One of the five new temples announced this weekend by Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Calgary temple will be the third temple in this Province, in addition to Cardston and Edmonton, and the 8th in Canada. The other temples are located in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Montreal, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; and Regina, Saskatchewan.
The first members of the Church arrived in Alberta in the early 1880s as contract workers on the Canadian Pacific Railroad line between Medicine Hat and Calgary. A few years later, other Mormon settlers began arriving and farming what is present-day Cardston. This was the beginning of a thriving Latter-day Saint community that has spread throughout much of southern Alberta.
In 1898, large irrigation canals were constructed in a joint venture between the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company and the Church. These canals were extremely vital to successful farming in the area, and led to increased migration from Utah and Idaho to southern Alberta.
In 1895, the first stake of the Church (a stake is similar to a diocese) was established in Alberta. Today there are over 75,000 members of the Church in 200 congregations throughout the province. In Canada as a whole, there are over 175,000 members.
Specifics concerning the exact location and architectural design of the newly announced Calgary temple are not yet available.