As the fur trade and colonisation expanded, the Catholic Church took on the mission of keeping Catholics on the right path, and converting Indigenous peoples to their faith. After multiple pleas from Canadien Freemen such as Joseph Cardinal for priests around Lac La Biche and Edmonton to administer sacraments, Fathers Modeste Demers and François-Norbert Blanchet passed through the areas and confirmed the high demand by performing many baptisms and marriages. The Chief Factor of Fort Edmonton requested a permanent mission in 1838 and 1841, and Jean-Baptiste Thibault was sent in 1842, and established the first Catholic mission in Alberta in 1844 at Lac Sainte-Anne (moved to St. Albert in 1856). Several Catholic missions were established in Edmonton, Lac La Biche, Fort Chipewyan, Calgary, among many others from the 1850s to the 1880s. These missions formed the basis for permanent Métis and Francophone communities from that time forward. Even though the first Catholic missionaries were secular priests, over time the vast majority were members of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
