As soon as Zeta Psi came to Toronto, as the pioneer of Greek letter fraternities in Canada, her zealous brothers immediately conceived the idea of starting a sister chapter at their rival university. In those days, there was but a slender thread of communication between the two institutions, and the hopes of the Theta Xi might have thus been thwarted for many years had it not been for Robert Fulford Ruttan from Toronto, who decided in 1881 to pursue his medical studies at McGill. Ruttan, though not a Zete, numbered many of the active chapter at Varsity among his intimate friends, and they commissioned him to lay the groundwork for the foundation of a chapter in Montreal. He painstakingly collected a small group of enthusiastic fellow medical students and petitioned Grand Chapter to grant a charter to the fledgling group. The petition was successful, and on the morning of January 3, 1883, Bros. A.L. Cameron (then Phi of Theta Xi) and Henry Brook (Theta Xi, '81) arrived in Montreal to install the new chapter. It was to be called Alpha Psi, in honor of the Phi Alpha, who could not attend the ceremony, as he was at the 35th Annual Zeta Psi Convention in Philadelphia. With the initiation of Ruttan , the first Alpha Psi Zete , Zeta Psi in Montreal was born. The new chapter immediately sent two neophyte brothers to represent Alpha Psi at Convention, alongside their brothers from the only other Canadian chapter - Theta Xi.
The executive at the first meeting was the following:
C.E. Cameron Phi
C.E. Gooding Alpha Phi
R.F. Ruttan Sigma
W.G. Johnston Alpha Sigma
J.H. Davey Gamma
D.J.G. Wishart Sigma Rho
Such was the speed with which the new chapter was ushered into the world. A small office over a detective agency at 214 St. James Street was hastily rented to serve as the first Chapter room. The new brothers were almost exclusively men of the medical faculty, and the Alpha Psi archives testify to the prominence of that faculty, listing the names of illustrious physicians and surgeons in every rank of civilian and military life. Although Alpha Psi had no rival fraternities at McGill, the chapter was forced to struggle through trials and tribulations difficult to imagine today. Greek letter fraternities were unknown at McGill and faculty and student ignorance bred suspicion of the secret organization.
From the beginning, the chapter roll featured the names of students who had achieved unusual distinctions, in both the athletic and academic fields. More often than not, the class president was a Zete, as were the highest officials on the student council. This contributed to the suspicion, that a secret organization was trying to run the affairs of the university for its own mysterious ends.
In the years following, Alpha Psi moved frequently, renting rooms in many different buildings around campus. In 1901, the chapter finally rented a house at 766 Sherbrooke St. and remained there for five years, after which they obtained premises at 155 University. Still, strong feeling among the brothers called for a house owned by the chapter. The Great War, however, caused a delay in the brothers' ownership plans. It was not until 1925 that the chapter occupied the magnificent new Memorial Chapter house, dedicated to the memory of the Alpha Psi brothers who died in The Great War, at 3637 University St. The record of the chapter, distinguished in many and various fields, was never so brilliant as when the call to arms was made, and the patriotism of the brothers was aroused. As early as 1885, Zetes had been among those dispatched to quell the Riel uprising in the Canadian Northwest.
In 1897 another fraternity had established itself at McGill, and by 1902 the number of fraternities on campus had risen to six. Although the Zetes were the compelled to engage in active rushing, an activity hitherto unknown to them when they held the field alone, no other fraternity, before or since, has been able to attain Alpha Psi's prestige in Montreal. Unfortunately, space does not permit a detailed chronicle of the individual and collective honor accumulated by the chapter in these early years, but the following short list of notable Zetes exemplifies our achievements:
Percival Molson Tremendous McGill athlete before WWI, died during the war. Bequeathed in his will money to build Molson Stadium, and our Memorial Chapter house at 3637 University.
M.P. McKeen and H.F. Walker Founders of the McGill Daily.
George Hodgson Olympic Gold Medalist (Stockholm 1916)
Conrad F. Harrington Chancellor of McGill University in the early 1980's.
Stephen Leacock Political Economics Professor at McGill, and noted Humorist.
