The Early Days
The Fellowship of the Maple Leaf was founded in England in 1917 by George Exton Lloyd, then Principal of Emmanuel College, Saskatoon, and later Bishop of Saskatchewan. In 1921 he chose Philip John Andrews, a lecturer at the College and Rector of a parish near Saskatoon, to be its full-time Secretary. Andrews returned to England and was for forty-four years, along with his wife, the driving force behind the Fellowship’s contribution to the development of the Church’s work in western Canada.
The early aim of FML was to provide teachers for newly settled districts in the Prairie Provinces, and by the end of the 1920s almost 600 had been recruited and sent out from England. They were followed in later years by over three hundred doctors, nurses, bishop’s messengers and clergy. By 1965 when Dr Andrews closed the list of sailings, 936 men and women (mostly women) had left Britain to serve the Church and society in Canada, many to spend the rest of their lives there.
In addition, large sums of money were raised by Dr Andrews and his helpers which, together with substantial gifts from ‘an Anonymous Donor’ who may have been connected with the Royal Family, went towards the building of churches, hostels and hospitals in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Later Developments
Changing circumstances required new responses. In 1965 recruitment of workers and fund-raising were discontinued, and it was decided, with the approval of the Anglican Church of Canada, to use FML’s remaining assets to assist clergy and lay workers in making visits from the UK to Canada or from Canada to the UK for study and practical experience, and to support special projects of the Canadian Church. Grants were made towards educational and ministry projects in northern and western Canada, including the Sorrento Centre, an Arctic Catechist School, the development of fieldwork at the College of Emmanuel and St Chad, Saskatoon, and a variety of Indigenous Ministry projects.
Support for indigenous ministry training has been a major focus of the Fellowship’s work. FML has a well-established partnership with the Indigneous Studies Programme (formerly known as the Native Ministries Consortium) at the Vancouver School of Theology; over the years, grants have also been provided for the Centre for Indian Scholars in British Columbia, the Henry Budd College of Ministry in Manitoba and the James Settee College for Ministry in Saskatchewan. Financial support has also been provided to the meetings of Native Convocations of the Anglican Church of Canada.
FML Today
In recent years, programmes have been initiated to provide learning opportunities for the mutual benefit of the Church in Canada and in the UK, especially in the areas of ministry, lay and ordained; education; social responsibility; and pastoral work. Increasingly these have been seen in an ecumenical context. The Trustees of FML have been glad to be able to contribute towards the series of international Consultations of Anglican Bishops In Dialogue initiated and managed by the Anglican Church of Canada. As part of its regular work of making bursaries available to individual applicants, FML has a well-established programme for the provision of travel grants to enable persons from the UK to undertake learning projects in Canada, and from Canada in the UK. Such learning projects include placements for students in training for Christian ministry, sabbatical study programmes for clergy and others, professional exchange visits, and a variety of cross-cultural learning experiences.
In 2016 the Fellowship arranged and presented the inaugural Maple Leaf Lecture, delivered in London by Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, under the title ‘Discovery and Truth, Reconciliation and Justice: indigenous Peoples and the Anglican Church of Canada’. In 2013 Archbishop Hiltz set up the Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice following the 2010 repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. The Commission was tasked with formulating a response to the question ‘What is reconciliation?’ posed by the Chair of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and addressing the Church’s long term commitment to solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in addressing the long-standing injustices they continue to bear in Canada. The text of Archbishop Hiltz’s lecture can be read here.