Presbyterian Church in Canada

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Presbyterian Church in Canada
Église presbytérienne du Canada
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Mainline Calvinist
Polity	Presbyterian
Associations	World Communion of Reformed Churches Canadian Council of Churches World Council of Churches
Region	Canada Bermuda
Origin	1875
Separations	70% of the Presbyterian Church in Canada joined the United Church of Canada in 1925
Congregations	821[1][failed verification]
Members	79,961 (2019)[1]: 214
Ministers	1,337[1]: 214
Official website	presbyterian.ca
(source, Acts and Proceedings 2007 p 713)

The Presbyterian Church in Canada (French: Église presbytérienne du Canada) is a Presbyterian denomination, serving in Canada under this name since 1875. The United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939. According to the Canada 2021 Census 301,400 Canadians identify themselves as Presbyterian, that is, 0.8 percent of the population.

The Canadian roots of the Presbyterian Church in Canada can be traced to both Scottish settlers and French Huguenots, and the first Presbyterian churches formed in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, following such European Protestant Reformation theologians as John Calvin and John Knox.

Once the largest Christian denomination in English-speaking Canada, in 1925 some 70 percent of its congregations joined with the Methodist Church, Canada and the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec to form the United Church of Canada. The terms Continuing Presbyterians and Non-Concurring Presbyterians were then used by those who did not participate in the merger, until the legal right to use the name "Presbyterian Church in Canada" was regained in 1939. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that although the institutional Presbyterian Church in Canada may legally have merged with the Methodist Church, the United Church had effectively vacated the name and it remained available to the non-concurring Presbyterians. It also was a benefit to have support from Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir, and from Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.