24. CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES. There are in Canada 22 universities, and some of these have federated and affiliated colleges. As each of the universities and ,colleges men tioned in this article is separately dealt with under its own name only a general summary, following the line of the provinces from east i to is attempted here.
Maritime Provinces.— The University of King's College, Nova Scotia — the oldest uni versity in the British overseas dominions —had its rise in the foundation of an academy at Windsor in 1788 by the provincial legislature. In the following year an act was passed incor porating King's College, and in 1802 it received a royal charter and a provincial grant. It was founded as an Anglican institution — a charac ter it still retains. One of its statutes provided that bno member of the university shall fre quent the Romish or the meeting-houses of Presbyterians, Baptists, or Methodists, or the Conventicles or places of worship of any other dissenters from the Church of England.) As three-fourths of the population came under this comprehensive "test," an agitation was speedily set on foot for its removal, which failing, Pictou Academy was founded in 1816 as an undenominational college. Two years later Dalhousie College was founded at Halifax as a provincial university modeled on the Scottish pattern, and was opened for teaching in 1838. An applicant for a position on the original teaching staff of Dalhousie College was a distinguished Baptist, the Rev. Dr. Crawley, but as his application was not enter tained—it was alleged on sectarian ground— and the Baptists were unrepresented on the staff, the drastic remedy was taken of founding (1838) a denominational institution, Acadia College, Wolfville. The Presbyterian College, established in affiliation with Pictou Academy in 1820, has made no fewer than four migra tions, and is now located at Pine Tree Hill, near Halifax. Saint Francis Xavier College was founded at Antigonish in 1854, and is the chief Roman Catholic foundation in the mari time provinces. Other institutions belonging to the same communion in Nova Scotia are Saint Mary's College, Halifax, founded in 1860; Col lege Sainte Anne, founded on behalf of the French population by the Eudist Fathers in 1890; and the Seminary of the Holy Heart, founded at Halifax in 1895, also by the Eudist Fathers. Two attempts have been made to unify the university system of the province by the foundation of a University of Halifax, embracing all the degree-conferring colleges of the province, but these have been unsuccessful. New Brunswick College was founded at Fred ericton in 1800 as an Anglican institution; in 1829 it received a charter as King's College, and in 1859 it became undenominational and re ceived a charter as the University of New Brunswick The University of Mount Allison College was founded in 1862 to serve the higher educational needs of the Methodists of the maritime provinces; and in 1864 Saint Joseph's College, Memramcook, was established by the Roman Catholics for the Acaclians and others of that communion.
Quebec.—McGill University, Montreal, had its .origin in the bequest by James McGill, a public-spirited citizen of Montreal, of land and buildings on the outskirts of Montreal, and the sum of f10,000 for university purposes. The college received a royal charter in 1821, was formally opened in 1829, and has always been undenominational. The University of Bishop's College, Lennoxville, is an Anglican institution, was founded as a high school in 1843, and re ceived a royal charter as a university in 1853. Laval University, Quebec, was founded in 1852 and named in honor of the first bishop of New France, who founded the seminary of Quebec in 1663, and of which it is the legitimate descendant. This university has a branch establishment, or second seat, at Montreal.
