Between 1910 and 1920 some 20-30 young Armenians settled in Montreal. In the mid-1950’s, the community consisted of about 225 members who organized a society to teach Armenian to children, while a 4 member Ladies' Association was formed as well as a 14 member church choir to assist the 6 member initial parish council appointed in 1948 by Bishop Diran Nersoyan, Primate of North America. Church services were held in the chapel of St. John The Evangelist church. In the late 1950’s and the 1960’s the Armenian community of Montreal increased in number dramatically by immigrants coming mainly from Istanbul and Egypt. Bishop Vatche Hovsepian, Vicar General, and a search committee for a private church concluded an agreement with the Fairmount St. Giles United Church of Outremont, to buy the church building. The agreement was approved by the Parish council, the purchase was completed on February 18, 1970, and the consecration was performed after renovations, presided over by Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian, Patriarch of Istanbul. The church was renamed St. Gregory the Illuminator and served as the Cathedral of the Diocese since its establishment in 1984, when the second floor of the building was renovated as the headquarters of the Diocese. The current pastor is Rev. Fr. Vazken Boyadjian, who is also the president of the Parish Council, elected by the Parish’s General Assembly. Committees under the jurisdiction of the Parish Council are: the Ladies’ Auxiliary, the Choir, the ACYOC, the social service, the Etchmiadzin Mothers. The periodical Pourastan is published by the Parish Council.