History of the Diocese
For thousands of years these islands and inlets have been home to the Kwakwakaʼwakw, the Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish peoples.
European fur traders arrived on these lands now known as British Columbia in the 18th century and established trading posts. By the 1820s the Hudson’s Bay Company, with its headquarters in Victoria, owned a monopoly on fur trading in the Pacific Northwest. Company chaplains began delivering Anglican services in the colonies in the 1830s.
Establishing the diocese
The Diocese of British Columbia was created in 1859 by royal decree. The diocese originally covered the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. The first and longest serving bishop of the diocese was Bishop George Hills, who was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1859. Until the creation of the Anglican Church of Canada in 1893, Anglican bishops in Canada were under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The diocese did not have its own governing body, known as a synod, until Bishop Hills called a governing assembly, also called a synod, in 1875. Synods were not held in England and colonial influence meant there was some resistance. Not all parishes sent delegates and not all clergy attended. However, enough did attend and the Anglican Synod of the Diocese of British Columbia was born.
Dividing up the diocese
In 1879, the synod divided the diocese into three. The Diocese of Caledonia covered the north mainland. The Diocese of New Westminster covered the south mainland. And the Diocese of British Columbia, despite its name, only covers Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and Kingcome Inlet. In 2021, the diocese adopted the official operating name, the Diocese of Islands and Inlets.
The eastern part of New Westminster was further divided into the Diocese of Kootenay in 1899 and the Diocese of Cariboo in 1914. All five dioceses, as well as the Diocese of Yukon, are part of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon, which was established in 1911.