14 Facts About Salem Bland

Salem Goldworth Bland was a Canadian Methodist theologian, Georgist, and one of Canada's most important Social Gospel thinkers.

Salem Bland was born on 25 August 1859 in Lachute, Quebec, the son of Emma Bland and Henry Flesher Bland, a Methodist preacher.

Salem Bland had the useless leg amputated at age thirty and replaced it with an artificial limb.

Salem Bland obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree at Morrin College in 1877, and later studied at McGill University.

Salem Bland was ordained a Methodist minister in 1884 and served as a preacher in a series of churches in Ontario and Quebec.

Salem Bland became a popular guest preacher across western Canada.

Salem Bland moved to Toronto in 1919 where he became the minister at the Broadway Methodist Tabernacle, one of the largest Methodist churches in the city and one serving the large working-class community of western Toronto.

Salem Bland remained there until 1923, when he moved to the smaller Western Methodist Church.

Salem Bland became a prominent figure in the new United Church of Canada.

Salem Bland led the campaign in favour of the ordination of women and succeeded in 1936.

Salem Bland was a supporter of the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and a leader of the Canadian Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy.

Salem Bland became close friends with the exiled American activist Emma Goldman, and when she died in Toronto in 1940 it was Bland who delivered the eulogy at her funeral.

Salem Bland wrote a column for the Toronto Star called "The Observer" from 1924 to 1950.

Salem Bland died in Toronto on 7 February 1950 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.