The Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda Territory will merge the Ontario Central-East and Ontario Great Lakes divisions to form the new Ontario Division, Commissioner Floyd Tidd, territorial commander, announced today. This change has been approved by International Headquarters.

“While each division is already doing commendable work, we envision a more unified approach to every area,” says Commissioner Tidd. “We have incredibly gifted officers, employees and volunteers across Ontario. By connecting them under one division, we will strengthen our ministry units as they carry out the mission of The Salvation Army on the front lines.”

A single Ontario Division will:

• Provide a united Salvation Army voice across the province;
• Improve social services co-ordination across the province and better leverage our subject matter experts;
• Enable a consistent approach to increasingly complex regulatory requirements;
• Increase knowledge-sharing across similar roles;
• Strengthen our approach to camp ministries; and
• Improve geographical alignment of the regions managed by each area commander for travel and time efficiencies.

The merger of the Ontario divisions will be effective July 1, 2020, coinciding with the retirement of Majors Everett and Vi Barrow, divisional leaders for Ontario Great Lakes, and the reappointment of Lt-Colonel Sandra Rice, divisional commander, Ontario Central-East Division.

“We want to be clear that this merger is not a cost-cutting exercise,” Commissioner Tidd notes. “The volume of work across Ontario is not decreasing and we need to ensure that we have sufficient resources in place to support ministry units in Ontario.”

The process of connecting the two divisions has not yet been finalized. Territorial leaders will look to the lived-experience and expertise of current divisional officers and employees for insight while determining how roles should be integrated between the two divisions. On Friday, March 6, the territorial commander announced that the divisional leaders for Ontario will be Majors Shawn and Brenda Critch, who will work with a steering committee and current divisional leaders to finalize the details for the creation of the Ontario Division.

Majors Shawn and Brenda Critch

“Providing effective support to our ministry units as they deliver the mission in local communities is a key priority for us all,” says Commissioner Tidd. “We will work to minimize any disruption to the operations of the ministry units during the merger process.”

The integration of roles, procedures and systems will occur over the first 12 months following the formal creation of the Ontario Division in July. There are no changes planned or intended for the ministry units as part of the decision to create the Ontario Division, other than a potential change in who they report to.

“This merger is intended to ensure The Salvation Army is able to do more of what we do best–be a transforming influence in the communities in which we live and work as we share the love of Jesus and meet human needs,” concludes Commissioner Tidd.