The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada explained

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada
Area: Central
Northeast
West
Membership:203,339 (2023)
Stakes:53
Districts:4
Wards:347
Branches:142
Missions:6
O:9
A:1
Fhc:154

Since its organization in New York in 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has had a presence in Canada. The church's first missionaries to preach outside of the United States preached in Upper Canada; the first stake to be established outside of the U.S. was the Alberta Stake; and the Cardston Alberta Temple was the first church temple built outside of the boundaries of the United States.

With the church reporting more than 200,000 members at year-end 2022, Canada ranks as having the 4th largest body of members of the LDS Church in North America and the 12th worldwide.[1] The 2021 Canadian Census survey reported approximately 0.2% of the population (about 87,725 people) identified themselves as church members.[2]

Early missionary contacts

In the winter of 1829–30, Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page visited Upper Canada while seeking money to finance the publication of the Book of Mormon. After the publication of the Book of Mormon in March 1830, the unbaptized convert Phineas Young preached in Ernestown Township, Ontario.

Joseph Smith and Don Carlos Smith—the first official Latter Day Saint missionaries to preach outside of the United States—visited Upper Canada in September 1830 and preached in villages north of the St. Lawrence River.[3] In January 1832, converts Brigham and Phineas Young went to Upper Canada to convince their brother, Joseph to join the church.[3] After Joseph's baptism, the Young brothers taught their family and friends in Canada and baptized over 150 individuals and established four branches of the church, including ones in Kingston and Sydenham.

Joseph Smith preached in Upper Canada in September 1833 with Sidney Rigdon and Freeman Nickerson.[4] Also in 1833, future apostle, Lyman E. Johnson, preached in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Later, John E. Page and apostle Parley P. Pratt served successful missions to Upper Canada; Page baptized over 1,000 individuals between 1834 and 1836 and Pratt converted a number of individuals who would play a prominent role in the church, including John Taylor, Joseph and Mary Fielding, and William Law.

By 1850, approximately 2,500 residents of Canada—most of them from Upper Canada—had joined the LDS Church.[5] However, most of these members joined the gathering of the Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, Nauvoo, Illinois, and eventually Salt Lake City, Utah, and by 1861, the census of Ontario listed only 73 Mormons.[5]

Colonization of Alberta

In 1887, John Taylor—who was then the church president—sent Charles Ora Card, president of the church's Cache Stake, to Canada's Northwest Territories to establish a LDS Church colony that was beyond the reach of the United States government's anti-polygamy prosecutions. Card led a group of followers and established a settlement along Lee's Creek; the settlement was eventually renamed Cardston in Card's honour.[6] The church's Alberta Stake, the first outside of the United States, was created in 1895,[7] with Card as its president.Mormon pioneers continued to colonize what would become Alberta in 1905. Before the turn of the century, Latter-day Saints had founded Mountain View, Aetna, Beazer, Leavitt, Kimball, Caldwell, Taylorville, Magrath, and Stirling. After 1900, colonies of church members were established in Woolford, Welling, Orton, Raymond, Barnwell, Taber, Frankburg, Glenwood, and Hill Spring.[8] Church apostle John W. Taylor—the son of church president John Taylor—played a leadership role in assisting Latter-day Saint emigration from Utah to Alberta.

The Alberta Stake was divided in two in 1903. The Alberta Stake remained headquartered in Cardston and the new Taylor Stake—named in honour of John W. Taylor—was headquartered in Raymond. By 1910, there were about 10,000 Latter-day Saints in southern Alberta and in 1913 the church began construction of a temple in Cardston.[8] In 1924, church president Heber J. Grant dedicated the Cardston Alberta Temple, the church's first outside of the United States.[9] A stake was organized in Lethbridge in 1921.

Stirling, one of Alberta's original Latter-day Saint settlements and a National Historic Site of Canada, was founded by Theodore Brandley in 1899, and is one of few towns in Canada plotted out by the Plat of Zion. Today, Stirling still follows the Plat of Zion; for this reason, the village is recognized as the most well-preserved Canadian example of the Latter-day Saint planning model.

