Friday, April 16, 2010
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11:09 AM
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Before the arrival of Europeans, the first Nations followed a wide array of mostly animistic religions. The first Europeans to settle in great numbers in Canada were French Latin rite Roman Catholics, including a large number of Jesuits dedicated to converting the natives, an effort that had only limited success.
The first large Protestant communities were formed in the Maritimes after they were conquered by the British. Unable to convince enough British immigrants to go to the region, the government decided to import continental Protestants from Germany and Switzerland to populate the region and counterbalance the Roman Catholic Acadians. This group was known as the Foreign Protestants. This effort proved successful and today the South Shore region of Nova Scotia is still largely Lutheran.
This pattern remained the same after the British conquest of all of New France in 1759. While originally plans to try to convert the Roman Catholic majority were in place, these were abandoned in the face of the American Revolution. The Quebec Act of 1774 acknowledged the rights of the Roman Catholic Church throughout Lower Canada in order to keep the French- Canadians loyal to Britain.
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