Hinduism in Canada - Temple Societies

Temple Societies

These communities have formed over 1000 temple societies across the country that essentially functions community organizations. Some of these associations also have established private schools in Tamil to compete with non-religious and Catholic school boards that most Hindu students go to.

The largest Hindu temple in Canada is BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto . It consists of two separate buildings, one of them being the mandir itself and the other being the Haveli, home to a large Sabha Hall, several religious bookstores, a small prayer room, the country's largest Indo-Canadian museum, a water fountain and a large gymnasium. It is the only Mandir built using Hindu traditions. It took $40 million to build and opened in 2007, surpassing Hindu Sabha Temple in nearby Brampton, which held the old record. The entire mandir is 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m2). Another significant Hindu cultural group that run a few temples in the GTA are the Bengalis. The Bengalis from West Bengal, India established a temple dedicated to the Goddess Kali(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali) in Malton, Mississauga which is known as Toronto Kalibari(http://torontokalibari.com/).