In the fateful year of 1914, thirty brothers were accepted for military service. The chapter numbered no more than a handful of men during the war, but carried on nonetheless. The chapter was faced with the prospect of being forced to suspend fraternity activities, as had occurred at Theta Xi. One of the most notable accomplishments during the war was the establishment of the McGill Base Hospital in France, with just over 600 beds, under the direction of Col. H.S. Birkett (AΨ '86). Not only were the personnel almost entirely McGill men, 12 of those under Birkett's command were Alpha Psi Zetes. These Zetes, were later joined by Brother Lt. Col. John A. McRae (ΘΞ '94), who penned the immortal poem "In Flanders Fields," in memory of the fallen, while in France. There were 75 casualties (27 from the Alpha Psi) among the 186 Zete brothers in active service. In addition, 48 Zetes received decorations for valour, including the first Victoria Cross awarded to a Canadian.
The university cherishes two other memorials to Alpha Psi brothers. The first, the Percival Molson Stadium, dedicated in 1920, was built mostly out of funds bequeathed by Br. Percival Molson for that purpose. The second is the stained glass window in the Medical Building, a memorial to three Zete Lieutenant - Colonels: John A. McRae, R.P. Campbell (AY '01) and H.E. Yeats (AY '93).
After World War One Alpha Psi entered a period of reconstruction, during which she continued to select members from among the elite of the McGill student body. The chapter house was home to a formidable assembly of men who excelled in all of their endeavors. Indeed, there were so many prominent and famous elder Zetes in positions of great esteem and influence that it was often stated jokingly, but not entirely mistakenly, that the Zetes ran the city of Montreal.
In 1939, the chapter faced yet another crisis that threatened its existence. Brothers again faced the challenges of war on the battlefield and in civilian life in defense of King and Country. Active membership once again declined to under 15 men. By the end of the war, the Zete Honor Roll had added another 17 names of men whose memory lives on today. A bronze plaque, on permanent display in the Chapter Room, commemorates these brave men. A similar plaque commemorating the brothers who lost their lives during the First World War hung in the Memorial Chapter house. This plaque has been misplaced through the shut down and various moves, it is also significantly larger than the WWII plaque. An extensive search for this plaque is currently under way.
The post-war years saw Alpha Psi return to its former status at McGill. Throughout the 1940's and 1950's, the chapter reaffirmed its position as the undisputed leader in academic achievement, as well as athletics. The 1960's, however, saw a developing trend of thought that was highly unfavorable to fraternities in general, which began to be viewed as elitist organizations. A period of decline began, during which many fraternities were forced to close down under the resultant financial strain. The population of Greek societies at McGill declined from nearly 7,000 in 1965 to under 300 by 1970.
This attrition eventually led to the closing of the chapter midway through the 1970 school year. It was still hoped that something could be done to restart it the following year, or at the very most in the next couple of years. However the situation on campus was not changing fast enough. Even though a strong elder chapter existed, there simply was no interest on McGill campus in the Greek system. From 1970 until 1974 the Memorial Chapter house was rented out to a few McGill clubs for meeting space, and some of the rooms upstairs were rented out as residence for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. In 1974 the elder chapter met to decide the fate of the chapter house. The taxes were increasing, and the rent income was simply not enough to cover the costs of the house. If closing the chapter was a difficult thing to do, selling the chapter house became even more difficult. The home of the Alpha Psi Chapter, for 50 years, and one of the most magnificent houses throughout the entire fraternity. Many long meetings took place, everyone wanted to keep the house, but reality would have to set in. There was just not enough money anymore for the bricks and mortar, the chapter would have to survive in spirit alone.
The Elders, by the end of 1974, had sold the chapter house to McGill University for $65,000. It was hoped that within the next few years, something could be done to restart the chapter, and the elders would then buy back the house. McGill had purchased the house in hopes of renovating it and turning it into classrooms or offices. However, McGill would also run over budget trying to renovate, and they too were compelled to sell the house. The exact date of this sale, and to whom the sale was made is not recorded in our archives as it happened during a rather dark period of our history.
