Early Worship – Presbyterians and Their Pews

The first settlers in Metis were Presbyterians. When they arrived in Quebec in 1818 on board the Rebecca, they came with few possessions, but their faith was a key unifier. The early settlement had no clergyman and no church. For almost two decades the rites of baptism, marriage and burial were performed by visiting clergymen, sometimes Presbyterian but just as often by Anglican ministers visiting the region.   

 The first church in Metis was built in the 1840s. But the community had difficulty mustering the funds requires to pay the living of the minister, which meant wages and a place to live. From 1863, Metis enjoyed the services of Presbyterian missionary Thomas Fenwick, who was appointed soon after his graduation from Knox College in Toronto. He became a local leader and the voice of Metis, his letters on a wide range of subjects appearing in newspapers in Rimouski, Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto. Reverend Fenwick also oversaw the construction of a new church at Leggatt’s Point but left soon afterwards. A Presbyterian church was completed in Little Metis the same year to serve the summer community, the majority of whom were Presbyterians.