Located on the Cowichan Indian Reserve on Vancouver Island, the church and cemetery are significant for their association with early missionary Father Pierre Rondeault (Rondeau), who arrived from Quebec in 1858 and set out to build his congregation in the Cowichan Valley.

In 1870, the stone church was built with funds raised from the sale of butter from the mission’s dairy herd. Ten years later, it was discovered that the church had mistakenly been built on land without clear title, and the structure was abandoned for a new church ordered by Bishop Demers.