The Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario was incorporated in 1911. It is one of the four provinces comprising the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC). The other ecclesiastical provinces are Canada (founded 1860), Rupert’s Land (founded 1875), and British Columbia and Yukon (founded 1914). In the structure of the ACC, the Ecclesiastical Provinces make up the organizational level for the Church below that of the General Synod. Each Ecclesiastical Province, headed by a metropolitan or archbishop, is organized into one or more dioceses, each headed by a bishop.
Historically, the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario was first organized in 1860. After the General Synod for the then Church of England in Canada was formed, the province was officially organized in 1911 under Canon VIII titled “On Erection of an Ecclesiastical Province for the Civil Province of Ontario”. The first Provincial Synod meeting was held on October 18, 1912.
There are seven dioceses in the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. In the order they were founded they are: Toronto (1839), Huron (1857), Ontario (1862), Moosonee (1872), Algoma (1873), Niagara (1875), and the Diocese of Ottawa (1896). Except for the Diocese of Moosonee, which use to be part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land, the dioceses in the Province of Ontario were part of the original Diocese of Toronto. Each year the Eccesiastical Province meets in a Provincial Synod headed by the Metropolitan.
Metropolitians before 1912: Charles Hamilton (Bishop of Ottawa, 1860-1868), Ashton Oxenden (Bishop of Montreal,1869-1878), John Medley (Bishop of Fredericton, 1879-1892), John Travers Lewis (Bishop of Ontario, 1893-1900), William Bennett Bond (Bishop of Montreal, 1901-1906), Arthur Sweatman (Bishop of Toronto, 1907-1909) and Charles Hamilton (Bishop of Ottawa, 1909-1912).
Metropolitans of Ontario after 1912: Charles Hamilton (Bishop of Ottawa, 1912-1915), George Thorneloe (Bishop of Algoma, 1915-1926), David Williams (Bishop of Huron, 1926-1931), James Fielding Sweeny (Bishop of Toronto, 1932-1932), John Charles Roper (Bishop of Ottawa, 1933-1939), John George Anderson (Bishop of Moosonee, 1940-1943), Charles Allan Seager (Bishop of Huron, 1944-1948), John Lyons (Bishop of Ontario, 1949-1952), Robert John Renison (Bishop of Moosonee, 1952-1954), William Lockridge Wright (Bishop of Algoma, 1955-1974), James Augustus Watton (Bishop of Moosonee, 1974-1979), Lewis Garnsworthy (Bishop of Toronto, 1979-1985), John Bothwell (Bishop of Niagara, 1985-1991), E. K. Lackey (Bishop of Ottawa, 1991-1993), Percy O’Driscoll (Bishop of Huron, 1993-2001), Terence Finlay (Bishop of Toronto, 2001-2004), Caleb Lawrence (Bishop of Moosonee, 2004-2009), and Colin Johnson (Bishop of Toronto, 2009-).