Four Bishops Nominated to Lead Canadian Church

 By Sue Careless

THE LIVING CHURCH

April 4, 2025

The Anglican Church of Canada has announced four nominees for the office of primate: the Most Rev. Christopher Harper, the Most Rev. Greg Kerr-Wilson, the Rt. Rev. David Lehmann, and the Rt. Rev. Riscylla Walsh-Shaw.

In the church’s polity, bishops choose the nominees for primate, but the election is made by clergy and lay delegates to its General Synod, which will meet in London, Ontario, in late June. The election is scheduled for June 26.

The Nominees

Chris Harper has been the National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop since 2003, overseeing Indigenous ministries in the Anglican Church of Canada. He is also the Presiding Elder of Sacred Circle, a gathering of Indigenous Anglicans. Traditionally Sacred Circles are held every three years, usually ahead of General Synod.

From 2018 to 2023 Harper was the Bishop of Saskatoon. Harper is Plains Cree, and the son of a residential school survivor. He spent much of his younger life on a reserve of the Onion Lake Cree Nation, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan provincial boundary.

Harper was an emergency medical technician before preparing for the priesthood at Wycliffe College in Toronto. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2005 and served in the Dioceses of Saskatchewan, Algoma, and Toronto, both on and off reserve. He is also Chancellor for the College of Emmanuel and St. Chad, an Anglican theological college affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon.

Greg Kerr-Wilson is the Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Northern Lights (formerly Rupert’s Land) and Bishop of Calgary. As one of the church’s four metropolitans, he oversees ten dioceses within a regional area that covers the Arctic and stretches across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and parts of Ontario.

Kerr-Wilson is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and Nashotah House Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1990, beginning his ministry as curate of St. Paul’s, Bloor Street, in Toronto, the Anglican Church of Canada’s largest congregation. He served as a rector in Ontario and as dean of All Saints’ Cathedral in Edmonton before becoming Bishop of Qu’Appelle, a diocese in southern Saskatchewan, in 2006.

Kerr-Wilson was elected Bishop of Calgary in 2012, and in 2015, he was elected metropolitan. Kerr-Wilson is also a member of Communion Partners, a group of church leaders within the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church devoted to maintaining traditional teaching and fostering the unity of the Anglican Communion.

David Lehmann has been the Bishop of Caledonia, a diocese that covers the northern half of British Columbia, since 2018. He is also chair of the Council of the North, a group of nine jurisdictions, including eight dioceses that receive financial assistance from General Synod for their ministry to largely Indigenous and geographically isolated communities across Northern Canada.

Lehmann was born in Toronto and raised in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He earned degrees from Camrose Lutheran College in Alberta (now the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus) and Wycliffe College, and was a naval reservist.

After ordination, he served in Fort Simpson, an isolated and mostly Indigenous village in the Northwest Territories, and in the Diocese of Edmonton. Throughout his parish ministry, he was involved in community initiatives, heritage projects, and Fresh Expressions, a movement focused on creative evangelism. He is also chair of the Board of Governors for Vancouver School of Theology, an ecumenical divinity school affiliated with the University of British Columbia.

Riscylla Walsh-Shaw is a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Toronto. She was elected in 2016, and is responsible for 57 parishes in the Trent-Durham area.

With Red River Métis family roots, Walsh-Shaw grew up on a small farm. She studied at the University of Toronto and earned a Master of Divinity from Wycliffe College in 1999. She worked in youth ministry, and after her ordination in 2011, served in several parishes in the Diocese of Toronto.

Walsh-Shaw has been involved in reconciliation work with Indigenous communities, and was a witness and an ambassador to Canada’s national Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She represents the Anglican Church of Canada on the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee and the Anglican Consultative Council. She served on the Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation, and Justice.

The Issues

There will be enormous challenges ahead for the next primate.

Except in the Diocese of the Arctic, membership numbers have been dropping precipitously in the Anglican Church of Canada for decades. The church faces a financial crisis, and is considering several options for restructuring to adjust to a future with fewer resources.

Last September, a commission appointed by former primate Linda Nicholls released a report, Reimagining the Church: Proclaiming the Gospel in the 21st Century, which proposes several options for structural change.

Some of the proposals, like eliminating one level of church structure (either General Synod or the ecclesiastical provinces); restructuring the work of Church House, the national headquarters in Toronto; or having the primate continue to serve as a diocesan bishop have prompted considerable discussion.

Kerr-Wilson told TLC he supported returning to an earlier model in which the primate also retained oversight of a diocese. “I think it can be done, and it would also assist in the needed downsizing and reorganizing of General Synod—which means I am also in favour of revisioning Church House,” he said.

A proposal to dismantle the Council of the North, and to redistribute the funds to parishes across the entire church, has been much more controversial. Lehmann criticized the proposal, saying that Council of the North funding is “a response to the disparity that exists in north-south ministry. This disparity remains today. Travel across the north is more expensive, along with utilities, housing, and groceries.”

The church also remains divided on proposals to change its canons to permit same-sex marriage. The last time a vote was held, at General Synod 2019, a canon change was narrowly defeated in the House of Bishops. Walsh-Shaw and Harper voted to change the canon, while Lehmann and Kerr-Wilson voted against it.

The Process

Anne Germond, Archbishop of Algoma and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario, has been Acting Primate since Archbishop Linda Nichols retired in September 2024, at the denomination’s mandatory retirement age of 70.

Video interviews of the nominees will be released after Easter, and General Synod will be held June 23-29 in London, Ontario. It usually meets triennially but this year is meeting after a two-year gap.

During the primatial election, the bishops do not vote, but are sequestered while the clergy and laity vote separately. To become primate, a nominee must obtain a majority in both orders. The primate does not serve a fixed term, but usually leads the church until retirement.

The election is “a profound moment of spiritual discernment in the life of our beloved Church,” said the Ven. Alan Perry, general secretary. “Please pray for those who [are] nominated, their families and dioceses, and for the person who will be elected—whom God has already chosen to be our next Primate.”

He also asked for prayers for Germond “as she steers us through the next few months.” She only agreed to accept the office of Acting Primate on the condition that she would not be a primatial candidate.

The installation of the 15th Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada is planned for the last day of General Synod, June 29.

Sue Careless is senior editor of The Anglican Planet and author of the series Discovering the Book of Common Prayer: A Hands-On Approach. She is based in Toronto.