Montreal, Quebec History Early Church converts in Quebec in the 1830s eventually emigrated to the United States to be with the main body of Church members, at first in Ohio or Missouri, and later in Nauvoo, Illinois. After the 1840s, little Church activity took place in Quebec until the next century. In 1918 missionaries from the Eastern States Mission were sent to Montreal. In 1919 the Canadian Mission was established. Elders Guy V. Cutler and Marvin Beckstrom were assigned to commence missionary work in Montreal in October of 1919. A congregation developed in Montreal in the 1920s, with James McCance serving as its president. For many years, Montreal had the only congregation of the Church in Quebec. In 1942 a church building on St. Joseph Boulevard was purchased from a Protestant congregation. The building was renovated and used by several of the Church's congregations until it was destroyed in a fire in 1979. By the 1960s membership had risen sufficiently to form several congregations. A French-speaking congregation was established in Montreal in 1961, and some of the missionaries in the city began teaching the gospel in French. In 1969 a congregation was also established in Quebec City. In 1978 a French-speaking stake (a "stake" is a group of congregations similar to a diocese) was created in Montreal. Two years later an English-speaking stake was organized. In 1981 total membership in Quebec reached 3,246. By 1990 there were 6,800 members of the Church in Quebec. Today there are 8,500 Church members in 27 congregations. In August of 1998 Church leaders announced plans to build a temple in Montreal. The Montreal Quebec Temple will be the sixth temple of the Church in Canada, with temples already in operation in Cardston, Toronto, Regina, Halifax, and Edmonton.