NELSON, DIOCESE OF. — In the Canadian province of British Columbia. A suffragan of Vancouver, the diocese was erected by Pope Pius XI with the apostolic constitution *Universorum Christi fidelium cura* of 22 February 1936. The cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate. A decree published by the Sacred Consistorial Congregation on 18 December 1937 provides certain clarifications regarding the boundaries of the diocese.
The total population is 110,000 inhabitants, of whom 17,000 are Catholics (Europeans, Indigenous peoples, and Japanese) spread over an area of 48,000 square miles. The clergy consists of 24 diocesan priests and 20 religious (Franciscans, Franciscans of the Atonement, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and Redemptorists). The Indigenous missions are entrusted to the Oblates. The diocese has 26 parishes, 94 missions, 1 school for Indigenous peoples, 1 school for Japanese, and 4 hospitals; it publishes the weekly *The Prospector*.