Peter Bietenholz was born January 7, 1933 in Basel, Switzerland. He received his Ph.D. from Basel in 1958. He came to Saskatoon in 1963 after having taught in the Sudan. He joined the faculty of the Department of History, University of Saskatchewan, in 1963, becoming a full professor in 1970 and serving as department head from 1974 to 1977. In 1996, the University of Saskatchewan awarded him an earned doctor of letters degree, in recognition of the excellence of his scholarship on Renaissance humanism generally and on Erasmus specifically. From 1970 to 1986, he was on the editorial board for The Collected Works of Erasmus and annotated several volumes of Erasmus' correspondence within that series. He was also the editor of Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation (3 vols., 1985-1987). Other books authored or edited by Bietenholz include Basle and France in the sixteenth century; the Basle humanists and printers in their contacts with Franco-phone culture (1971); Thesaurus de la Littérature Interdite au XVIe Siècle (1996); History and Fabula: Myths and Legends in Historical Thought From Antiquity To the Modern Age (1994); and In Haereticis Coërcendis Quatenus Progredi Liceat : Poems-Correspondence / Mino Celsi (1982). He has also lectured widely and is the author of many articles and chapters in books. He retired in 2000 and was named a Professor Emeritus.

Big River Pastoral Charge was originally formed in 1925, as the United Church's Eldred Mission Field, part of Prince Albert Presbytery and containing preaching points at Eldred and Big River. It was listed as an aid-receiving Pastoral Charge in 1926. By 1932, the name had changed to Big River Pastoral Charge, with points at Big River, Eldred and Sturgeon Heights. As of 1936, the charge included Black Duck, De Laronde, Reed and Stoney Lake. South Stoney and Swanston were also added ca.1940. By 1962, the charge consisted of just Big River, Debden and Rapid Bend.

Around 1972, Big River and Canwood (previously part of Shellbrook-Leask Pastoral Charge) amalgamated to form Big River - Canwood Pastoral Charge. Canwood's Trinity United Church closed March 30 2010, leaving just Big River's First United Church in the pastoral charge. As of April 27, 2012, the name returned to Big River Pastoral Charge.