St. John’s College: Faith and Education in Western Canada (review)

St John’s College is the oldest anglophone institution of higher learning in Western Canada. Founded officially by Bishop Robert Machray in 1866, this Anglican institution began through the early efforts of Anglican missionaries to introduce formal education to children of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1877 St John’s joined with other denominational colleges to found the University of Manitoba, and in 1958 moved on to the new Fort Garry campus of the provincial university, where it continues to provide an Anglican presence in an increasingly secular environment.

Such longevity, however, was not accompanied by the progress and prosperity that has customarily marked the historical studies of colleges and universities in Canada. For J.M. Bumsted, a historian thoroughly versed in the history of Western Canada, the story of St John’s is one of ‘tenacious institutional survival,’ and his exhaustively researched and skilfully written study documents the befuddled goals, incompetent management, financial scandal, and institutional betrayal that distinguish the history of this institution. Yet the college fostered a rich student culture and was intimately involved in the social and cultural history of Winnipeg and the province. It helped to educate several generations of students, and it numbers among its graduates many leaders of the Anglican Church, some of the true stars of the game of hockey, as well as Ed Shreyer and W.L. ‘Bill’ Morton.

From the start no one was quite sure whether St John’s should be a boys school, a liberal arts college, or a seminary preparing candidates for ordination. Largely by default it tried to be all three. This indeterminacy of purpose was in turn compounded by the inability of the college clearly to define its relationship with the University of Manitoba and the Synod of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land. The former was made especially difficult by the dithering of the provincial government over where the new campus of the university should be built and how it should be funded; while the latter reached a crisis in 1932 when John A. Machray – the chancellor of the diocese, the chairman of the Board of Governors of the University, and the chancellor and bursar of St John’s College (he was also the nephew of Archbishop Machray) – was arrested and subsequently convicted of embezzling close to a million dollars from the diocese, the university, and the college. In effect, when the college finally agreed to leave its downtown location and moved into its new buildings on the Fort Garry campus, it came as a financially impoverished institution with no clear sense of its educational or spiritual identity – all of which would be further eroded a few years later when the university stripped the college of large parts of its traditional academic role. Bumsted concludes his fascinating study with the epithet ‘we’re still here.’ Given its less than storied history, it is the best that could be expected.

While the delight of this story lies in its rather sordid details – the scandals, the embarrassments, and the curiously amusing cultures Anglicans in dialogue can engender – there are many other things of real value in this study. Bishop Machray takes on real life, and rivals both in longevity and historical significance the honour usually bestowed on another Presbyterian turned Anglican, Bishop John Strachan. Bumsted’s careful analysis of the twists and turns in the history of St John’s College also confirms a tuth that should by now be universally acknowledged: when trying to make sense of controversies in the history of religion and education, avoid matters of ideology or theology. Instead, follow the money. Even more intriguing are some of the broader questions this case study has raised. How unique is the story of St John’s? As others have documented throughout this period, questions of church, state, and higher education were being hotly debated in Canada. These debates also focused upon two issues – the terms of university federation and the place of...