Ancient history

Clergy Reserves | Canadian history

Clerical Reserves , formerly for the Church of England reserved areas in Canada , a cause of controversy in 19th-century Canadian politics. The ones separated by the Constitutional Law Clergy Reserves established in 1791 "to support and maintain a Protestant clergy" accounted for one-seventh of all land grants. The phrase "a Protestant clergy" referred exclusively to the Church of England.

In Upper Canada (now in Ontario), where the majority of Protestants were not Anglican, it came shortly after the end of the War of 1812 Controversies over the Clergy Reserves . 1822 required the Church of Scotland a share of the clergy reserves. Most other denominations denounced their existence as harmful for freedom of religion and requested its application to general public purposes such as education.

An imperial act of 1827 permitted the sale of a quarter of the reserved land. In 1840 another imperial act prohibited the creation of new reserves; divided proceeds from previous sales between the Church of England, the Church of Scotland and the Wesleyan Methodists; and had the proceeds from future sales split between other denominations.

The clergy reserves were finally secularized in 1854. At the same time, a large cash payment was made to the Church of England, the Church of Scotland and the Wesleyan Methodists in recognition of their "legitimate interests" in the clergy reserves.