The Canadian humanitarian, reformer, and political leader James Shaver Woodsworth (1874-1942) contributed significant observations on the life of immigrants to Canada and fought vigorously for social reforms in Parliament.

Born near Toronto, Ontario, on July 29, 1874, J. S. Woodsworth as a boy moved to Manitoba, where his father was for many years superintendent of Methodist missions for the North West Territory. He was educated at Wesley College, Winnipeg, and subsequently studied theology at Victoria University, Toronto. He spent a year in England, attending lectures at Oxford and observing social work in the slums of London. On returning to Canada he was ordained to the Methodist ministry in 1900 and served a brief time in rural pastorates until his appointment as assistant pastor of the prosperous downtown Grace Methodist Church in Winnipeg. In 1904 he married a college classmate from Ontario, Lucy Staples.

As the center of the great wheat boom, Winnipeg...