Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/289

 CANADA

241

CANADA

Two Mountains (7.5 families); in (he Diocese of Valley- field, the Iroquois Catholic centre of Saint Regis. These, however, are exceptions. The real missions of Canada at present are in the North-East, along the coast of Labrador: in the North on the shores of Hud- son Bay: and especially in the Nbrth-West, in the immense territories which stretch from Ontario to the Lower Mackenzie and Alaska. In the North- East the vicariate Apostolic of the Gulf of St. Law- rence, confided to the Eudisf Fathers, contains 12,000 Catholics: among them some Eskimo, Nascapi, and Montagnais. ministered to by twenty missionaries. To the West there are a number of missions in the Dioceses of Pembroke, Peterborough and Sault Sainte Marie. The Oblate Fathers, the Jesuits, and secular priests rival one another in their efforts to pre- serve and extend the Faith in the region between the Great Lakes and James Bay.

Lastly there are the missions of the North-West and British Columbia, the most important of all. They comprise the ecclesiastical province of St. Boni- face, and. with the exception of Vancouver, that of Victoria, in both of which the Oblate Fathers have many prosperous missions. The secular clergy, the pioneer missionaries of British Columbia, are still in charge of most of the inhabitants of Vancouver Island: as the country is becoming more thickly populated, the number of secular priests is increasing in British Columbia and in the province of St. Boniface. These provinces include the Dioceses of St. Albert,

New Westminster, and Prince Albert, and two vica- riates Apostolic: Athabasca and Mackenzie- Yukon. Most of these ecclesiastical divisions are under Oblate bishops, with about 230 Oblate Fathers, assisted by lay brothers of the same congregation. A hundred secular priests and a large number of religious of both sexes are scattered throughout the North-West, their numbers having been considerably augmented by the latest persecutions in France. The Christian Indians belong to the Algonquin race, and are commonly known as Kristinous or Cree, though they call them- selves Nehivourik. According to a recent estimate they number 45,000. British Columbia contains 26,000 Indians, but, of a different race. The devo- tion of the missionaries also extends to the numerous half-breeds in the "Far West", and to the settlers of every race and nationality. In these immense regions, which in 1S4.3 had only one bishop and six priests, there was in 190S a hierarchy of seven bishops and nearly 400 priests, regular and secular. There are over 150,000 Catholics, with more than 420 churches, 150 schools, and many charitable institu- tions. This wonderful progress is due chiefly to the work of the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate. The history of the evangelization of the North- West is one of the most interesting in the annals of Catholic missions, and its final page has not yet been written. (See Oblates.)

Conclusion.— Of the tables given below, Table I will enable the reader to form an estimate of the progress

TABLE I

Catholics

Anglicans

Presbyterians

Methodists

Baptists

Catholics

Anglicans

Presbyterians Methodists

Baptists

Catholics Anglican*

'i* nans Methodists Baptists

Catholics

Anglirans

'i 1 nans Methodists Baptists

Ontario

167,695 223.365 204.148 213,365 45,353

258.151 311,559 303,374 350,373 61,539

274.166

462,264 86,630

320,839 366,539 117,749 591,503 106.680

358.300 3N5.999 153,1 17 654.033 106,047

390,304 367,937 177,386 666,388

116,281

Quebec

746,854 44,682 38,470 21,199 4,403

943.253 63.487

43.735 30.S44 7.751

1,019,850 62.449 46,165 34,100 8.686

1,170,718

68.797 50.287 39.221 8.853

1.291.709


 * , ir j

52.673

39.544

7,901

1,429, 260 81.563 5S.013 42,01 1 8,393

Nova Scotia

69,131 36,115 72.924 23.593 42.643

86,281 17.711 88,755 34,167 62.941

102.001 55.143

103 :,:v.< 40.871 73.430

117.487 60.255

112.488 50.811 S3.761

122.152 64.410

108.952 54.192 83.122

129.578 66.107

106,381 57,490 74,860

New Brunswick

82,283 12,776 36.652 25.636 57.730

96.016 15,481

38,852 29,856 70,597

109.091 16,768 42.888 34,51 1

M.662

115,061

43,095 40.639 35,504 79,649

125.698 41.767 39,496 35,973

Ml. SOS

Prince Edward Island

Catholics

Anglicans

Presbyterians

Methodists

Baptists

27.147 6.530

20.402 4,934 2.900

35,852 6,785

25,862 7,865 3,450

40.442 7.220 29.579 11.070 4.371

17.115 7.192 33,835 13.485 6.226

47,837 6,646

33,072 13.596 6,265

45.796 5.976 30.750 13, (02

5,898

Manitoba

British Columbia

North-West Territories

1881

1S91

1901

1881 1891

1901

1881 1891

1901

Catholics Anglicans Presbyterians Methodists

Baptists

11.297 14.292 9.470 9.449

30,852 38,977 28 127 16,112

35.672

65.348 49.936 9,148

10.043 7.804 4.095 3.516 434

20,843 33.639 23,619 40,689 15,284 34,081 14,208 25.0 17 3,098 8,471

4.443 13.008

3,166 14,166

501 12,507

461 7.980

29 1.555

39,653 31 659 30,087 26,636 5.926

III.— 16