During Canada’s colonial period, England favoured the establishment of Anglican churches, going so far as to set aside one-seventh of all Crown lands for the support of Protestant Clergy (interpreted as Anglican) and founding Church of England rectories. Although the Church of England never became the state church in Canada, other Christian denominations were only tolerated by the establishment. Baptist preachers, strong advocates of religious freedom, purposely defied laws that favoured a state church. They were arrested, jailed and even banished for performing marriages without deferring to Anglican authority. Religious freedom extended more fully to other denominations only in 1834. Lands reserved for Anglican clergy were sold and secularized in 1840, abandoning forever the idea that one exclusive church would serve Canada. Through Baptist insistence on religious freedom, Canadians became free to choose what faith they wished to follow.