St. Peter's Catholic Parish, New Westminster, BC

Fr. Leon Fouquet OMI the founder of the Parish and a Professor of Theology arrived in 1860 and after two months of searching in the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan chose New Westminster for a site for a new mission, with Hope as an outpost. In 1934, after the old church on Blackwood Street was badly damaged by a gale in October, St. Patrick Hall (later Dontenwill Hall) was used as a church. The first Mass was celebrated in the new church on 4th Street and Royal Avenue on Palm Sunday April 2nd 1939. Since the arrival in 1860 of Fr. Fouquet, many Oblate priests and brothers have faithfully served the parish as pastors, chaplains, teachers, counsellors, sacristans, builders, plumbers, bookkeepers, cooks and gardeners.