The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the creation of the new Canada Area.
The new area — created to better provide leadership and support for all Church leaders and units in Canada — will be effective Aug. 1, 2025.
The new area will come from divisions in three existing areas — the North America Central, North America Northeast and North America West areas. Toronto, Ontario, will serve as headquarters for the Canada Area presidency and the area office, which includes a director for temporal affairs and other area staff and support functions.
“We are grateful for the Lord’s direction as His Church continues to grow across the earth,” wrote the First Presidency in a letter announcing the new area to Church leaders around the world, according to a report Friday, Dec. 6, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
With 23 existing areas worldwide, the Canada Area will be the Church’s 24th.
Currently, Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories are part of three North America areas of the Church:
- North America Central Area includes Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and the territory of Nunavut.
- North America Northeast Area includes New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
- North America West Area includes British Columbia and Yukon Territory.
For an area in a specific geographical region, the First Presidency assigns an area presidency, which works under the direction of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Leading the area presidency usually is a General Authority Seventy who is called as the president; he is assisted by two counselors, who are either General Authority Seventies or Area Seventies.
Area presidencies serving outside of the United States live in the area where they are assigned and travel within that area to teach and support Church members, missionaries and leaders of Church units, missions and temples.
With membership growth making it impractical for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to respond directly to the unique needs and circumstances of a growing global Church, area presidencies were first created in 1984, with the formation of 13 areas.
Areas have been added and withdrawn in the four decades since, with a high of 31 areas in 2006 and 2007.
Of the Church’s current 23 areas, six include parts of the United States and are managed by area presidencies working out of Church headquarters in Salt Lake City — the North America Central, North America Northeast, North America Southeast, North America Southwest, North America West and Utah areas.
The Canada Area will become the fourth Church area contained to a single nation, joining the Brazil, Mexico and Philippines areas.
A ChurchofJesusChrist.org page listing current area presidencies says: “Area presidencies are uniquely positioned to help build up the Church and provide valuable counsel and leadership to Church members around the world.”
The gospel was first preached in Canada when Joseph Smith Sr., the father of the Prophet Joseph Smith, crossed the U.S. border and went to several towns in eastern Canada. Over the next two decades, some 2,500 Canadians were converted.
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 Latter-day 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.
The Cardston Alberta Temple was the first house of the Lord in Canada and the Church’s sixth overall. It was the first temple constructed outside of the United States and its territories; the Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated in 1919, when the islands were a U.S. territory.
Today, more than 200,000 Church members in nearly 500 congregations reside in Canada.
The Church has two Canada-specific Newsroom pages — one in English and one in French.
