Fonds F14 - Methodist Church (Canada) Missionary Society fonds

The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church Canada Conference was established in 1824, and continued under the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada when it formed in 1828. When this Church joined with the British Wesleyans to form the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada in 1833, the Society evolved into an Auxiliary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society (Great Britain) to support the growth of Aboriginal and domestic missions. This union was disrupted in 1840, but resumed in 1847. In 1854, the British Hudson's Bay Territory missions were transferred to the Missionary Society in Canada which gradually took over the responsibility of all mission work from Britain beginning in Central Canada and the Northwest. The Society, with some changes in administrative structure, existed as part of the Methodist Church of Canada, formed in 1874, and the Methodist Church (Canada), formed in 1884. The object of the Society came to be the support of domestic, Aboriginal, immigrant, new Canadian, French Canadian, and other missions carried on under the direction of a central committee and board, and later also under the Conferences. In 1906, the missions were divided between two new Departments--Foreign and Home. Missions to European immigrants and domestic missions fell under the care of the Home Department. Missions abroad and, until 1920, missions to Japanese, Chinese, and Aboriginal People in Canada came under the direction of the Foreign Department.