(Sept. 27, 2011) The national Catholic newspaper of Canada has published a 36-page
homage to the Jesuits as they mark 400 years in Canada. According to Jim O'Leary,
the editor, "More so than any other religious order, the Jesuits not only witnessed
the birth of Canada, they also shaped significant parts of its history." The Jesuits
arrived in Canada in 1611, at Port Royal in Acadia on the shores of the Bay of Fundy.
"Over the decades that followed, the Jesuits moved steadily inland and, while fulfilling
their mission as evangelists, they also became explorers, cartographers, educators,
chroniclers and pastors," O'Leary noted. The Register paid for an additional 14,000
copies of the tribute to be delivered to elementary schools, as O'Leary explained
that "the story of the Jesuit martyrs is an important part of the Canadian education
curriculum."