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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Malays of Canada

The Malays of Canada, numbering approximately 11,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Malay Canadian community descended from migrants from the Malay world that preserves the cultural traditions, language, and heritage of the broader Malay Archipelago. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Malay (individual language) is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Malay

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Canada
People Cluster: Malay
Primary Language(s): Malay (individual language) (zlm)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 11,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG043435

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Pray for the Malays of Canada

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malay (individual language)
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Malay Speakers

Media Resources in Malay (individual language):

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
The SaviorView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Malay (individual language):

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2001 Today's Malay Version✓✓
Alkitab Versi Borneo✓✓✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malay (individual language) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Malays:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Malays of Canada

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that those who need to surrender their lives to Christ will confess their sins and trust in Him, being united with Him in His death and resurrection, walking in newness of life.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
readRomans 10:12

Pray that as people from different backgrounds place their faith in Christ, they will be unified by their faith Him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
readJohn 1:12

Pray that believers will have the opportunity to clearly share the good news with the lost here, so that all people can be invited to trust in Jesus and become children of God.

Malay Across Countries (ROP3 - 106144) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

10 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MalaysPG020134MalaysMalaysia13,670,000Engaged yet UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG010713MalaysSingapore745,000Engaged yet UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG006435MalaysSri Lanka73,500Unengaged and UnreachedSri Lankan Creole MalaySunni Islam
MalaysPG000656MalaysUnited Kingdom56,000Engaged yet UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG009476MalaysMyanmar27,000Unengaged and UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG007977MalaysAustralia21,500Engaged yet UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG043435MalaysCanada11,500Unengaged and UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG043339MalaysUnited States10,500Unengaged and UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG015276MalaysComoros1,100Engaged yet UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam
MalaysPG015369MalaysMayotte325Engaged yet UnreachedMalay (individual language)Sunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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