Beyond Alberta and today

A branch of the church was organized in Edmonton in 1933, with the Edmonton Stake established in 1960. The Calgary Stake was established in 1953. In 1960, Alberta resident N. Eldon Tanner was called as a church general authority; he became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1962 and a member of the First Presidency in 1963.

In 1998, a temple was announced for Edmonton and in December 1999 church president Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Edmonton Alberta Temple. In 2008, a temple was announced for Calgary by church president Thomas S. Monson. The Calgary Alberta Temple was dedicated in October 2012.

As of December 31, 2021, the LDS Church reported 199,534 members, 53 stakes, 352 wards, 4 districts, 147 branches, 6 missions, 9 temples, and 152 Family History Centers in Canada.[10]

In Canada, the church's Aid Fund donated C$185,000 to a newly rebuilt food bank in Medicine Hat, Alberta in February 2022. The money will help fund one commercial and two teaching kitchens in the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub.[11]

In October 2022, the church's charitable practices attracted media coverage from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's The Fifth Estate, which reported that the Canadian LDS Church had funneled almost C$1 billion over the past 15 years into the LDS Church's US-based Brigham Young University, rather than supporting charitable activities in Canada. The majority of these funds came from tithing of church members who tithe ten percent of their income. Under Canadian tax law, the Canadian LDS Church qualifies for tax-free status as a charitable entity. Canadian charities are allowed to donate to foreign charities and universities on the condition that those institutions are registered as "qualified donees" with the Canadian Revenue Agency.[12] [13]

Geographical distribution

Data from this section from Statistics Canada, 2021.[14]

Provinces & territories

Province / Territory Percent Latter Day SaintsTotal Latter Day Saints
1.1% 47,125
0.3%12,875
0.1%1,640
0.1%800
0.0%170
0.2%85
0.2%1,685
0.1%25
0.1% 16,420
0.1%175
0.1%4,600
0.2%2,060
0.2%70
CanadaTotal 0.2% 87,725

Stakes and districts

As of August 2023, Canada had the following stakes:

Stake/Districtdata-sort-type=dateOrganizedMissionTempleArea
Juneau Alaska8 Oct 1995Alaska AnchorageAnchorage Alaska
Calgary Alberta Stake15 Nov 1953Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Calgary Alberta Bow River Stake6 Dec 2015Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Calgary Alberta Confederation Park Stake14 Feb 1993Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Calgary Alberta Fish Creek Stake3 Feb 1980Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Calgary Alberta Foothills Stake5 Dec 1999Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Calgary Alberta North Stake17 Apr 1966Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Calgary Alberta West Stake27 May 1979Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Calgary Alberta YSA Stake5 May 2019Canada CalgaryCalgary Alberta
Cardston Alberta Stake9 Jun 1895Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Cardston Alberta West Stake13 Nov 1983Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Bonnie Doon Stake3 Nov 1974Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Gateway Stake6 Nov 1983Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Edmonton Alberta North Stake9 Sep 2001Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Riverbend Stake15 Nov 1960Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Edmonton Alberta YSA Stake11 Oct 2020Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Fort Macleod Alberta Stake29 Sep 1985Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Grande Prairie Alberta Stake12 Apr 1998Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Lethbridge Alberta Stake10 Nov 1921Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Lethbridge Alberta East Stake24 Nov 1974Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Lethbridge Alberta North Stake26 Oct 1997Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Lethbridge Alberta YSA Stake27 Aug 2017Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Magrath Alberta Stake26 Oct 1980Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Medicine Hat Alberta Stake20 Nov 1994Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Raymond Alberta Stake30 Aug 1903Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Red Deer Alberta Stake13 Jun 1982Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Sherwood Park Alberta Stake9 Apr 2017Canada EdmontonEdmonton Alberta
Taber Alberta Stake11 Sep 1960Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Abbotsford British Columbia Stake12 Jun 1994Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Cranbrook British Columbia Stake14 Jan 1979Canada CalgaryCardston Alberta
Nanaimo British Columbia Stake26 Oct 1997Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Prince George British Columbia Stake8 Apr 1979Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Surrey British Columbia Stake8 Apr 1979Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Terrace British Columbia District13 May 1980Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Vancouver British Columbia Stake21 Nov 1960Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Vernon British Columbia Stake12 Oct 1975Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Victoria British Columbia Stake9 Feb 1975Canada VancouverVancouver British Columbia
Winnipeg Manitoba East Stake12 Nov 1978Canada WinnipegWinnipeg Manitoba
Winnipeg Manitoba West Stake14 Nov 2021Canada WinnipegWinnipeg Manitoba
Duluth Minnesota Stake9 May 1993Minnesota MinneapolisSt. Paul Minnesota
Saint John New Brunswick Stake26 Jun 1988Canada MontrealHalifax Nova Scotia
Newfoundland and Labrador District30 Jul 1978Canada MontrealHalifax Nova Scotia
Dartmouth Nova Scotia Stake12 May 1985Canada MontrealHalifax Nova Scotia
Barrie Ontario Stake19 Feb 2012Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Brampton Ontario Stake11 Jan 1981Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Hamilton Ontario Stake6 Sep 1970Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Kingston Ontario District22 Jan 1920Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Kitchener Ontario Stake22 Jun 1986Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
London Ontario Stake11 Apr 1976Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Oshawa Ontario Stake13 Jun 1976Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Ottawa Ontario Stake12 Dec 1976Canada MontrealMontreal Quebec
Sudbury Ontario Stake5 May 1996Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Toronto Ontario Stake14 Aug 1960Canada TorontoToronto Ontario
Longueuil Québec Stake7 May 2006Canada MontrealMontreal Quebec
Montréal Québec Stake18 Jun 1978Canada MontrealMontreal Quebec
Montréal Québec Mount Royal Stake6 Jul 1980Canada MontrealMontreal Quebec
Québec City District27 Mar 1977Canada MontrealMontreal Quebec
Regina Saskatchewan Stake27 Oct 2001Canada WinnipegRegina Saskatchewan
Saskatoon Saskatchewan Stake5 Nov 1978Canada WinnipegRegina Saskatchewan

