Emmanuel College is a Family Tradition for the Aitchisons

^{From left to right: Andrew Aitchison, Patricia Leanne Aitchison, James Aitchison and W.E. Mark Aitchison.}

By Leslie Shepherd 

For the Aitchison family, Emmanuel College isn’t just an alma mater—it’s more like a second home. A dozen degrees and countless convocation photos later, they might just qualify for their own alumni chapter. 

Eleven members of the family spanning three different generations have earned 13 degrees from Emmanuel in the past 90 years. 

Andrew Aitchison Emm 1T4 is Emmanuel’s admissions adviser and strategic recruiter. It’s his job to both attract new students and help them through discernment, the process of reflecting whether Emmanuel is the right place for them and whether they are on the right academic and spiritual path.
 
He has a lot of first-hand experience and experts he can call on. Andrew earned a Master of Sacred Music degree from Emmanuel in 2014. His younger brother James earned a Master of Divinity in 2021 and received a Master of Psychospiritual Studies at the 2025 convocation on May 15. 

They were following a path their parents had walked before them. 

Their father, W.E. Mark Aitchison, and mother, Patricia Leanne Aitchison, came to Emmanuel together in the fall of 1978 and graduated together in 1980, he with a Master of Divinity degree and she with a Master of Religious Education.
 
They had met in the Arts Reading Room at the University of Guelph in September 1976, where it was love at first sight. They were engaged on their second date atop the newly built CN Tower in November 1976 and were married in August 1977. 
 
Mark Aitchison was ordained as a United Church of Canada minister in 1980 and is celebrating 45 years of ministry this year. Pattie Aitchison returned to Emmanuel in 1995 to do a Master of Divinity before discovering she could transfer those credits to the U of T Faculty of Social Work where she earned a master’s degree and then spent 25 years working in foster care for Bridgeway Family Homes. One of her classmates in her second round at Emmanuel was HyeRan Kim-Cragg, now the college’s principal. 
 
Pattie Aitchison said that Emmanuel “opened me up, broadened my world view and my faith and expanded my spiritual horizon.” What makes Emmanuel special, she said, is the architecture, the community and its sense of history. 
 
Her husband recalled arriving at Emmanuel with three friends from Westminster United Church in Orangeville, who had varying outlooks on faith. 
 
“I never felt threatened or unwelcome at Emmanuel because I may have had different theological views,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I feel comfortable coming back.” 
 
The first member of the extended Aitchison family to attend Emmanuel was the Rev. John Wesley Stinson, Mark Aitchison’s great uncle, who earned a Master of Divinity in 1935, one of the early graduating classes. Three of Andrew Aitchison’s cousins attended Emmanuel--the Rev. Maya Landell (MDiv  2007), the Rev. Mary Jo Patterson (MDiv 2003, MPS  2004) and the Rev. Janess Binns-Landell (MDiv 1997) plus three cousin’s-in-law:  the Rev. Adam Hanley (MDiv 2010) Derek Deluca (MDiv 2004) and Rev. Roger Landell (Licentiate Theology 1985) 
 
Andrew Aitchison grew up hearing stories about Emmanuel from his parents and felt, “Oh, brother, I’ll never set foot in that place.” 
 
He left the church when he turned 18 and earned a degree in music, but slowly came back after meeting people his own age who were church members. He also knew Professor Fred Graham, founding director of Emmanuel’s Master of Sacred Music program, the first of its kind in Canada, who encouraged him to apply. 
 
“It fell naturally into place,” Andrew said. “I came and I loved it. Sitting with the admissions person, I just had this overwhelming sense this would be my job one day.”   
 
Attending Emmanuel College, which is one of two colleges at Victoria University in the University of Toronto, isn’t the only thing the Aitchisons have in common. Andrew and his family live in the same condominium building in Mississauga as his parents. And James Aitchison is the pastoral care ministry lead at Islington United Church in Toronto where his father Mark once served. James’ and Andrew’s cousin Maya Landell (Mark’s goddaughter) is the lead minister.

For Christmas, the three Aitchison brothers (yes, there are three; one did not go to Emmanuel) gave their parents a paver stone etched with their names to be placed in the new Indigenous Healing Garden outside of Emmanuel College. For $1,000 you can also name a hexagonal paving stone on a pathway at the heart of the Vic campus. This is a unique way to celebrate your impact on the Victoria community and inspire others to give back to the university. Learn more on the Pave Your Way at Vic page today!