At the 181st General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the building of a new temple in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This will be the ninth Mormon temple to be built in Canada. Winnipeg is the capital of the province of Manitoba.

Latter-day Saints in the area have been driving 400 miles to attend the temple in Regina, Saskatchewan.

On 4 October 2008 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) announced that a new temple will be built in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  The new temple will be located at the northeast corner of Royal Oak Rd NW and Rocky Ridge Rd NW, Calgary, on a site purchased by the Church about four years ago.  There are over 18,000 members of the Church in Calgary.

The Tuscany/Royal Oak train station will be within walking distance of the temple and will be completed in 2011, about the same time as the temple is due to be completed.  The Calgary Alberta Temple will be Canada’s eighth temple and Alberta’s third.

Mormons first began to settle in southern Alberta in the 1880s as contract workers on the Canadian Pacific Railroad and as farmers in present-day Cardston. By 1895, the first stake in Alberta was established, and membership in the Church has continued to thrive ever since. Today there are over 75,000 members throughout the province (LDS Newsroom, Oct, 2008).

The groundbreaking for the temple was held on May 15, 2010.

The decision to build a temple in Langely, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was anounced on 25 May 2006.  The groundbreaking took place on 4 August 2007.  The temple is expected to reach completion in the spring of 2010. 

The temple sits on nearly 12 acres, which will also accommodate an LDS meeting house.  The site is on a prominent hill, and the parcel of land was acquired by purchasing smaller parcels that were not originally for sale.  Then President Gordon B. Hinckley chose the site during a trip to the area.  The temple will be slightly over 19,000 square feet in size and will offer two sealing rooms and two endowment rooms.

The new edifice will be Canada’s seventh operating temple and British Columbia’s first. It will serve the many saints of British Columbia who currently attend temples in Alberta or cross the U.S.-Canada border to attend the Seattle Washington Temple.

A small branch of Latter-day Saints was organized in Langely in the 1950’s, with the approximately 20 members meeting in a private home.  Currently, there are approximately 172,000 members of the Mormon Church in Canada.  There are 4 wards and three branches in Vancouver.

On December 5, 2009, the schedule for the Temple open house and dedication was announced.  The public will be invited to visit the temple during an open house that will run from Friday, 9 April 2010, through Saturday, 24 April 2010 (except for Sundays). The temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, 2 May 2010. A total of three dedicatory sessions will be held. Formal temple work will commence at the Vancouver British Columbia Temple on Monday, 3 May 2010.

It is customary for Latter-day Saints to open the doors of their temples to the public before they are dedicated. It is expected that tens of thousands of visitors will come to this temple open house to tour the temple and learn about the highest sacraments of the faith that take place there.

When the temple is formally dedicated, it will be open to members of the Church who are actively engaged in the faith — unlike the thousands of ordinary church buildings that are open to everyone for regular Sunday services, regardless of religious affiliation (see LDS Newsroom article explaining difference between chapels and temples).

The Vancouver British Columbia Temple will serve approximately 22,000 members of the Church living in British Columbia and northern Washington state.

More at LDS Church Temples.com

With the dedication of the Guadalajara Mexico temple, Mexico now has twelve operating temples. The first temple in Mexico City was dedicated in 1983. Since that time The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown considerably in Mexico. The Guadalajara temple, located in Mexico’s second largest city, will serve more than 60,000 members in southwestern Mexico.

During the groundbreaking ceremony Elder Eran A. Call of the Seventy remarked, “What a blessing it is that I was a mission president here just 29 years ago,” he said. “We had four little branches here then. Now there are eight stakes [a group of congregations]. This is a great time to have a temple in Guadalajara.”1

The new Mormon temple is small but completely functional. President Hinckley said, “Every ordinance which is given in the Salt Lake Temple, the largest in the Church, is also given in every other temple, including these smaller structures. The fact is that they are not so small. They are commodious, and they are beautiful. They represent the ultimate in our worship and the ultimate in blessings offered.” 2

It is part of President Hinckley’s dream to build small temples, because he realizes that the people, “need nearby temples—small, beautiful, serviceable temples.” 3

And as Elder Call read at the groundbreaking ceremony the building of temples is also fulfillment of President Lorenzo Snow’s prophesy that, “the time will come when there will be temples established over every portion of the land, and we will go into these temples and work for our kindred dead night and day, that the work of the Lord may be speedily accomplished, that Jesus may come and present the kingdom to His Father.” 4

Within Mormon temples members of the Church perform saving ordinances for themselves and for those who died without having a chance to perform the ordinances for themselves. These saving ordinances ensure that those who accept the gospel of Jesus Christ will be able to walk through the gates of heaven and return to live with God and their families, being sealed for eternity.

