Since its organization in New York in 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has had a presence in Canada. Several church-related items that were the first of their kind outside the United States include: missionaries preaching (Upper Canada), establishment of a stake (Alberta Stake), and construction of a temple (Cardston Alberta Temple).
With the church reporting more than 200,000 members at year-end 2024, Canada ranks as having the 4th largest body of LDS Church members in North America and the 12th worldwide.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics The 2021 Canadian Census survey reported approximately 0.2% of the population (about 87,725 people) identified themselves as church members.
Early missionary contacts
In the winter of 1829–30, Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page visited Upper Canada while seeking money to finance the publication of the Book of Mormon. After its publication in March 1830, the unbaptized convert, Phineas Young, preached in Ernestown Township, Ontario.
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.Richard E. Bennett, "Canada: From Struggling Seed, the Church Has Risen to Branching Maple," Ensign, September 1988, p. 30. In January 1832, converts Brigham and Phineas Young went to Upper Canada to convince their brother, Joseph to join the church. 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.
Joseph Smith preached in Upper Canada in September 1833 with Sidney Rigdon and Freeman Nickerson.Joseph Smith (B.H. Roberts ed., 1902). History of the Church 1:416–425. Also in 1833, future apostle, Lyman E. Johnson, preached in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Later, John E. Page and apostle Parley P. Pratt served successful missions to Upper Canada; Page baptized over 1,000 individuals between 1834 and 1836 and Pratt converted a number of individuals who would play a prominent role in the church, including John Taylor, Joseph and Mary Fielding, and William Law.
By 1850, approximately 2,500 residents of Canada—most of them from Upper Canada—had joined the LDS Church.Deseret News Church Almanac 1993–1994 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News) p. 203. 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.
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.Church Educational System (1993, rev. ed.). Church History in the Fulness of Times (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church) p. 609. The church's Alberta Stake, the first outside of the United States, was created in 1895, with Card as its president.
Mormon pioneers continued to colonize what would become Alberta in 1905. Before the turn of the century, Latter-day Saints had founded Mountain View, Aetna, Beazer, Leavitt, Kimball, Caldwell, Taylorville, Magrath, and Stirling. After 1900, colonies of church members were established in Woolford, Welling, Orton, Raymond, Barnwell, Taber, Frankburg, Glenwood, and Hill Spring.Deseret News Church Almanac 1993–1994 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News) p. 199. Church apostle John W. Taylor—the son of church president John Taylor—played a leadership role in assisting Latter-day Saint emigration from Utah to Alberta.
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. In 1924, church president Heber J. Grant dedicated the Cardston Alberta Temple, the church's first outside of the United States.The Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated in 1919 during the time it was a territory of the United States. 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.
Beyond Alberta and today
A branch of the church was organized in Edmonton in 1933, with the Edmonton Stake established in 1960. The Calgary Stake was established in 1953. In 1960, Alberta resident N. Eldon Tanner was called as a church general authority; he became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1962 and a member of the First Presidency in 1963.
In 1998, a temple was announced for Edmonton and in December 1999 church president Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Edmonton Alberta Temple. In 2008, a temple was announced for Calgary by church president Thomas S. Monson. The Calgary Alberta Temple was dedicated in October 2012.
As of December 31, 2021, the LDS Church reported 199,534 members, 53 stakes, 352 wards, 4 districts, 147 branches, 6 missions, 9 temples, and 152 Family History Centers in Canada.
As of 2024, the LDS Church has 502 congregations in 322 locations in Canada.
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.
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 Canada Revenue Agency.
