In 1784, catholics in the town of Halifax decided to build a church after the penal statutes against popery were repealed.

A small chapel, St. Peter's, was erected on a site at the south end of the town of Halifax in July of that year.

The wardens of St. Peter's also petitioned Bishop John Butler of Cork, Ireland to send Father James Jones, who knew many Irish settlers in Halifax and had expressed interest in coming to serve the church in North America.

[1] In 1801, Bishop Pierre Denaut of Quebec, somewhat alarmed at the radical developments at St. Peter's parish in Halifax after Father James Jones' departure, had asked Father Edmund Burke, the Vicar General of Upper Canada, to move to Halifax to tackle the situation.

[5] The metropolitan archbishop heads an ecclesiastical province which includes the suffragan dioceses of Antigonish and Charlottetown.