The dedication of the Guadalajara temple filled church members with joy, and about 6,500 members attended the temple dedication. Graciela Garcia, a member of the Moctezuma Ward, said, “I can’t describe the emotion that filled us as … our beloved prophet blessed our homes, our country and its leaders, and our land.” 5

President Hinckley dedicated the Guadalajara temple on 29 April 2001. During the dedication prayer President Hinckley blessed the country, leaders, and people of Mexico saying, “We thank Thee for the progress of Thy work in this great nation of Mexico. Move it forward, dear Father. Touch the lives and hearts of great numbers of people who will hearken to the message of truth and come into the fold of Christ. Bring about the miracle of conversion among the great and good people of this land. May those who govern look upon Thy people with respect and with a desire to be helpful. Wilt Thou bless them and the nation for their friendliness to Thy work.” 6

Physical Address:
AV. PATRIA #879
FRACC. JARDINES TEPEYAC
45030 ZAPOPAN JAL
MEXICO

Mailing address:
c/o Mexico Area Administration Office
POUCH
Mexico
Phone:   (52) 333-125-1283/84/85

For more information about Mormon temples visit the sites below:

LDS (Mormon) Temple resources
LDS Temples – Mormon Temples – Salt Lake Temple
Teachings About Mormon Temples
(1) Church News, 26 June 1999
(2) Gordon B. Hinckley, “Welcome to Conference,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 4
(3) Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Temples to Provide ‘Crowning Blessings’ of the Gospel,” Ensign, May 1998, 87
(4) Church News, 26 June 1999
(5) News of the Church,” Ensign, July 2001, 74
(6) “Dedicatory prayer: ‘We pray for those who shall serve in this Thy house,’” Church News 5 May 2001, 25 Jun. 2005

The Mormon temple is literally a house of God. Throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. Today, there are 146 Mormon temples operating, under construction, or announced.

The Mormon temple is a house of learning wherein the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are reviewed, and profound truths of the kingdom of God are unfolded. Here, in the temple, the cares and worries of the world are put aside.
The main purpose of the Mormon temple is to provide the ordinances necessary for exaltation into the celestial kingdom. It is a place of covenant-making, where those who enter promise to obey the laws of God and promise to use the knowledge of the Gospel to bless their own lives and those of others.

The Mormon temple is open to all who fulfill the requirements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, all faithful members of the Mormon Church are invited and urged to make use of the Temple and to enjoy its privileges.

The Toronto Ontario Mormon Temple is the 44th operating temple built by the Mormon Church.  It is located on thirteen acres in Brampton, which is twenty miles west of downtown Toronto. On the temple’s single spire is a gold-leafed statue of the Angel Moroni with his trumpet in hand.
The temple district includes Mormons who live in an enormous geographic area that has been called “the cradle of Mormonism.” It covers six Canadian provinces and parts of five American states. The area is comprised of members descended from many nationalities: English, Scottish, German, French, and Italian predominate, but there are also members from Greece, Hungary, Finland, Holland, Estonia, and Poland.
Mormon missionaries arrived in eastern Canada as early as 1830. When Phineas Young received a Book of Mormon from Samuel Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, it took only a few months before he left for Canada to preach the Gospel. He arrived in Kingston and gave his first testimony of the restored Church to those beyond the borders of the United States.
One of the great families to join the Mormon Church in Canada was that of Archibald Gardner in 1843. He stated, “…I could not describe my feelings at the time and for a long time afterwards…reading the scriptures and secret prayer occupied my leisure time…I had no trouble believing the Book of Mormon. Every time I took the book to read I had a burning testimony in my bosom of its truthfulness.”
Mormon temples like the Toronto Temple are built with stone, glass, wood, and metal. But they are also a product of faith and an example of sacrifice. The funds to build Mormon temples come from all tithe payers and consist of the widow’s mite, children’s pennies, and workmen’s dollars—all sanctified by faith.

Temple Milestones:

Announcement
 
07 April 1984

Groundbreaking
 
10 October 1987

Open House
 
02 August 1990 – 18 August 1990

Dedication
 
25 August 1990

Mailing address:
10060 Bramalea Road
Brampton, Ontario L6R 1A1
CANADA
Phone:   905-799-1122

The Cardston Alberta Canada Mormon Temple was dedicated on August 26, 1923, and was the first LDS temple built outside of the U.S. or its territories. However, the story of the Alberta temple began long before that summer day in 1923.

