Facts and Statistics

Missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Maritime provinces began in 1833. One missionary preached in Saint John and later in Sackville, where he baptized 18 people and organized the first branch (a small congregation) in the Maritimes. Among those baptized in Sackville was Marriner W. Merrill, who later preached extensively in Canada and eventually became a prominent Church leader.

In 1920, a branch was organized in Saint John. Church members constructed a meetinghouse in 1954. The Fredericton Branch was organized in 1940, and by 1963 members completed a meetinghouse there. The Moncton Branch, created in 1966, included the Sackville area where the first branch of the Church in the Maritimes was created. Membership in this branch reached 160 in 1974. A stake (similar to a diocese) was organized in Saint John in 1988.

Although growth of the Church in the Maritimes has fluctuated over time, membership continued to grow through the end of the century.

Joseph Smith, Sr. and his son, Don Carlos (the father and brother of Joseph Smith Jr.) preached in several Canadian towns and hamlets north of the St. Lawrence River in September 1830. The Canadian settlements were only a day or two’s journey from Palmyra, New York, and Kirtland, Ohio, and several converts were eager to share their new religion with relatives north of the border.

Between 1830 and 1850, some 2,500 Canadians joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, mostly in Upper Canada but also in the southern English-speaking townships of Lower Canada (Quebec), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

The first known Latter-day Saints to enter what is now Alberta were Simeon F. Allen and his son Heber S. Allen of Hyrum, Utah, who contracted work in 1883 on the Canadian Pacific Railroad between Medicine Hat and Calgary. They were joined by other saints from Utah working on the contract.
 
A few years later in 1886, Cache Stake President Charles O. Card received permission from Church President John Taylor to investigate colonizing opportunities in southwestern Canada.
Today, more than 182,000 Latter-day Saints are spread throughout 480 congregations in Canada.