First, here is the raw data, straight from the census reports. It is self-reported religious affiliation.

About the instructions on the census forms (See note 1):
Both versions of the questionnaire used the same wording for the religion question: “What is this person’s religion?” Below the question, a note asked respondents to indicate a specific denomination or religion even if the person was not currently a practising member of that group. [end quote]

That means the reported numbers may still include a significant number of non-practicing Mormons, so I would consider the census numbers as a upper bound on the number of practicing LDS in the various regions.

For comparison, the LDS Church reports current membership in Canada at 199,535. Cumorah.com states the membership at 182,142 as of 2010, with 480 congregations.


Canada
2001 pop 29,639,035. LDS 101,805.
2011 pop 32,852,320. LDS 105,365.
2021 pop 36,991,981. LDS, 87,725.
See note 2

Quebec
2001 pop 7,125,580. LDS 4,420.
2011 pop 7,732,520. LDS 4,415.
2021 pop 8,501,883. LDS 4,600.

Ontario
2001 pop 11,285,545. LDS 20,355.
2011 pop 12,651,790. LDS 20,640.
2021 pop 14,223,942. LDS 16,420

Manitoba
2001 pop 1,103,700. LDS 1,700.
2011 pop 1,174,345. LDS 1,845.
2021 pop 1,342,153. LDS 1,640.

Saskatchewan
2001 pop 963,150... LDS 2,885.
2011 pop 1,008,760. LDS 3,050.
2021 pop 1,132,505. LDS 2,060.

Alberta
2001 pop 2,941,150. LDS 50,580.
2011 pop 3,567,980. LDS 55,625.
2021 pop 4,262,635. LDS 47,125.

British Columbia
2001 pop 3,868,875. LDS 17,590.
2011 pop 4,324,455. LDS 15,940.
2021 pop 5,000,879. LDS 12,875.

Selected Cities

Calgary metro area, AB
2001 pop 943,315... LDS 13,070.
2011 pop 1,199,125. LDS 12,990.
2021 pop 1,481,806. LDS 11,715.

Lethbridge metro area, AB
2001 pop 66,270.. LDS 5,680.
2011 pop 102,785. LDS 8,090.
2021 pop 123,847. LDS 6,500

Edmonton metro area, AB
2011 pop 927,020... LDS 7,890.
2011 pop 1,140,000. LDS 8,920.
2021 pop 1,418,118. LDS 8,250

Vancouver metro area, BC
2001 pop 1,967,480. LDS 5,220.
2011 pop 2,280,695. LDS 5,125.
2021 pop 2,642,825. LDS 3,565.

Montréal metro area, PQ
2001 pop 3,380,645. LDS 2,825.
2011 pop 3,752,475. LDS 2,855.
2021 pop 4,291,732. LDS 3,120.

Toronto metro area, ON
2001 pop 4,647,960. LDS 5,755.
2011 pop 5,521,235. LDS 5,515.
2021 pop 6,202,275. LDS 4,090.

Sources:
2021
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E&HPA=1

You can select various provinces, and within each province selection there are a list of cities, and after that a list of metro areas.

The religion information is very near the bottom of an extraordinarily long web page. Scrolling on a tablet will take you forever. Use a laptop/desktop computer where you can drag the scroll thumb.

2011
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/index-eng.cfm

Most of the tables only list 13 religions and LDS did not make the cut, and are not listed separately. There are tables with 95 religions listed. LDS made that list.

Use the search box to search for catalogue number 99-010-X2011032.
You will probably need to check the box to search through "all content". That choice only comes up when the first search fails. Grrr.

The information for cities is organized by metro area rather than city limits.

2001
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/english/census01/products/standard/themes/index-eng.cfm
topic 20, Religions in Canada, table 2, Religion and Immigrant Status: report # 97F0022X2001004

LDS is a subgroup under Protestant. The information on cities is organized by metro area.



Note 1:
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/ref/98-500/016/98-500-x2021016-eng.cfm

This is a bunch of very "down in the weeds" material about how the data was collected, how Stat Can handled correcting for non-response bias and similar topics only a statistician could love. NB: I am not a statistician.



Note 2:
I omitted all derived statistics and only listed raw data because even with just that, it is a large mouthful of numbers. I will do a post later with some derived stats. Here is a taste of what it will have - some derived stats for all of Canada:

2011 LDS percent of population of Canada
105,365 / 32,852,320 * 100 = 0.32%
(NB: that is NOT 3.2%, it is about a third of one percent)

2021 LDS percent of population of Canada
87,725 / 36,991,981 * 100 = 0.24%
(NB again, this is about a quarter of one percent)

Percent decrease in the membership in Canada, 2011 to 2021
(0.32 - 0.24) / 0.32 * 100 = 25%


That is not a typo, and I will be extraordinarily embarrassed if I botched the math, but I was very careful.

***Yes, the census reported percentage of LDS in Canada dropped 25% in the last decade.***


The whistleblower complaint about Ensign Peaks came out in 2019, so that may have affected whether Canadian Mormons still wanted to be counted as Mormons. The current unrest over the funneling of Canadian tithing funds to the BYU schools of course came out after the census, but it likely will result in more members leaving.

And the only large province that showed an increase in Mormons was Quebec. Go figure!