Ontario.— Governor Simcoe was the first to propose the establishment of a university in Upper Canada, but it was long after before any scheme took definite shape. The contiguity of the province to the United States, the high educational standard even then attained in that country, and the absence of educational facilr. ides in upper Canada, forced the well-to-do to send their sons across the border for education, where, at the formative period of their lives, they were subjected to the influence of Ameri can textbooks and American teachers and breathed the atmosphere of an anti-British democracy — a condition of affairs that was little to the liking of the zealous church-and state men who formed the official class in Upper Canada. John Strachan afterward Anglican bishop of Toronto, obtained in 1827 a royal charter for the founding of King's College, which was to be .an Anglican institu tion, subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles being a condition for the holding of office by the staff and council. This attempt to estabr lisp an Anglican monopoly in higher education was as hotly resisted by the majority of the people of Upper Canada was the endeavor to create a monopoly in religious endowments, and gave rise to an educational controversy that continued for 22 years. Little was accom
plished toward founding the college for a num ber of years; in 1837 an amended charter abolished the denominational test, but left the sore open by permitting the theological chair to remain in Anglican control. In 1843 King's College began operations in Toronto. Other colleges were concurrently founded under denominational auspices. Regiopolis College was founded by Bishop Macdonell at Kingston as a Roman Catholic institution in 1837, but owing to financial difficulties, dosed its doors in 1869. Queen's College, a Presby terian institution, was incorporated in 1839 and began the work of teaching in 1842 in a board building' Victoria College, a odist institution,..was .inoorPorated by_ act cid Parliament in 1841 and opened at Cobourg in 1843. Knox College, Toronto, which derived its impulse from the Scottish Church disruption of 1843, was opened by the Free Church of Scotland in 18M4. Saint Joseph's College, Ottawa (College of Bytown), was founded by Bishop Guigues of Ottawa as a Roman Catholic institution, and erected into the University of Ottawa in 1866. Between 1843 and '1849 five legislative attempts were made to deal compre hensively with the university problem, and in the latter year the Baldwin Act completely secularized King's College and transformed it into the University of Toronto. Bishop Strachan, now an old man of 72, faced the new situation, which imposed a °godless uni varsity' on the province, with indomitable courage; he proceeded to England and after a vigorous campaign obtained a royal charter in 1852 for the University of Trinity College, which remains to this day a monument to his pertinacity and embodies his ideals in higher education —a denominational, collegiate and residential institution on Oxford and Cambridge, in preference to the professorial teaching of the Scottish university system of which he was himself the product. Huron College (now the Western 'University) was established at London in 1863, and Wycliffe College, Toronto, was founded in 1879 by the Low Church party, both being offshoots of Trinity College. Saint Michael's College, Toronto, was founded as a Roman Catholic institution by Bishop Charbonnel in 1851. A bill introduced into the Parliament of United Canada, by Mr. (afterwards Sir Francis) Hincks, providing for the separation of the teaching function from that of examining and conferring degrees, received the royal assent in April 1853, and from that date until federa tion University College represented the teaching side of the University of Toronto: In 1860 a Baptist college was opened at Woodstock, the theological teaching in which was later merged in McMaster University, Toronto, founded by the munificence of Senator William McMaster, and which obtained a tharter in 1887. The provision of denominational colleges in Ontario was thus more than ample and had vastly out run the means of subsistence, and meantime adequate funds with which to finance the ex* pensive modern equipment in science and medicine were urgently required. A movement for federation had been gathering force since 1874, and 10 years later it took active shape when Mr. G. W. (afterwards Sir George) Ross, the then provincial minister of education, sum moned a meeting representative of the various colleges, to consider the question. Following on a series of discussions extending over three years, a federation act was passed in 1887, under which all the federating colleges find representation on the senate of the University of Toronto. The theological colleges of Wycliffe, Knox and Saint Michael's were the first to accept federation; Victoria entered in 1890; and the medical faculty of Trinity Uni versity was incorporated in 1903. Queen s Uni versity, which ceased to be a distinctly Presby terian institution in 1912 and McMaster Uni versity remain onside federation.
Prairie Provinces,. The University of Manitoba was first established at Winnipeg in 1.877_aa.a federation of. Alencianinational eollegea on the model of London University — the con stituent colleges being those of Saint Boni face (Roman Catholic), Saint John's (Anglican), and Manitoba (Presbyterian). Wesley College (Methodist) became affiliated in 1888. The University of Saskatchewan was founded at Saskatoon in 1909, when Emmanuel College, Prince Albert, which was originally founded by Bishop McLean in 1879 as a college for native helpers, was transferred to that city. The Uni versity of Alberta was founded by the pro vincial legislature in 1906, provision was made for a site at Edmonton in 1907, and the first session opened in 1908.
British Columbia.—In 1907 an act was passed by the provincial legislature setting apart lands as a university endowment, in the following session the institution was incor porated, and in 1915 it was opened at Van couver.