Indeed , it seems strange how history repeats itself. Once again, our sister chapter, Theta Xi, provided the necessary drive to reactivate Alpha Psi. Among those directly involved in this great effort were brothers Corey Nicholson and Jeff Ball, who coordinated the resources of the Theta Xi, an extremely enthusiastic group of Montreal elders and the Grand Chapter.
A pledge class of 16 men was formed of McGill and Concordia students who had demonstrated an almost fanatical interest in reviving the Alpha Psi tradition. Soon they began to hold their own pledge meetings and started to rebuild the chapter from scratch.
The 16 members of the Alpha class were:
Mark Stapleton
Greg Aikens
Greg Vit
Andy Peiffer
Peter Hopper
Geoff Wickham
Ken MacKinnon
Perry Owen
Jay Mann
Mark Culver
Pat McKeown
Jacques Vaillancourt
Dave Philbin
Francois Savard
Bob Lefebvre
Graham Landgraff
On March 17, 1979, this proud and solid pledge class boarded the train for Toronto and was initiated by the actives and elders of the Theta Xi chapter. They soon returned to hold the first Alpha Psi chapter meeting in nine years. By the start of the fall semester of 1979, the chapter had obtained a house rented from McGill at 3483 Peel. Ironically it is believed that sometime during 1979 the old Memorial Chapter house burned nearly to the ground, leaving only the front and side walls intact. There still remained hope of buying the house within the next few years.
In 1983 the chapter celebrated its 100th anniversary by hosting the Grand Chapter convention held during the summer. Zetes from all over the world descended upon the Alpha Psi to celebrate the past 100 years and would be a bright future. Despite great enthusiasm, the Memorial Chapter house was once again sold, this time for a considerably larger sum, to a condo developer. The cold reality of losing the house, was disheartening, but did not drag the chapter down.
The chapter would be forced to move from the Peel St. house in 1986 by McGill in an effort to re-claim a bulk of their real estate around campus for residences. The stormy dispute that would ensue perhaps prevented us from obtaining other facilities at McGill, however all would not be lost. A Theta Xi Zete would once again come to the rescue of the Alpha Psi by allowing us to become partners in a house at 481 Prince Arthur. Since this house was spectacular to say the least, the loss of the Peel St. house was not nearly as bad as once thought.
For several major reasons, our stay at 481 Prince Arthur would be brief, and by 1989 the chapter was once again homeless. Throughout the next five years the Alpha Psi would see many ups and downs, many moves, and a significant amount of uncertainty.
For the past year, we have been located in a location that has allowed us to gain stability and momentum. The chapter is now at the strongest it has been in the past few years. A new permanent chapter house will hopefully be found within the next year, and this combined with our current success leaves us looking towards a bright future for the Alpha Psi in the 21st century.
The men who have led the chapter to our present status at McGill, in the position of Phi, are:
Greg Aikens 1979-1980
Andy Peiffer 1980-1981
Stephen Kay 1981-1982
Henning von Bauer 1982-1983
Paul Smith 1983-1984
Barth Gillan 1984-1985
David Keating 1985-1986
Stephen Thuringer 1986-1987
Louis Fauteux 1987-1988
Steven Mansfield 1988-1989
Rauri Nicholson 1989-1990
Marcus Knill 1990-1991
Bruce Harling 1991-1992
Jurgen Pahl 1992-1993
Jason de Pooter 1993-1994
Ross Stuart 1994-1995
Ian Andes 1995-1996
Anthony Meades 1996-1997
Simon Wignall 1997-1998
J. Rob Wallace 1998-1999 1999-2000
Rob Belanger 2000-2001
Rick Fortin 2001-2002
Eric Giguere 2002-2003
Daniel Lamothe 2003-2004
Alec Humes 2004 - present
The heritage of valor, bravery, excellence and resourcefulness is one which the actives and elders of the chapter are extremely proud. All brothers are asked to learn and respect the traditions and ideals of Alpha Psi, which are self-evident from even this brief history. As a Brothers of Alpha Psi, we are expected to uphold the fine tradition that Alpha Psi has built for itself at McGill. The past as much as the present, and future, contain the basic essence of the Alpha Psi. We treat the history of our chapter always with its deserved respect and use it to learn its valuable lessons.
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