The Saints were experiencing persecution in Utah, and President John Taylor asked Charles Card (a Latter-day Saint from Logan, Utah) to go to Canada and seek a place of refuge for the Church. In 1887 the first eight LDS families set up camp in an area scouted by Charles Card. Other families began to arrive, and the town of Cardston was planned in a grid fashion, and irrigation and plowing began. In 1888 one of the Twelve Apostles, John W. Taylor, visited the Saints in Canada and said, “I now speak by the power of prophecy and say that upon this very spot shall be erected a Temple to the name of Israel’s God, and nations shall come from far and near and praise His high and holy name.”

Two years later President of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, instructed Charles Card to buy around 20 thousand acres of land surrounding the town of Cardston. The Saints flourished in the area, because the Canadian government was accepting of their religion, and by 1895 the first stake outside of the United States was organized in Cardston.  In 1912, President Joseph F. Smith sent Presiding Bishop Charles W. Nibley to Canada to recommend the best site for a temple. He returned with photographs of four possible sites. President Smith said, “I feel strongly impressed that this is the one.” He had unknowingly selected the site dedicated by Elder Taylor over twenty years earlier.

On June 27, 1913, the building of the temple was announced. A groundbreaking ceremony followed the announcement that same day, and construction began almost immediately. The design of the Alberta temple was the first that did not include any towers or an assembly hall. The granite for the temple was hand-hewn from quarries in Nelson British Columbia. The temple has four ordinance rooms, five sealing rooms, and a total floor area of 88,562 square feet.

On August 26, 1923, the temple was dedicated by President Heber J. Grant. The temple has since undergone two remodelings and rededications. The first remodeling was done in the early 1960’s, and the temple was rededicated by Hugh B. Brown on July 2, 1962. The second remodeling occurred in the early 1990’s, and the temple was rededicated on June 22, 1991, by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Mailing address:
348 3rd Street West
P.O. Box 700
Cardston, Alberta T0K 0K0
CANADA
Canada
Phone:   403-653-3552

The Halifax Nova Scotia temple, although a small temple, has made a big impact on the community and lives of members of the Mormon Church. Just as Elder Jay E. Jensen said at the groundbreaking, ““Don’t think of it as a small temple. Make it big in your hearts.”1

Members in Nova Scotia used to meet in hotels and school buildings. Now the members meet in beautiful chapels and even have their own temple. Richard Moses, second counselor in the Dartmouth Nova Scotia Stake presidency said, “It is impossible – there are not words – to adequately express our gratitude for this temple. No longer do we just look at a picture of a temple. Now, when my daughters look out their bedroom window, they see the softly lighted figure of the Angel Moroni standing as a beacon over the area.” 2

When the Mormon temple was opened to the public, prior to the dedication, about 8,000 people toured the temple. Many non-members commented on the peaceful and powerful feeling inside the temple. Richard Moses, second counselor in the Dartmouth Stake presidency, shared some experiences. “After completing a tour during the open house, and obviously touched by what he was feeling, the reporter commented that there was no way he could write what he felt in the small space he would be given for the article.” Another time, “A man dressed in leather and sporting many tattoos came to the open house. He was quiet during the tour and sat by himself in the celestial room. Soon, tears were flowing.” Another non-member commented while sitting in the celestial room, “I’ve never felt closer to God.” 3

Members too come to temples to feel closer to God. After the dedication only members who are living the gospel can enter. This helps maintain the spirit of reverence and peace that so many felt while touring the temple. Members often go to the temple to receive answers to questions. Because of the peaceful nature and the constant presence of the Holy Ghost in the temple it is easier to shut out the world and commune with God.

Because of mechanical problems with President Hinckley’s plane, history was made. The Halifax temple dedication was delayed a day so it was dedicated the same day as the Regina Saskatchewan temple. This was the first time two LDS (Mormon) temples have been dedicated on the same day. President Hinckley stayed in Halifax while President Packer went to Regina.

When the dedication was postponed, “members showed no irritation, but inquired what they could do, like opening their homes to help offset the expense of those who would need to stay an extra night to attend the dedication,” 4 said Richard Moses, second counselor in the Dartmouth Stake presidency. Members had traveled up to ten hours to get to the dedication yet didn’t feel it a sacrifice, because they got to see their temple. Travel time before the Halifax temple was built was considerably longer, and frequent trips to the temple were not a possibility. Now members can enjoy the blessings of the Mormon temple on a more regular basis.

