About the Institution
Queen's University was modelled on the democratic mores of the older Scottish universities. Queen's was founded on October 16, 1841, when its first principal, Thomas Liddell, arrived in Kingston from Scotland carrying the Royal Charter of Queen Victoria, which established Queen's College as an educational institution. Originally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland (see the Presbyterian Church in Canada as it was called after 1875), it was established to instruct youth in various branches of sciences and literature. The royal charter of Queen's University was granted 26 years before Canadian Confederation, in the Province of Canada (a union of Upper and Lower Canada). When Queen's sought to have the charter amended in 1891, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that it required amendments by the Government of Canada rather than by the Government of Ontario. Consequently, any amendment to the Queen's charter requires federal legislation. The federal government has subsequently resisted requests from principals of Queen's for special funding as a result of that arrangement, since education under the British North America Act was an area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction. The first student government in Canada was established at Queen's in 1858 in the form of the Dialectic Society, which is known today as the Alma Mater Society. Plaque unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen to commemorate the granting of Queen's University's Royal Charter. The governance was modelled on that of the Scottish universities Edinburgh and Glasgow, including a Principal, Board of Trustees, and a Senate. Consolidation was a way to strengthen this small and financially insecure institution. By withdrawing financial support, the Government of Ontario pressured its denominational universities to consider co-operation with the public sector in 1868. The university became a secular institution in 1912 and Principal Daniel Miner Gordon oversaw the drafting of a new university constitution. Queen's Theological College remained in the control of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, until 1925, when it joined the United Church of Canada, where it remains today. Queen's University from ...

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