United Church of Canada. Manitou Conference

Conferences in the United Church of Canada were Church courts organized as an administrative grouping of Presbyteries in a geographical area. The Conference were governed by a body consisting of ministers within its boundaries and an equal number of non-ministerial representatives of Pastoral Charges. Functions of a Conference included the following: determining boundaries and numbers of Presbyteries within its bounds; receiving and disposing of appeals and petitions subject to the usual right to appeal; sustaining pastorate in every Pastoral Charge; examining and ordaining candidates for the Order of Ministry; receiving ministers and deaconesses from other Churches; dealing with matters referred to it by the General Council and selecting equal numbers of members of the Order of Ministry and lay representatives to the General Council.

Manitou Conference was established in 1975 as the twelfth Conference of the United Church of Canada to represent the communities of Northeastern Ontario and Northwestern Quebec. The inaugural meeting was held at First United Church, Timmins Ontario from June 19-21, 1975. The Conference originally encompassed the Cochrane, North Bay, Sudbury and Temiskaming Presbyteries. Cochrane and Temiskaming Presbyteries amalgamated in the fall of 2007 to form Spirit Dancing Presbytery.

In September 2015, the Manitou Conference office located at Omond Memorial United Church (North Bay, Ont.), was destroyed by fire, including their computer drives and paper records. Only some vital records were recovered. Manitou Conference disbanded on December 31, 2018 with the reorganization of the United Church of Canada court structure. Communities of faith within the boundaries of Manitou Conference became part of Canadian Shield Regional Council.