Geographical distribution Data from this section from Statistics Canada, 2021. Provinces & territories Province / Territory Percent Latter Day SaintsTotal Latter Day Saints 1.1% 47,125 0.3%12,875 0.1%1,640 0.1%800 0.0%170 0.2%85 0.2%1,685 0.1%25 0.1% 16,420 0.1%175 0.1%4,600 0.2%2,060 0.2%70 — Total 0.2% 87,725
Stakes and districts As of July 2026, Canada had the following stakes and districts: Stake/DistrictOrganized Mission TempleJuneau Alaska8 Oct 1995Alaska AnchorageAnchorage AlaskaAirdrie Alberta Stake17 Apr 1966Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaBeaumont Alberta Stake21 Sep 2025Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaCalgary Alberta Stake15 Nov 1953Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaCalgary Alberta Bow River Stake6 Dec 2015Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaCalgary Alberta Fish Creek Stake3 Feb 1980Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaCalgary Alberta Nose Hill Stake9 Nov 2025Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaCalgary Alberta Prairie Winds Stake14 Feb 1993Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaCalgary Alberta West Stake27 May 1979Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaCalgary Alberta YSA Stake5 May 2019Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaCardston Alberta Stake9 Jun 1895Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaCardston Alberta West Stake13 Nov 1983Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaEdmonton Alberta Bonnie Doon Stake3 Nov 1974Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaEdmonton Alberta Gateway Stake6 Nov 1983Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaEdmonton Alberta North Stake9 Sep 2001Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaEdmonton Alberta Riverbend Stake15 Nov 1960Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaEdmonton Alberta YSA Stake11 Oct 2020Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaFort Macleod Alberta Stake29 Sep 1985Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaGrande Prairie Alberta Stake12 Apr 1998Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaLethbridge Alberta Henderson Lake Stake4 May 2025Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaLethbridge Alberta North Stake26 Oct 1997Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaLethbridge Alberta South Stake24 Nov 1974Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaLethbridge Alberta West Stake10 Nov 1921Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaLethbridge Alberta YSA Stake27 Aug 2017Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaMagrath Alberta Stake26 Oct 1980Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaMedicine Hat Alberta Stake20 Nov 1994Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaOkotoks Alberta Stake5 Dec 1999Canada CalgaryCalgary AlbertaRaymond Alberta Stake30 Aug 1903Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaRed Deer Alberta Stake13 Jun 1982Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaSherwood Park Alberta Stake9 Apr 2017Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaSpruce Grove Alberta Stake24 May 2026Canada EdmontonEdmonton AlbertaTaber Alberta Stake11 Sep 1960Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaAbbotsford British Columbia Stake12 Jun 1994Canada VancouverVancouver British ColumbiaCranbrook British Columbia Stake14 Jan 1979Canada CalgaryCardston AlbertaNanaimo British Columbia Stake26 Oct 1997Canada VancouverVancouver British ColumbiaPrince George British Columbia Stake8 Apr 1979Canada VancouverVancouver British ColumbiaSurrey British Columbia Stake8 Apr 1979Canada VancouverVancouver British ColumbiaVancouver British Columbia Stake21 Nov 1960Canada VancouverVancouver British ColumbiaVernon British Columbia Stake12 Oct 1975Canada VancouverVancouver British ColumbiaVictoria British Columbia Stake9 Feb 1975Canada VancouverVancouver British ColumbiaWinnipeg Manitoba East Stake12 Nov 1978Canada WinnipegWinnipeg ManitobaWinnipeg Manitoba West Stake14 Nov 2021Canada WinnipegWinnipeg ManitobaSaint John New Brunswick Stake26 Jun 1988Canada HalifaxHalifax Nova ScotiaNewfoundland and Labrador District30 Jul 1978Canada HalifaxHalifax Nova ScotiaDartmouth Nova Scotia Stake12 May 1985Canada HalifaxHalifax Nova ScotiaBarrie Ontario Stake19 Feb 2012Canada Toronto EastToronto OntarioBrampton Ontario Stake11 Jan 1981Canada Toronto WestToronto OntarioHamilton Ontario Stake6 Sep 1970Canada Toronto WestToronto OntarioKingston Ontario District10 Jun 1996Canada Toronto EastToronto OntarioKitchener Ontario Stake22 Jun 1986Canada Toronto WestToronto OntarioLondon Ontario Stake11 Apr 1976Canada Toronto WestToronto OntarioOshawa Ontario Stake13 Jun 1976Canada Toronto EastToronto OntarioOttawa Ontario Stake12 Dec 1976Canada Toronto EastMontreal QuebecSudbury Ontario Stake5 May 1996Canada Toronto EastToronto OntarioToronto Ontario Stake14 Aug 1960Canada Toronto WestToronto OntarioLongueuil Québec Stake7 May 2006Canada MontrealMontreal QuebecMontréal Québec Stake18 Jun 1978Canada MontrealMontreal QuebecMontréal Québec Mount Royal Stake6 Jul 1980Canada MontrealMontreal QuebecQuébec City District27 Mar 1977Canada MontrealMontreal QuebecRegina Saskatchewan Stake27 Oct 2001Canada WinnipegRegina SaskatchewanSaskatoon Saskatchewan Stake5 Nov 1978Canada WinnipegRegina Saskatchewan
Missions MissionOrganizedCanada Calgary Mission15 Sep 1941Canada Edmonton Mission1 Jul 1998Canada Halifax Mission1 Jul 2026Canada Montreal Mission1 Jul 1972Canada Toronto East Mission1 Jul 2026Canada Toronto West Mission1 Jul 1919Canada Vancouver Mission21 Nov 1960Canada Winnipeg Mission15 Feb 1976
Temples There are 9 temples operating in Canada and two announced to be constructed. = Operating = Under construction = Announced