Report on the Alberta Stake and Canada Settlements

I am very grateful for the privilege of being with you, my brethren and sisters. About 100 people came from Canada to the conference — perhaps the largest number that has ever been present at such a gathering of the Church. While I stand before you a few moments I desire an interest in your faith and prayers, and am desirous of being directed by the Spirit of the Lord in what I say. ¶

I am very young in the position to which I have been called, the reorganization of the Stake having taken place less than a month ago. The people in Canada feel well in the Gospel, and a good spirit prevails throughout all the settlements of the Saints. Our people in Canada have much to be grateful for. They have been wonderfully prospered in that land. The Lord has blessed them abundantly; and while they have many things to contend with that you have not in Utah, at the same time they have been prospered and the blessings of the Lord have attended them in all that they have set their hands to do. It is now about fifteen years since our people went into that country; I have been there fourteen years; and while the people of that land looked upon us with suspicion when we first went there they have grown to love and honor us now, and to seek the Latter-day Saints as settlers for their vast tracts of land. One of the first business enterprises that our people started, about 13 years ago, had some difficulty in getting a charter to do business, for it was feared that if we got a foothold in the country we would drive all other people out, and it took us about six months to get a little business incorporated with a capital of ten thousand dollars. It is very different today, however. The people are desirous that we should settle among them, and the Lord has raised up many men, among them some leaders of the government, who have fought our battles in the legislative halls of that country. ¶

A short time ago I had occasion to visit some of the officials of the Northwest government, and they expressed themselves very freely in relation to the labors of our people. They said they had not seen so much progress in any other part of the Northwest as they had in our part of the country. They came through some of our new settlements, and the progress and prosperity seen on every hand was truly marvelous to them. In one of the settlements just established, where fifteen months ago not a furrow had been plowed, this year they will raise about 150,000 bushels of as fine grain as you ever saw. This was a marvel to some of the officials of the government. The Bishop of that Ward wrote me some time ago and wanted to know what he should do with the tithing grain, as he had only capacity for 3,000 bushels and he expected to receive from 12,000 to 15,000 bushels. I met quite a number of officials there and they expressed themselves as highly pleased with the manner in which our people have taken hold of the country- I saw one gentleman who had labored throughout different parts of the Northwest Territory, on government works, and he told his friends that he had been better treated among the Latter-day Saints than in any other part of the Northwest, and that he saw more evidence of thrift and prosperity there than in any other place. We are very glad that we occupy this position before the people of the country. ¶

The Saints feel well spiritually. They are trying to live their religion to the best of their ability, under the circumstances in which they are placed; and while some of our settlements that are located near the mountains have suffered with frosts this year, upon the whole we have had an abundant harvest—plenty for our home needs and a great deal to export. I believe that we have the honor of being the best tithepaying people in the Church. I understand that Alberta Stake stands at the head. We are mostly young people out there. There are very few old people among us. I think it would be difficult to find 15 persons over 60 years of age. I believe the Lord is modifying the climate for our good. We do not have the rigorous winters that we used to have. Our young people are well looked after in that Stake. There is very little sin of the graver kind amongst them, and we are trying to the very best of our ability to live up to our religion. As an evidence of the spirit which exists in our Stake, I might cite the fact that twenty or thirty people who have been in the Church all their lives, but have lived on the outskirts, in mining camps, have come down this conference for the purpose of going through the Temple and being sealed together as husbands and wives and children. ¶

I believe we have a very great future before us in Alberta. The government officials have done all in their power to make it pleasant for us, and they have made all the concessions that they possibly could under the laws of the land. We enjoy just as much freedom as the people of any country do, and the Lord is blessing us. We hope in the not distant future to have a temple in that land, and I was very glad to hear our President say yesterday that it was the intention to build temples in the outlying Stakes of Zion. I presume that our people have spent many thousands of dollars to come down here and go through the temples of the Lord. When our young people get married we like to see them start out right, but it is a very expensive trip to come down here to go through the house of the Lord; and it would not take many years, if we could use the money that is spent for this purpose, to build a temple of our own. I believe that Canada is a good place for people who have not got good homes, and for young people who have plenty of sticktoitiveness and are filled with faith, courage and energy; but I never have advocated the breaking up of homes by Utah people who are well established in order to come to Canada. I have been there quite a few years myself and am pretty well acquainted with all the people in the Stake, and I can say that many young people who came with nothing and stayed with the country are well-to-do today and trying to live their religion. ¶

May the Lord bless us all in this great work of His, and may He especially bless those who are called to preside in the various offices throughout the Church with wisdom to direct the affairs thereof, that the purposes of the Lord may be accomplished in the earth, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