Groundbreaking ceremonies have been announced for two temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One in Victoria, British Columbia and the other in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Victoria British Columbia Temple and the Tulsa Oklahoma Temple will be held on the same day, Saturday, August 22nd.
Presiding over the groundbreaking ceremony for the Victoria Temple will be Elder James E. Evanson, a General Authority Seventy and member of the Canada Area Presidency.
Elder Pedro X. Larreal, also a General Authority Seventy, will preside over the groundbreaking ceremony in Tulsa.
These landmark dates announced by the First Presidency were announced in a June 22 news release on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
In addition, architectural drawings and site plans for Victoria Temple were released today.
See below for the history of these two Lord’s houses and the church at each location.
About Victoria Temple and Church in Canada
Planned as a one-story building measuring approximately 11,400 square feet, the Victoria Temple will be built on a 4.7-acre site on Mantle Heights Road in Langford, British Columbia. Along with this, a waiting room exclusively for users will also be set up.
On April 7, 2024, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced the establishment of the Lord’s House in Victoria, British Columbia. It was one of 15 temple locations he identified in April 2024 general conference.
The Victoria Temple is the second temple planned for British Columbia and one of 11 in various stages across Canada.
Nine of them were consecrated. Cardston, Alberta (dedicated in 1923), Toronto, Ontario (1990), Halifax, Nova Scotia (1999), Regina Saskatchewan (1999), Edmonton, Alberta (1999), Montreal, Quebec (2000), Vancouver, British Columbia (2010), Calgary, Alberta (2012) ) and temples in Winnipeg, Manitoba (2021).
The Lethbridge Alberta Temple is in the construction phase after breaking ground in April 2025.
This makes Victoria Temple the 11th House of the Lord in Canada and the only temple currently in the planning stages.
The gospel was first preached in Canada when Joseph Smith Sr., the father of the Prophet Joseph Smith, crossed the U.S. border and visited several towns in eastern Canada. Over the next 20 years, approximately 2,500 Canadians converted. Cardston was settled by Latter-day Saints in 1887.
More than 211,000 Latter-day Saints live in Canada, meeting in approximately 500 wards and branches.
About the Tulsa Oklahoma Temple and Church
The Tulsa Temple will be a one-story building measuring approximately 29,600 square feet. It is located on 25.7 acres at the northwest corner of 51st Street and 136th East Street in Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma.
President Nelson announced this house of the Lord during the 2023 October general conference on October 1, 2023. It was one of 20 temples he announced at the conference, and the second in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple, the state’s first temple, was dedicated on July 30, 2000 by President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. After extensive renovations, it was rededicated on May 19, 2019 by President Henry B. Eyring, then Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
Oklahoma’s first Latter-day Saint congregation was founded in 1921 in Gore, Oklahoma, about 90 miles southeast of Tulsa. The state’s first church meetinghouse was built in 1892 in Manard, Cherokee County.
The first stakes in Oklahoma were established in 1960, one in Tulsa on May 1 and the other in Oklahoma City on October 23. The Oklahoma Mission was established on June 10, 1970.
Tulsa is Oklahoma’s second most populous city, with approximately 54,000 members living in approximately 100 congregations.
