Because I happen to be a Native clergyman : the impact of race, ethnicity, status, and gender on Native agents of the Church Missionary Society in the nineteenth century Canadian North-West

Abstract

Although Canadian historians have reinterpreted many aspects of missions histories since the 1970's, there have been no comprehensive studies of the roles, motives, and actions of Native missionary agents. This dissertation examines the Church Missionary Society's program of training and employing Native agents and the relationships between Native and European missionaries in the 19th century Canadian North-West. The Church Missionary Society portrayed interactions between the Native and European agents that it trained and employed as harmonious, supportive, and equal. It claimed that its Native agents were motivated by the same callings as European missionaries and that that disseminated its interpretation of Christianity in the same way. Native agents and their wives, however, often differed in values, motives, and life-worlds from European-born missionaries. Perceptions about race, ethnicity, status, and gender shaped how these individuals viewed themselves and their roles, and how they viewed, and were viewed by, their missionary counterparts...