Anglican Diocese of Toronto

The Diocese of Toronto is an administrative division of the Anglican Church of Canada covering the central part of southern Ontario. It was founded in 1839 and is the oldest of the seven dioceses comprising the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. It has the most members of any Anglican diocese in Canada.^[2] It is also one of the biggest Anglican dioceses in the Americas in terms of numbers of parishioners, clergy and parishes.^{[citation needed]} As of 2018, the diocese has around 230 congregations and ministries in 183 parishes, with approximately 54,000 Anglicans identified on parish rolls.^[2]

In 1839, the area of the current Diocese of Toronto made up a fifth of what was then known as the Diocese of Upper Canada, which also comprised the current Dioceses of Huron, Ontario, Algoma and Niagara, which were respectively set apart in 1857, 1861, 1873 and 1875.^[3] In 1842, her jurisdiction was described as "Canada West"^[4] or "Upper Canada" (technically an historical term in 1842).^[5]

The Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto is the centre of the Diocese of Toronto. The church originated as The English Church when it was first erected in 1803. It later became the seat of the Anglican bishop and was reconsecrated as the Cathedral Church of St. James in 1830. The church remained under the direction of John Strachan for most of the early nineteenth century. He was buried on the cathedral grounds in 1867.^[6]