Update: Church Adds 1,600th Stake

The Kitchener Ontario Stake—number 1,600 for the Church—was formed in Toronto, Ontario, June 22.

President Thomas S. Monson, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Council of the Twelve presided over two multi-stake conference sessions at Toronto’s Etobicoke Olympium, during which the stake formation took place.

Both President Monson and Elder Ballard have served as mission presidents in eastern Canada.

The Kitchener Ontario Stake was organized from existing units of the Hamilton, London, and Brampton Ontario stakes. It became the Church’s thirty-third stake in Canada, six of which are in Ontario. Toronto was also the site of the creation of the 300th stake of the Church and the first in eastern Canada; that stake was formed in 1960. The first Canadian stake was organized in Cardston, Alberta, in 1895.

President Monson also reported that the Toronto Ontario Temple would be built on a 13.4-acre site in Brampton, some 33 kilometers (21 miles) west of Toronto. Brampton has a population of 195,000.

In other parts of the world, two other stakes were created that same day. The La Lima Honduras Stake, formed by Elder Gene R. Cook of the First Quorum of the Seventy, became the 1,601st stake of the Church, while the Fontana California Stake, formed by Elder James E. Faust of the Council of the Twelve, became the 1,602d stake.

In the last nine years the number of stakes in the Church has doubled.