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Knights Templar Canada
http://osmth.ca


On behalf of our more than 5,000 Knights and Dames of the Knights Templar worldwide, we welcome you to our page for the largest Knight Templar Order in the world, and the only Templar Order recognized in Special Consultative Status by the United Nations. 

Our official name is Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani, Latin for “The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem”, and often shortened to the initials OSMTH or SMOTJ. Our Order was founded on the principles first adopted by the original Templar Knights in France in the Year 1118 and carried out in those early days from their home in the Temple of Solomon in the Holy City of Jerusalem, provided for them by then King of Jerusalem Baldwin, the Second. In these modern times, OSMTH is international in nature with members from over 40 nations, ecumenical Christian in our religious beliefs welcoming Members of all Christian religions, and focused on matters of human rights, political and religious freedom, and humanitarian aid to the world's less fortunate. We are officially recognized by the United Nations in Special Consultative Status and furnish OSMTH Official Delegations to the United Nations in New York City, Vienna, and Geneva. 

Like the Knights Templar of old, we operate as a modern-day worldwide network of educated professionals in such widely diverse protocols as senior government officials, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, senior clergy, military officers, physicians and surgeons, engineers, historians, and humanitarian aid caregivers. OSMTH represents many of the most respected and credible senior officials in their home nations, providing both a highly respected body of expertise, an influential voice to support commitment to the less fortunate of the world, and to promote the time-tested chivalric ideals of honor, honesty, civility, tolerance, care for our fellow man, and support for ecumenical religious faith throughout our individual nations and throughout the world community. 

We often find ourselves working with and through other Chivalric Orders, the senior leadership of other nations, and with other Non-Governmental Organizations [NGO] in order to provide humanitarian aid and other involvement in resolution of serious humanitarian needs or political, ethnic, and religious conflict. Engaging the respect and credibility of our world membership in their home nations, we are able to bring resolution and assistance in matters that quite often become bogged down in the bureaucracy of governments and regulations. Our objectives include the international promotion of inter-cultural and inter-religious contacts and worldwide networks in order to help build bridges of brotherhood between nations and cultures, as well as individual good works performed by individual anonymous Knights and Dames. As ecumenical Christians, we also seek to increase awareness of conflicts and their causes and in so doing, work towards their future prevention and ultimate peaceful coexistence of all nations. Because our Order began it's first work in The Holy City of Jerusalem in the 12th Century, The Holy Land and it's Cradle of Christianity are of the highest interest to us in this regard as evidenced by our most recent Trip To Jerusalem and our work there with the Senior Leadership of every Christian Church in Jerusalem. 

OSMTH aspires to foster a cosmopolitan society in which differences among peoples, cultures, and governments will be both respected and appreciated. We seek the betterment of humanity through education, world brotherhood, chivalric principles, and civil behavior and treatment among one-another. 

Our membership standards are purposely very high, our financial and time commitments are not for everyone, and our dedication to a more caring world requires significant expectations that not everyone can meet. But for those who qualify, the OSMTH Knights Templar Order offers an unequaled World class Chivalric Order with an international network of some of the most sophisticated and influential professional men and women from over 40 different nations.

Here in Canada we have Priories in Windsor, Toronto and Ottawa all in the Province of Ontario and a Commandary in Edmonton. We are also in the early stages of working on developing a Commandary in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Brussels Declaration of the Order

It states our vision as...

Today, OSMTH – Knights Templar International looks for a world in which:

a constructive dialogue between the great religious faiths, and the individuals and nations that adhere to them, is conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect, understanding and peace;

the holy sites of Christianity and the other great faiths are respected, protected and maintained, and pilgrims can travel to them in safety;

the dedication, generosity and integrity of all those engaged in providing humanitarian aid are recognised and valued, and aid workers carry out their vital work in an ethical manner without fear of discrimination;

the principles of active charity, courtesy, dedication and honesty, inherent in the highest ideals of a code of chivalry and a personal rule of life, are spread wider and wider in society;

and

the contribution of the Knights Templar, medieval and modern, with regard to agriculture, construction, transportation, crafts, medicine, finance, inter-faith affairs, diplomacy and philanthropy is both well researched, and also widely understood and valued by the public.

See http://www.osmth.org/ for further information on the International order.

Alastair McIntyre, GOTJ, FSA Scot was the newsletter editor for the "Canadian Templar", the newsletter of the Grand Priory of Canada, copies of which can be downloaded below. He completed his four years work on the newsletter with the September 2016 edition.

Newsletters of the Grand Priory of Canada in pdf format

December 2012
March 2013
July 2013
October 2013

December 2013
April 2014
July 2014
October 2014
December 2014
March 2015
June 2015
September 2015
December 2015
March 2016
June 2016
September 2016

Some of the old St. James Priory Newsletters from 2010 onwards

Jun 2010
Aug 2010
Oct 2010
Dec 2010
Feb 2011
Apr 2011
Aug 2011
Jun 2011
Mar 2012
Apr 2012
Jun 2012
Aug 2012
Dec 2012

New Grand Priory of Canada Newsletter

December 2017
March 2018
April 2018
May 2018
September 2018
October 2018
January 2019
January 2020
Easter 2020
Summer 2020
October 2020


Group shot at the St. James Priory Investiture Sept. 2016


Our new Prior on the left and new Chancellor on the right


And Sir Alastair McIntyre your web master and ex newsletter editor

On Sunday 20th August 2017 it was announced that H.E. The Rev. Dame Nola Crewe was to take over as Grand Prior of Canada at the September Investiture of St. James Priory in Toronto.
See her CV here


Our New Grand Prior, H.E. The Rev. Dame Nola Crewe, invested on 9th September 2017

Here are her opening words at the Banquet after...

