A Brief History of the Church in
Canada
Overview
Even before the Church was organized, many early Latter-day Saints—including Joseph Smith, Lucy Mack Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and six of the original Twelve Apostles—traveled to Canada to preach and attend to Church business. In 1836, Parley P. Pratt preached near Toronto to a small group of Christians that included Leonora and John Taylor and Mary, Joseph, and Mercy Fielding, who were seeking a church with the “primitive simplicity” found in scripture.
Many of the more than 2,000 Canadians who had joined the Church migrated to the western United States along with the main body of the Saints, beginning in 1847. In 1887, Charles Ora Card, a stake president in Cache Valley, Utah, led a small group of Saints to Lee’s Creek (later Cardston), Alberta. Over the next three decades, Latter-day Saints migrated to southern Alberta in large numbers. In 1895, the Cardston Alberta Stake became the first stake outside the United States, and in 1923, the first temple outside the United States was built there.
By the end of the 1970s, stakes and missions had been established in every territory and province of Canada. Several Canadian citizens have served as General Authorities and General Officers of the Church, including First Presidency members Hugh B. Brown (1961–70) and N. Eldon Tanner (1963–82), Young Women General President Ardeth G. Kapp (1984–92), and Relief Society General President Elaine L. Jack (1990–97). By 2018, more than 195,000 members of the Church resided in the country, with additional temples built in or planned for Toronto, Halifax, Regina, Edmonton, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg.
Quick Facts
Official Name: Canada
Capital: Ottawa
Largest City: Toronto
Official Languages: English and French
Land Area: 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,100 mi2)
Church Area: Parts of the North America Central, Northeast, and West areas
Missions: 6 (Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg)
Congregations: 497
Temples: 9 (Cardston, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Regina, Vancouver, and Winnipeg)