Missions

Missiondata-sort-type=dateOrganizedArea
Canada Calgary15 Sep 1941 Central
Canada Edmonton1 Jul 1998 Central
Canada Montreal1 Jul 1972 Northeast
Canada Toronto1 Jul 1919 Northeast
Canada Vancouver21 Nov 1960 West
Canada Winnipeg15 Feb 1976 Central

Temples

There are 9 temples operating in Canada and two announced to be constructed.

Communities

Latter-day Saints have had a significant role in establishing and settling communities within the "Mormon Corridor" and other locations, including the following in Alberta, Canada:

See also

Additional reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics]
  2. Web site: Government of Canada . Statistics Canada . Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Canada [Country] ]. www12.statcan.gc.ca . 28 October 2022 . 9 February 2022.
  3. [Richard E. Bennett]
  4. Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts ed., 1902). History of the Church 1:416–425.
  5. Deseret News Church Almanac 1993–1994 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News) p. 203.
  6. [Church Educational System]
  7. Web site: Country/State Profiles: Canada-Alberta . LDS Newsroom . LDS Church .
  8. Deseret News Church Almanac 1993–1994 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News) p. 199.
  9. The Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated in 1919 during the time it was a territory of the United States.
  10. Web site: Facts and Statistics:Canada . Mormon Newsroom . LDS Church . February 27, 2022.
  11. News: Church Donation Helps Medicine Hat Food Bank Serve Up Cooking Skills . LDS Church. February 23, 2022 . February 25, 2022.
  12. News: Angelovski . Ivan . Sawa . Timothy . Kelly . Mark . Mormon Church in Canada moved $1B out of the country tax free — and it's legal . October 31, 2022 . . . October 27, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221030215712/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mormon-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints-funds-charity-1.6630190 . October 30, 2022. live.
  13. News: Schneiders . Ben . Steinfort . Tom . Clancy . Natalie . Mormon church invests billions of dollars while grossly overstating its charitable giving . October 31, 2022 . . . October 29, 2022.
  14. Web site: Government of Canada . Statistics Canada . Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population . www12.statcan.gc.ca . 31 October 2022 . 9 February 2022.