Investiture Banquet
the 9th of September 2017

Thank-you. Each and everyone of you, for the honour bestowed upon me this day. I commit myself and my term to doing all I can for the betterment of the Knights Templar Order: here and everywhere.

As you know, I am following in the very large footsteps of those who established and expanded our Order in Canada.

Clearly my high heels will leave different footprints on our journey.

So, let me tell you a bit about my leadership style. I am a collaborative, committee-type of person. I like everyone to know what is going on . . . so that all can be held accountable for getting done what needs to be done. And all can bask in our successes.

And that is only going to be possible when old foggies like me learn to use modern means of communications EFFECTIVELY to ensure that in this vast country, every Templar truly feels that they are CANADIAN Templars . . . well represented on the international scene and driven by the efforts and talents and wishes of their home priories.

To that end we have to acknowledge that being a Templar means more than donning a mantle and turning out in one's best duds for the annual investiture. Delightful though that may be in our most public persona.

It is the day-by-day living the values of the Templar that impacts our lives, our families, our communities, and, ultimately, our world. Combating modern paganism and decadence; defending and teaching our Christian faith and uniting its many parts; reasserting the spirit of chivalry; preserving and perpetuating our traditions and customs; giving aid to those in need whether of infirmity, material goods or protection. That is what being a Templar means. And each

In the months ahead, each Templar will be asked to work on a committee, on a project, on an event and all will be expected to pray regularly for all our efforts.

Some will drive a car, some will write a cheque some will sew a mantle. Others will represent Canada on the international scene, and others will assume offices at home. Whether you choose to host a fund raiser, feed the hungry, share your knowledge of Templar history or sites on a pod-cast, chase down skates or bottles of water, eye glasses or running shoes . . . there is a role for you.

We need to take advantage of the time and talents and gifts of our members. So, look about your table tonight and discover the talents lying before you. Look within yourself.

And then make the commitment to share what you discover to make a better world the Templar way.

And finally, my joy in your confidence in me cannot be overstated.

My commitment is to give all I am to the challenge of leading our Order in Canada and representing it abroad. To each of you I say, call me out should I fail and disappoint you. I too must be accountable.

And here, before you, I pledge my term to using the gifts God gave me to the service of Our Order . . . God willing. AMEN.

[Toast] To you, the Templars!
To the Order!


Sir George Jackowski becomes the fourth Grand Prior of Canada on 24th October 2020.

A short bio of him...

Dr. Jackowski has been instrumental in the founding of 12 biotechnology companies in his career, four of which became publicly traded. Furthermore, he has contributed to the creation of 12 additional biotechnology companies. He is responsible for the creation of over 1,000 high tech jobs in a hard to fund biotech sector. He has grown companies to market caps of over $350 million, raised from public capital markets over $125 million and completed deals with Big Pharma of over $100 million USD in transactions. Dr. Jackowski is currently Chief Scientific Officer of Pivotal Therapeutics Inc. and holds Directorships in numerous biotech companies. Prior to creating Pivotal, he was founder, Chairman, CEO and CSO at SynX Pharma Inc. He has served as the Chairman of Bio Canada Connect, a Board Member of the Ontario BIO Council and on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Stroke Network. Dr. Jackowski has also served on many federal and provincial governmental biotechnology committees and is on the Scientific Board of Advisors for the Innovation Cluster, Trent University. Dr. Jackowski has been intimately involved in the enforcement of patent claims, patent litigation and patent interference proceedings. As one of the pioneers of Canadian Biotech over the past thirty years, Dr. George Jackowski was recently recognized and awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his significant contribution to the Canadian Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industries by the Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Dr. Jackowski also received the 1996 MEDEC Award for Medical Achievement for his invention of the Cardiac STATus™ CK-MB/Myoglobin / Troponin Card Test. He developed and holds the patents on the rapid format immunoassays measuring cardiac enzymes, in particularly Troponin, which aids in the early diagnosis of myocardial infarction and is commercialized worldwide in hospital emergency rooms. Dr. Jackowski, a respected cardiovascular biochemist, was trained at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of San Francisco, California and at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Jackowski holds academic positions at the University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and the Department of Surgery and the Florida Atlantic University, the Centre for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. His scientific resume includes authoring 44 publications and 61 abstracts, holding over 153 patents filed and issued.

An update on May 2022 is just to say I can find nothing on this Grand Prior anywhere on the Internet in relation to his role as Grand Prior. No newsletters can be found and any reference to the Knights Templar in Canada stops in October 2020 when he took over.  I just wondered if he died of Covid as it's very unusual not to hear anything from the Grand Prior.

Some copies of other Newsletters from our International Order

Grand Priory of England and Wales
Preceptory of Australia and New Zealand


On the 10th of October 2020 a ZOOM meeting for all GPs was held to discuss the impact of COVID on the activities, plans, well-being of members, recruitment and so much more. Here is a video of the event: http://u.pc.cd/2r7rtalK


The Knights Templar and Historical Revisionism in the Modern Era

Other Publications

Information about OSMTH
A Video by Alastair McIntyre GOTJ

St. James Priory of Toronto
Information booklet on the Order (pdf)
St James Priory Annual Report 2014/15 (pdf)
OSMTH at the UN in 2015 (pdf)
The Mountain of the House of the Lord: Utah Priory
Convent and Investiture Handbook May 2016 (pdf)
Questioning the Knights Templar of OSMTH
A video done by Alastair McIntyre 2nd July 2016
United Nations Delegate Handbook (pdf)
Compendium of OSMTH work at the UN (pdf)


H.E. The Rev. Dame Nola Crewe at the Investiture in Windsor
2nd November 2019


The Sovereign Great Priory of Canada
Of the United Orders of Malta and the Temple Supreme Grand Masters, Compiled and Edited by Michael Jenkyns, K.T. (2016) (pdf)


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