Arquivo CDA C-4 - Jesuits of Upper Canada Northern Missions Fonds

In the aftermath of the Society of Jesus’ return to North America in the 1840s, Jesuit missionaries set out to establish residences in northern Upper Canada. Jesuit priests settled along the Kaministiquia River in 1848-1849 in what became the Fort William First Nations Reserve. Missionaries subsequently built a school and an orphanage in 1860, along with a modest church which was rebuilt in 1900 after a fire destroyed the building.

Jesuit missionaries travelled long distances to establish and maintain missions located north of Lake Superior. They were often responsible for several parishes. In addition to the Fort William Mission, these included the Nipigon Mission, Longlac, St. Frances and Kenora parishes, Pic River and Mobert Missions, Gull Bay, Heron Bay, Mountain Road, Garden River, South Bay, Squaw Bay Mission, and what was called the Canadian Pacific Railway Mission, among others. Missionaries were responsible for setting up schools, and for the thousands of catholic parishioners situated across vast territories in Northern Ontario.