Note 3:
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/10/26/just-over-a-third-of-canadian-population-reports-having-no-religious-affiliation-new-census-data-shows.html

This is an early newspaper article analyzing the general religion figures for Canada. It is interesting to compare the percentage of Canadians that are Sikh, or Muslim, or Hindu, or even denominations like JW. Mormonism is really tiny in Canada, especially unusual since it has been there for well over a century in Alberta and BC.

It seems that generally speaking, the further west you go, the more the church is in trouble. The only province where it seems to be holding its own is Quebec, and even then, you would expect more growth. Selected strongholds like Lethbridge seem to be doing okay as well.

I'm betting that trends in the U.S. would be similar -- the church is hanging on (barely) in the traditional strongholds, and tanking elsewhere.

I thought the Quebec numbers were almost comical. That's the province that went from devout Catholic to arguably being the most secular province in the nation, in a little over a generation, yet Mormons are almost holding their own there as a percentage of the population. I didn't expect that.

OTOH, Lethbridge took a huge hit. The number of Mormons didn't fall a huge amount in the last decade, but the overall population of Lethbridge metro exploded in both of the last two decades.

In 2001 to 2011, the number of Mormons in Lethbridge went up by roughly the same percentage as the general population went up.

However, the percentage of Mormons in Lethbridge got hammered this last decade. The general population went up about 20% and the number of Mormons went down about 18%. You of course can't just add and subtract percentages, so the math:
2011 LDS % of pop: 8090 / 102785 * 100 = 0.78%
2021 LDS % of pop: 6500 / 123847 * 100 = 0.52%
LDS change in % of population for the decade
(0.52 - 0.78) / 0.78 * 100 = -33%

Ouch

ETA: so hey, don't blame Ron. Lethbridge is in Mormon free-fall.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2022 02:01PM by Brother Of Jerry.

> Selected strongholds like
> Lethbridge seem to be doing
> okay as well.


                    ...I blame Ron...

I know, right? If only we could convince Ron to stop attending his meetings and paying his tithing.

For the 2011 census, the government of the day eliminated the mandatory "long form" census that was sent to 20% of the population in addition to the main census form. That year it was replaced by a vountary Household Survey which included the question about religion.

Though this was sent to more households - 33% of the population, it's value to statisticians was reduced because the results were not considered as robust due to the voluntary nature of the document. As I recall, the head of Statistics Canada resigned his position in protest of the government's decision.

I wonder if any of that influenced the LDS results for that year. I notice that Edmonton had a large rise in LDS population compared to other large centres in Alberta , which seems to me uncharacteristic for Edmonton compared to the very religious south of the province. I think the mandatory form has been reinstated, and Edmonton's numbers have dropped. Could the church have promoted that members who received the Household Survey in 2011 should make sure to fill it out so LDS numbers would appear to be high? Wouldn't surprise me!

Non-compliance and changing data collection procedures are always a problems with censuses, but I think that will have minimal affect on the LDS reported numbers in the Canadian census.

Here's why: Mormons are trained from birth to do anything they can to make the Mormon Church look good. I often joke that in Mormonism, the first and greatest commandment is "Thou shalt not make the Church look bad."

That being the case, I would expect that active Mormons would be strongly encouraged, over the pulpit, to be sure and send in their long form census is they received one. These people are both active Mormons and Canadian. They WILL fill out their census forms!!!!!

Meanwhile, for the former Mormons, whether resigned or de facto just left, if they neglect to send in the long form, they won't get counted as LDS. If they send it in and list "None", or some other denomination, they still don't get counted as LDS. It doesn't really matter what those people do.

What I want to know is how many Canadians consider themselves to be active LDS. I think the census as designed will give us a pretty decent handle on that. If anything, it will still be somewhat inflated, because of the instructions to essentially list the last denomination you participated in, even if you are no longer a participant.

Close enough for government work, as they say. Plus it is also useful to compare to previous censuses to see what the trends are.

I’m still listed on church records, but I don’t identify as a Mormon in any way. I did not identify as a Mormon on the most recent census, but I did on the previous one. I feel for those still under its deceptive spell. I am sure there are others that feel the same and no longer want to be counted as one.

I have never formally resigned. I didn't really think before about the fact that they still count me as a member, if I understand their ways correctly. I haven't done it because I didn't want to bring myself to their attention and also because I have thought it doesn't really matter as I think I read here way back when that they don't actually remove your name from their lists anyway.

More so than them having my name, I seriously regret that I submitted some of my relatives' names for dead baptism. I don't even know what, if any, religious beliefs my paternal grandparents had but they weren't Mormon and I can bet my life they would never want to be. I can't believe, at this remove, why I fell for the pressure to do the dead dunking and to give that church my relatives' names, to be recorded and used forevermore to beef up their stats. (Actually, I don't know what they do with stats re dead dunks).

I haven't received a census form so haven't had to think about it much. Except for getting even more peeved at the church as time goes by, especially with the latest revelations about its wealth and **lack** of charitable giving, despite leaders' claims.

Still, the abiding emotion is one of shame at being such a dupe. I trusted my Mormon friends - I know they really believed it all - but that is not a good way to choose a religion to join.

Just ugh.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2022 04:25PM by Nightingale.

I resigned to get a persistent high priest off my ass after dad died. And it worked. Zero regrets.
As for those numbers, it's nice to see they are dropping except for a few places. I'm still living in the country so no mishie visits out here. We'll see after I move to town...and if they still door knock?