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Churches
Along with schools, one of the first priorities in early communities was for a place of worship. At first this need was met through informal gatherings and through the service of missionaries who travelled long distances to minister in homes, schools and churches. As early as the 1830s, Roman Catholic priests from the St. Francis Xavier mission ministered to Métis buffalo hunters and their families north of the Rivière aux Îlets-de-Bois. With the arrival of Protestant settlers in the 1870s, Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican and other missionaries soon followed.
Within a generation, churches representing a number of denominations were meeting the spiritual, social and social conscience needs of the community. Women’s groups, such as the Ladies’ Aid, organized bake sales, recitals, social evenings and church picnics, raising funds to maintain the local church and to support missionary work far beyond the community.
With the exception of the larger churches in Carman, many of the places of worship were small, plain, gable-roof structures, distinguishable from rural one-room schools by the shape of their windows. Yet it was here that the significant milestones of life—marriages, baptisms, funerals—took place. Over the years, a number of these congregations amalgamated and churches closed as membership declined; other denominations have built new centres of worship. At present some 15 churches are active in the Carman/Dufferin area.
List of Churches