August 5th, 2025 6:38pm MDT
What began with early missionaries and several printed pages of the Book of Mormon grew into a lasting legacy of faith throughout Canada. Now, for the first time, all provinces and territories are united under the newly created Canadian region.
On August 1, all 10 provinces and three territories constitute the newly designated Canadian region for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the 24th geographically defined region of churches around the world. Previously, states and territories were divided into three North American regions: central, northeast and west.
The first presidency announced the creation of this new region “to provide better leadership and support to all Canadian church members.”
Three general authority 70s have been assigned to lead the Canadian region. Elder Vern P. Stanphill will serve as president, with Elder Martin Gorey as his first counselor and Elder James E. Evanson as his second counselor. The Canadian Regional Office HQ is located in Calgary, Alberta, with a small office in Toronto, Ontario.
History of Canadian Churches
The history of the Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ in Canada dates back to the first day of the restoration.
In 1829, even before the Book of Mormon was fully printed, a preacher named Solomon Chamberlin visited the Smiths in New York. Believing in the recovery of the gospel, he wanted to share it with others. With permission, Chamberlin won 64 of the first printed pages of the Book of Mormon and headed for Canada.
Just a few months after the church was officially established in 1830, early church leaders were sent to preach Canada’s restored gospel.
In 1836, during a mission in the Canadian Upper, Parley P. Pratt preached to a group of Christians looking for true doctrine, including John Taylor and his wife, Leonora Cannon Taylor. They studied Pratt’s message and were baptized. John Taylor was appointed an apostle in 1838 and several years later became the third president of the Church.
Membership in the area increased significantly, with about 2,500 Canadians joining the church by 1850. However, from 1847, many of these new Canadian converts left their homes and traveled to the West of the United States. Overall, around 2,000 of Canada’s early members have joined the massive migration that helped build early church communities in the western United States.
Missionary work continued in Canada until September 1857, when missionaries were recalled, where formal work there was temporarily halted during tensions in the Utah War.
In 1886, President John Taylor advised Charles Olacard to lead a group of Latter-day Saints in Logan, Utah. They founded Leeds Creek (later called Cardston) and within about a year they built a meetinghouse for the congregation. This was recognized as a card ward in 1888.
Just seven years later, the shares of Cardston Alberta were organized on June 8, 1895, becoming the first non-US stock.
Formal missionary work in Canada was recommended in 1893 when Eastern Province missions began sending missionaries there intermittently. Work was slow at first, and it was over a decade before the church saw its first baptism in 1904. More people began to join the church, but many of the new members moved to Utah, and the Canadian church forces struggled to survive with such a small number.
The establishment of the East Canada Mission in April 1919 increased the growth of churches in the region. Headquartered in Toronto, the mission oversaw sermons in Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Meanwhile, on August 26, 1923, saints from the Cardston area gathered because President Heber J. Grant of the church dedicated the first temple other than the Alberta Temple, the first temple in America.
In July 1941, a second mission was added. The mission in western Canada was organized and ultimately oversaw the sermons in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Yukon Territories and the Northwest Territories.
Since then, membership has grown to over 205,000 people in 502 congregations, with eight additional homes dedicated to the entire Canada region: Toronto Ontario Temple (1990), Halifax Nova Scotia Temple (1999), Regina Saskatchewan Temple (1999), Edmonton Alberta Temple (1999), Colombia Temple (2010), Calgary Alberta Temple (2012), Winnipeg Manitoba Temple (2021). It has been announced that two more temples are in the construction phase or will be constructed. Lethbridge Alberta Temple (groundbreaking 2025) and Victoria British Columbia Temple (published in 2024).