During the dedicatory prayer on 14 November 1999, President Hinckley thanked God for the eternal ordinances performed in temples saying, “We thank Thee for the ordinances to be performed herein. Thou hast revealed these in this dispensation of the fullness of times for the blessing of Thy sons and daughters of all generations. All of these ordinances bespeak our testimony of the eternity of life and of Thy grand and sacred plan for Thy children, that they might move forward on the way of immortality and eternal life made possible through the atoning sacrifice of Thy Beloved Son.” 5

Physical Address:
44 CUMBERLAND DR
DARTMOUTH NS B2V 2C7
CANADA
Canada

Mailing address:
12 Waterside Terrace
Dartmouth, NS B2W 6M1
CANADA
Phone:   902-434-6920

For more information about Mormon temples visit the sites below:

LDS (Mormon) Temple resources
Teachings About Mormon Temples
USATODAY.com – Mormons open temple doors to share beliefs

(1) News of the Church, Ensign, Jan. 1999, 77
(2) Church News, 20 November 1999
(3) Church News, 20 November 1999
(4) Church News, 20 November 1999
(5) News of the Church, Ensign, Feb. 2000, 74

The Edmonton Alberta Temple is the 67th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The temple is the second to be built in Alberta, the other having been built in Cardston in 1923. Previous to the building of the Edmonton Alberta Temple, many LDS couples would in fact move to Cardston after retirement in order to be near a temple.

The Church had a slow start in Edmonton with the first meeting actually not held until 1933, with only 15 members present. It was not until 1951 that the first official Mormon meetinghouse was built. Now the new temple will serve about 15,700 members in the area. Many members expect the Mormon temple to bring even greater growth to the Church; among them is Stake President LeRoy Rollins who said about the new temple, “I imagined it. I worked toward it. I knew we would have a temple in Edmonton, it had to be. It marks a status we have not had before. It will cause even greater growth in this city.” 1

The exterior of the Edmonton Alberta temple is white granite and has a single spire topped by a statue of the angel Moroni. The groundbreaking services were held on 27 February 1999. Before the dedication of the Mormon temple, a public open house was held similar to the open house for the Manhattan temple.

Church President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the temple on 11-12 December 1999. During the dedicatory prayer President Hinckley prayed for the nation of Canada saying, “Let Thy providence be felt in this great nation of Canada, that it shall continue to be a land where Thy sons and daughters enjoy the precious boon of freedom of assembly and worship… Bless those who govern that they shall look with favor upon Thy people, and may Thy work grow in numbers, in majesty, and in strength in this good land.” 2

The Edmonton Alberta Temple has a total of 10,700 square feet, two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.

Physical Address:
14325 – 53RD AVE NW
EDMONTON AB T6H 5G6
CANADA
Canada

Mailing address:
1214 Carter Crest Road
Edmonton, Alberta T6R 2L8
CANADA
Canada
Phone:   780-434-7436

The leaders of the Mormon Church announced plans to build a temple in Montreal Quebec on August 6, 1998. The Montreal temple is the 6th temple to be built in Canada and the 86th Mormon temple worldwide. It was one of the temples announced with a long list of others, which President of the Mormon Church, Gordon B. Hinckley hoped to have completed by the end of 2000, so that there would be 100 operating temples throughout the world.

There is a great deal of Mormon history in Montreal. The Church began to be established in Montreal in the 1920’s after Mormon missionaries were sent to Montreal in 1918. However there were many strong converts from Quebec as early as the 1830’s who emigrated to the United States to be with the rest of the Church. For a long time, Montreal was the only part of Canada with a strong membership. In 1942, a church building was purchased from a Protestant congregation, renovated, and used by the Mormon members in the area. By 1960 there were several congregations in Montreal. In 1961 the first French-speaking congregation was established and Mormon missionaries began teaching the gospel in French for the first time in Canada. By 1981, there were 3,246 members in Quebec, the membership steadily grew to 6,800 members in 1990 and today there are more then 8,500 members in Quebec.

A site dedication and groundbreaking ceremony were held on April 9, 1999. Gary J. Coleman, a member of the Seventy, presided at the ceremony. The temple plot is 2.4 acres in the town of Longueuil.

