The first Masonic Lodge in Canada, a British Colony at the time, was established in 1738 in Annapolis, Nova Scotia. Years later, in the late 1700’s, Masonry would find its way to Niagara via The Lodge of the 8th or Kings Own Regiment of Foot. At that time Canada had two Provincial Grand Lodges; Upper and Lower with William Jarvis as the Provincial Grand Master for Upper Canada and Prince Edward as the Provincial Grand Master for Lower Canada. However, unlike Prince Edward, William Jarvis was not endowed by the United Grand Lodge of England with the power to grant warrants for new lodges.
Given the distance between Canada and England, as well as the modes
of communication employed at that time, dissatisfaction festered among
the members of The Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada with their
Mother Lodge in England. Support in the form of forwarded warrants,
certificates, and other tasks necessary for lodge management was
infrequent and slow. Grand Lodge was organized on October 10, 1855,
being duly constituted November. 2, 1855.
The newly constituted Grand Lodge of Canada asserted jurisdiction over
the Lodges in Upper and Lower Canada (now known as the Provinces of
Ontario and Quebec) as well as the relatively few Lodges west of Upper
Canada. In 1859 the United Grand Lodge of England finally
recognized the Grand Lodge of Canada as the governing body in these
jurisdictions, subject to the United Grand Lodge of England retaining
authority over five Lodges that had been chartered by it in Lower
Canada.
1869 saw the formation of the Grand Lodge of Quebec and within five
short years the Grand Lodge of Canada withdrew from Quebec.
By 1875, six other Grand Lodges in Canada existed; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba. This led to protests suggesting that Ontario’s Grand Lodge was calling itself the Grand Lodge of Canada and in 1885 a committee recommended the name be changed to The Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M of Canada in the Province of Ontario which was adopted in 1887. Being the only Grand Lodge in Canada at the time of its formation, it was decided to retain “of Canada” in its name.