Facts and Statistics

Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1830's frequently traveled through but found little success in Lower Canada, as the province of Quebec was then called. They found proselyting difficult among its largely French-speaking people. In 1836, however, Hazen Aldrich and Winslow Farr proselyted in Stanstead County and baptized a number of people. Twenty-three of these emigrated on 20 July 1837. After the 1840s, missionary work slowed as many Canadian Church members joined other Latter-day Saints who were gathering in the western United States.

The Canadian Mission was organized in 1919. By 1930, an English-speaking branch (a small congregation) began meeting in Montreal. A meetinghouse for this branch was purchased in 1942 and served local Church members until the late 1970s.

In 1961, six French-speaking missionaries were sent to the areas near Quebec. The missionaries attracted converts and established a base for more Latter-day Saint French-speaking immigrants. Later missionaries entered Quebec City where a branch was organized in 1969. The Quebec Mission (later changed to the Canada Montreal Mission) was created in 1972, and by 1974 several French-speaking branches were created.

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.