The Mormon temple was open to the public for tours of the interior May 20th through the 27th 2000. Despite the short weeklong open house, more than 10,000 people toured the temple. Those who toured the 10,700 square foot temple during the open house were able to see the two ordinance rooms that can seat forty people each, the celestial room, baptistry, two sealing rooms and the beautiful craftsmanship that adorns the interior of the temple. The exterior finish is made of Bethel white granite from Northern Vermont.

Then President and Prophet of the Mormon Church, Gordon B. Hinckley, dedicated the Montreal Quebec Mormon Temple on June 4, 2000. Before the dedication began, a cornerstone ceremony was held to officially complete the construction of the temple. Gordon B. Hinckley placed the cornerstone and had help from local children in placing the mortar. Around 6,000 members attended the four dedicatory sessions of the Montreal temple. The Montreal Mormon Temple serves more than 12,200 members from Montreal, Ottawa Ontario, Montpelier Vermont, and New York areas.

Physical Address:
1450 BLVD MARIE-VICTORIN
LONGUEUIL QC J4G 1A4
CANADA
Mailing address:
51 Place Charles Le Moyne #1007
Longueuil, QC J4K 5G6
CANADA
Phone:   450-646-5775

Other Links:

LDS ChurchTemples.com

News of the proposed Regina, Saskatchewan Temple was announced on August 3, 1998, while President Hinckley was visiting with missionaries and members in Regina. During the visit President Hinckley told the people, “You are good people… You get on your knees and pray to God. That is a wonderful thing, when all is said and done. … Many years ago, generations ago, family prayer was a very common phenomenon in Canada and the United States. There isn’t much of it anymore.”1 It is partly because of the prayers of the 6,700 members in the 252,000 square mile area of Saskatchewan that they now have a temple.

Dedication of the Regina Temple made history, when for the first time two Mormon temples were dedicated the same day. Because of issues with transportation, President Hinckley’s dedication of the Halifax Nova Scotia temple was delayed a day. Not wanting members to have to go home and come back, President Hinckley decided to go ahead with the dedication of the Nova Scotia temple. Meanwhile President Packer, first counselor to the prophet, was sent to dedicate the Regina Saskatchewan temple.

Prior to the dedication, members frantically worked to complete the landscaping and masonry. Because of a trucker’s strike, the materials had not arrived until a few days before. So crews worked around the clock to finish the light gray granite facing, completing the exterior the night before the dedication.

The day before the LDS (Mormon) temple dedication a mission tri-zone conference was canceled, and the 60 missionaries along with about 40 youth and adult members worked together to lay 18,000 square-feet of sod, plant trees, and raise the granite sign, which stated that the building was a Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Lord tempered the weather for those traveling to the dedication, which was held 14 November 1999. Donna McKay, wife of Prince Albert Saskatchewan Branch President Duane McKay, said, “They’ve been predicting storms for two weeks. You know the Lord’s hand is in this. November is well known for freezing rain. We’ve been very fortunate in traveling to get here.” 2

About 2,000 members traveled to attend the dedication. One of these was 88-year old Margaret Johnson, who rode with another member for seven hours to attend the dedication. She like so many others never believed a Mormon temple would be built in Regina. Dan Morse, one of Regina’s first converts, put it best when he said, “Never, never, never,” he said. “The whole province has only a million people. At the groundbreaking, I saw some ground turned over, and still couldn’t believe it; not until I was in the celestial room when there was plasterboard up when the temple was being constructed could I believe it.” 3

During the dedicatory prayer, President Boyd K. Packer offered the temple to the Lord saying, “Wilt Thou be pleased to accept of this the offering of our hands and our hearts. It has been erected as an expression of love for Thee and for Thy divine Son.” He also asked that the Lord pour out rain upon the land, temper the elements, and prosper the Saints as “they serve thee in righteousness.” 4

After the dedication, President Packer said, “The Spirit of the Lord was present in great abundance.” 5

Mailing address:
111 Wascana Gate North
Regina, Saskatchewan S4V 2J6
CANADA
Phone:   306-545-8194

For more information about Mormon temples visit the sites below:

LDS (Mormon) Temple resources
Teachings About Mormon Temples

(1) “News of the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 105
(2) December 1999, Church News
(3) December 1999, Church News
(4) “Dedicatory prayer: ‘Wilt Thou be pleased to visit it,’” Church News 4 Dec. 1999: 11.
(5) News of the Church,” Ensign, Feb. 2000, 74