974), and M.A. in Religion (1975) from Carleton University. She went on to teach Religious Studies and Women’s Studies at the University of Carleton with the Lay School of Theology from 1975-1982. Aside from working in education, she held many different positions throughout her career. She was a curriculum writer for the United Church from 1962-1975 and was the was chair of Project : Ministry (Division of Mission in Canada) from 1977-1980. She provided leadership at Queen’s Theological College on the Board of Managers from 1980-1985, was Chairperson of the Ontario Conference for Women (1979-1980), Secretary of the United Church Division of Ministry Personnel and Education (1982-1985), Chair of the Interchurch/Interfaith Committee (1988-1992), and chairperson at Emmanuel United Church in 1982. She was Moderator of The United Church from 1986-1988, the first lay woman leader to hold the position. She received many honourary degrees and accolades for her work: Doctor of Divinity degrees from McGill University (1980), Queen’s University (1985), an Honourary Legum Doctorate from Carleton University (1988) for her work in University and Educational Services. She was also recipient of the Senate Medal from Carleton in 1972. A staunch feminist, Squire was known for her women’s rights activism and teaching feminist theology. She was also known for her study and report on the Sexuality of Ordination Debate which drove the vote for inclusivity. Squire married William in 1943 and had three children: Frances, Laura and Margaret. She died in 2017.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1956-1958
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.
Aubrey Stephen Tuttle (1874-1949) was a Methodist/United Church minister, educator and Moderator of the United Church. He was born in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, graduated from Mount Allison University and entered the ministry of the Methodist Church in 1897. He served churches in Western Canada. He married Mary Anna (Mollie) Johnson in 1910. In 1919, he was appointed Principal of Alberta College, South. Later, he was Principal of St. Stephen's College. He served as Moderator of The United Church of Canada from 1940 to 1942.
George Milledge Tuttle (1915-) was a United Church minister, administrator and Moderator. He was born at Medicine Hat, Alberta, the son of Methodist minister Aubrey Stephen Tuttle. He obtained a doctorate in theology from Victoria University. He had several mission fields, a pastorate in Sangudo, Alberta and a term as assistant minister in Toronto. As well, he served as National Director of Youth Work, Professor at Union College, Vancouver, 1951-1966, and Principal of St. Stephen's College, Edmonton, 1966-1979. He was President of British Columbia Conference in 1963, on the Executive of General Council in 1974 and served as Moderator from 1977 to his retirement in 1980.
Lois Miriam Freeman (1927-2024) was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of Rev. E.G.D. Freeman. She earned her B.A. and Bachelor of Divinity degrees at the University of Winnipeg. She married Rev. Roy Wilson in 1950. Lois Wilson was ordained in Winnipeg in 1965 and shared team ministries with her husband in Thunder Bay, Kingston and Hamilton before becoming first woman president of the Canadian Council of Churches in 1976. In 1980, she was elected the first woman Moderator of the United Church. From 1983 to 1991 she served as one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches, the first Canadian to do so. She travelled extensively to visit member churches in all continents and was central to initiating the Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women. She was appointed to the Senate in 1998, retiring in 2002. She was Ecumenist in Residence at the Toronto School of Theology from 2006-2009 and is currently Distinguished Minister-in-Residence at the Emmanuel College in the University of Toronto. She has the received the following honours and awards: the Queen’s 25th Anniversary Medal, 1977; The Pearson Peace Medal, 1985; Officer of the Order of Canada, 1984; Order of Ontario, 1991; Companion of the Order of Canada, 2003; Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Award for Christian Unity, 2010; and the Heart and Vision Award, 2011. Wilson passed away in September, 2024.
Moderator of the United Church of Canada, 1938-1940