Fraternities and sororities in Canada

The expansion of Greek letter organizations into Canada was an important stage of the North American fraternity movement. In the nineteenth century, apart from the University of Toronto, very few Canadian universities had the same repute and secularity as their American counterparts. Consequently, most fraternities opened their first Canadian chapters at the University of Toronto and their second chapters at McGill University, beginning in 1879 with the establishment of a chapter of Zeta Psi at Toronto. In 1883 the same fraternity established a chapter at McGill University. Other early foundations were Kappa Alpha Society at Toronto in 1892 and at McGill in 1899, and Alpha Delta Phi at Toronto in 1893 and at McGill in 1897. The first sorority was, Kappa Alpha Theta, was established at Toronto in 1887. The development of the fraternity system in Canada has made great progress in these two universities. In 1927 Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities reported the existence of 42 chapters at the University of Toronto and of 23 chapters at McGill University. A few chapters were also reported from the University of British Columbia, Carleton University, Dalhousie University, University of Manitoba, Queen's University, University of Western Ontario, McMaster University, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo, Brock University and University of Alberta.