The Canadian Society of Presbyterian History (CSPH) will be holding its annual conference on Saturday September 26, 2026. It includes a variety of exciting papers, as well as a special panel on Canadian Presbyterian Lucy Maud Montgomery and the Ontario Soccer Hall of Fame plaque unveiling for Knox College’s 1878 national championship-winning soccer team.

9:30–10:30 am: Presbyterian Pasts

Brian Graham, “History of the Presbytery of Ottawa and Home Mission, 1830 to 1890”

William S. Morrow, professor emeritus at Queen’s University and one of Canada’s leading Biblical scholars, will present on “How Knox College Laid the Foundation for My Career as a Biblical Scholar: A Memoir from the 1970s”

10:30–10:45: Break

10:45–12:15: Lucy Maud Montgomery Panel

A panel on Canadian Presbyterian Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, hosted by CSPH president Robert Revington, and featuring some special guests:

Kate Macdonald Butler (Lucy Maud Montgomery’s granddaughter and author of The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook)

Kate Scarth (Chair of L. M. Montgomery Studies at the University of PEI)

Irene Gammel (Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and author of the book Looking for Anne of Green Gables)

12:15–12:30: Ontario Soccer Hall of Fame Plaque for Knox College’s National Championship 1878 Team

12:30–1:30: Lunch

1:30–2:00: Annual General Meeting

2:00–2:05: Break

2:05–2:50: Special Presentation on Ralph Connor House National Historic Site of Canada in Winnipeg

Renée Gillis and Marc Robichaud (Board Members of the Friends of The Ralph Connor House Inc., a non-profit organization supporting this heritage building and National Historic Site) will present on the history of the house in Winnipeg where Canadian author and Presbyterian minister Ralph Connor/Rev. Charles W. Gordon lived.

2:50–3:00: Break

3:00–4:30: Presbyterian and Reformed History

Michael Fallon, Christian Reformed chaplain at McMaster University, will present a paper titled “Beyond Kuyper: Covenant, Worldview, and the Making of Dutch Reformed Canada.” Fallon’s paper explores how the remarkable institutional and cultural resilience of postwar Dutch Reformed immigrants cannot be adequately explained by neo-Calvinist ideas alone. Underneath their Kuyperian activism lay a deeper covenantal self-understanding that shaped their identity, institutions, and engagement with Canadian society.

Peter Bush “Canadian Presbyterians and the United States of America: 250 Years of Being Innocent as Doves and Shrewd as Serpents”

Les Jones “A Match Made in Heaven: The Surprising Partnership of Soccer and Religion”

Contact [email protected] to register

Video Recording of the
2021 Conference

2016 Conference
2017 Conference
2018 Conference – Honouring Don MacLeod
2018 Conference – Jack Whytock
2018 Conference – Robert J. Dean
2018 Conference – Kate Revington
2019 Conference
2020 Conference – Angus Sutherland, Robert Revington, Rebbecca Jess, Stuart Macdonald
2021 Conference – Stuart Macdonald, Robert Revington and Phyllis Airhart