Church endorses its first female chaplain in Canada

In August 2025, Latter-day Saint Becky Mantynen was called as a service missionary at a women’s prison in Kitchener, Ontario

Published: March 21, 2026, 1:46 p.m. MDT

Chaplain Esra Aksu, left, and Chaplain Becky Mantynen hold religious materials available to women at Grand Valley Institution for Women. — Chaplain Esra Aksu, left, and Chaplain Becky Mantynen hold religious materials available to women at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario, March 2026. Mantynen is the first Latter-day Saint female chaplain in Canada. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has endorsed its first female chaplain in Canada.

In August 2025, Becky Mantynen was called as a service missionary at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario — a women’s prison operated by the Correctional Service of Canada — where she serves alongside chaplains of other faiths.

Mantynen is one of four Latter-day Saint chaplains serving across Canada, reported the Church’s Canada Newsroom on March 17.

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