After a year-long delay due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and precautions, the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple has been scheduled for dedication. It will become the first temple to be dedicated for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in more than a year and a half.
On Monday, Aug. 30, the First Presidency announced the new dates for the Winnipeg temple’s public house, dedication and youth devotional, with Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to dedicate Canada’s ninth temple.
When dedicated, the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple will be the 169th operating temple worldwide — the first to be dedicated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the latest being the Durban South Africa Temple in February 2020.
The free open house is scheduled to run from Saturday, Oct. 9, through Saturday, Oct. 23, with the exception of the two Sundays, Oct. 10 and 17, and Monday, Oct. 11. Canada’s Thanksgiving Day holiday is celebrated annually on the second Monday of October.
Elder Gong will dedicate the temple on Sunday, Oct. 31, in four sessions — at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m., with an additional session if needed. All dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to meetinghouses in the temple district.
A devotional for youth ages 12-18 will be held a week prior, on Sunday, Oct. 24, with the 6 p.m. devotional to be broadcast throughout the temple district.
Provincial COVID-19 protocols will be followed throughout all the announced events.
The Canadian province of Manitoba is home to more than 4,700 Latter-day Saints, who comprise 14 congregations. The closest temples for these Church members are the Regina Saskatchewan and Bismarck North Dakota temples.
On April 20, 2020, the Church initially announced open house and dedication dates for the Winnipeg temple — the open house from Oct. 22 through Oct. 31, 2020, Elder Gong to preside over the three dedication sessions originally scheduled for Nov. 8.
On Sept. 1, 2020, those dates were postponed due to the pandemic. The announcement followed two similar indefinite delays — the planned dedication of the new Rio de Janeiro temple and the scheduled rededication of the renovated Washington D.C. Temple.
The Washington D.C. Temple open house rededication has been rescheduled for next year, while the Rio temple is still without new dates.
The Winnipeg temple was announced in the April 2011 general conference by President Thomas S. Monson. Elder Larry Y. Wilson, a General Authority Seventy, presided at its groundbreaking on Dec. 3, 2016, in the city’s Bridgwater neighborhood.
The 10,667 square-foot temple features a copper steeple, slate roof tiles and brick exterior.
President Russell M. Nelson and other guests visited the temple construction site in August 2018 during his ministry through central and eastern Canada.
Canada’s other operating temples are located in Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Cardston and Vancouver.
