The Archdiocese of Canada was incorporated in 1903 by Archbishop Tikhon (later elected Patriarch of Moscow and recently canonized), following a decade of missionary work in western Canada.

The first groups of Orthodox immigrants in Canada were from the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.  Both Slavs and Arabs were cared  for by the administration of the Russian Mission based in the United States.  After the First World War and the Russian Revolution, the Russian mission was unable to meet the needs of the large numbers of newly arrived immigrants from traditionally Orthodox lands.  These new groups establised communities connected with their mother churches in Europe and the Middle East.

Today there are over 600 Orthodox communities in Canada of various national backgrounds.  The Archdiocese of Canada consists of  70 of the 95 parishes and monastic communities of the Orthodox Church in America in Canada (the remaining OCA parishes are members of our Romanian and Bulgarian dioceses based in the United States).

Although several Archdiocese parishes remain predominantly Russian, Ukrainian or Romanian in character, we also have an increasing number of multi-ethnic parishes using English or French and committed to living out the Orthodox faith here in Canada.

Our Bishop is assisted in his work by regional Deans and an Archdiocesan Council of clergy and laity elected at the triennial Archdiocesan Assembly.  The Archdiocese has offices in both western and eastern Canada. The Archdiocese of Canada is a member of the Canadian Council of Orthodox Bishops (CCOB).