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.[4] The 2021 Canadian Census survey reported approximately 0.2% of the population (about 87,725 people) identified themselves as church members.[5]
Early missionary contacts
The Cardston Alberta Temple is the oldest LDS temple outside the United States.
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.[7] In January 1832, converts Brigham and Phineas Young went to Upper Canada to convince their brother, Joseph to join the church.[7] 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.
By 1850, approximately 2,500 residents of Canada—most of them from Upper Canada—had joined the LDS Church.[6] 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.[6]
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.[9] The church's Alberta Stake, the first outside of the United States, was created in 1895,[10] with Card as its president.
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.[11] In 1924, church president Heber J. Grant dedicated the Cardston Alberta Temple, the church's first outside of the United States.[12] 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.
As of 2024, the LDS church has 489 congregations in 322 locations in Canada. The number of wards has declined from 352 to 347 and the number of branches from 147 to 142.[14][15]
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.[16]
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.[17][18]
Geographical distribution
Data from this section from Statistics Canada, 2021.[19]
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada May 7, 1998 by Gordon B. Hinckley October 12, 1998 by Jay E. Jensen November 14, 1999 by Gordon B. Hinckley 10,700sqft (990m2) on a 2-acre (0.81ha) site Classic modern, single spire design - designed by L.A. Beaubien and Associates, and Church A&E Services
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada August 3, 1998 by Gordon B. Hinckley November 14, 1998 by Hugh W. Pinnock November 14, 1999 by Boyd K. Packer 10,700sqft (990m2) on a 1-acre (0.40ha) site Classic modern, single-spire design - designed by Roger B. Mitchell and Church A&E Services
Longueuil, Quebec, Canada 6 August 1998 by Gordon B. Hinckley 9 April 1999 by Gary J. Coleman 4 June 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley 22 November 2015 by Henry B. Eyring[20] 11,550sqft (1,073m2) on a 2.4-acre (0.97ha) site Classic modern, single-spire design - designed by Andrij Serbyn, Fichten Soiferman and Church A&E Services
Langley, British Columbia, Canada 25 May 2006 by Gordon B. Hinckley 4 August 2007 by Ronald A. Rasband 2 May 2010 by Thomas S. Monson 28,165sqft (2,616.6m2) on a 11.6-acre (4.7ha) site - designed by Abbarch Architecture and GSBS Open house was held in April and the dedication 2 May 2010.[21][22][23] First temple in British Columbia and 6th in Canada.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada April 2, 2011 by Thomas S. Monson December 3, 2016 by Larry Y. Wilson 31 October 2021 by Gerrit W. Gong 16,100sqft (1,500m2) on a 7.7-acre (3.1ha) site Dedication originally scheduled for November 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Revised arrangements were announced on August 30, 2021.[24][25]
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:
Charles Ora Card was the American founder of Cardston, Alberta, the first Mormon settlement in Canada. He has been referred to as "Canada's Brigham Young". Card was a Mormon pioneer as a teenager, traveling from the eastern United States to Utah Territory in the 1850s. After arriving in Utah, he supervised the construction of the Logan Utah Temple, served as a city councilman, and was appointed to the first board of trustees of Brigham Young College. Card was then tasked by leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to travel north to Canada and establish a Latter-day Saint colony there. He worked to make the community self-sufficient, participating in irrigation projects. Card was a practitioner of plural marriage, marrying a total of four wives and having sixteen children. He served in leadership positions within the LDS Church, mainly as stake president. He was the spiritual and economic leader of Cardston.
Edward James Wood was a prominent local leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Alberta, Canada and was the founder of Glenwood, and Hill Spring, Alberta.
Joseph Marion "Jay" Tanner was an American educator and a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been described as "one of the most gifted teachers and writers in the [LDS] Church in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries".
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Michigan. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in Michigan in the 1830s, and while the Church did not continue to have an organized presence in the state from the late 1850s into the 1870s, missionary work was reopened then by Cyrus Wheelock and has progressed steadily since.
The Calgary Alberta Temple is the 140th temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the third built in Alberta. The first, previously known as the Alberta Temple, was built in Cardston in 1923. The Edmonton Alberta Temple opened in 1999.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Florida refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Florida. The LDS Church represents about 1% of the population of Florida according to the Pew Research Center 2014 Religious Landscepe Survey. Official membership statistics show the church representing about 0.75% of the general population. Florida has the 8th largest membership population in the United States and the largest membership population east of the Mississippi. The LDS Church is the 6th largest denomination in Florida.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in California refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in California. California has the 2nd most members of the LDS Church in the United States, behind Utah. The LDS Church is the 2nd largest denomination in California, behind the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a presence in Mexico since 1874. Mexico has the largest body of LDS Church members outside of the United States. Membership grew nearly 15% between 2011 and 2021. In the 2010 Mexican census, 314,932 individuals self-identified most closely to the LDS Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Colorado. The first congregation of the Church in Colorado was organized in 1897. It has since grown to 148,708 members in 310 congregations.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Utah. Utah has more church members than any other U.S. state or country. The LDS Church is also the largest denomination in Utah.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Idaho refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Idaho. Rexburg, Idaho is home to Brigham Young University–Idaho. Idaho has the third most church members of any U.S. state, and the second-highest percentage of members. The LDS Church is the largest denomination in Idaho, with the largest presence in Eastern Idaho.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wyoming refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Wyoming. The church's first congregation in Wyoming was organized in 1877. It has since grown to 67,797 members in 172 congregations.
The U.S. state of Washington has the sixth most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States. The LDS Church is the 2nd largest denomination in Washington, behind the Roman Catholic Church.
William Reed Smith was a Utah territorial politician, judge, and a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Democratic Republic of the Congo refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). As of 2021, the LDS Church reported 102,862 members in 269 congregations in the DRC, making it the third largest body of LDS Church members in Africa, behind Nigeria and Ghana. Currently, the DRC ranks as having the 16th highest LDS growth rate among countries of the world, with an annual growth rate of 13 percent.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established in Argentina in 1925 when Melvin J. Ballard arrived in Buenos Aires and opened the church's South American Mission.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a presence in Russia before the rise of the USSR, with the first baptisms occurring in 1895. Preliminary missionary efforts began before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the Russian government officially recognized the church in 1991. Membership increased in the 1990s and early 2000s. Missionary efforts were impacted by the 2016 Yarovaya law, which prohibited proselytizing outside of official church property. Current membership statistics are not available for Russia, but the church reported 19,946 members in 2009. As of February 2023, there were three stakes and three missions in Russia. In 2018, Russell M. Nelson announced that a temple would be constructed in a major city in Russia.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wales refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Wales.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Denmark.
↑ The official release from the Newsroom and subsequent update from the Church News confirmed details. The temple was dedicated as scheduled, as shown here.
B. Y. Card (ed.) (1990). The Mormon Presence in Canada (Edmonton, Alta: University of Alberta Press) ISBN0-88864-212-1
Lethbridge Stake (1968). A History of the Mormon Church in Canada (Lethbridge, Alta.: Lethbridge Stake)
Melvin S. Tagg (1963). A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada, 1830–1963 (Ph.D. dissertation, Brigham Young University)
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