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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
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Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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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

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
readRomans 11:22

Pray that God will transform those who persist in unbelief and, in His everlasting kindness, graft them into His family.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Pray that the lost will see the new thing God can do in their lives and trust in His plan and purpose for them.

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!
readPsalm 105:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and may feel weak in their current circumstances, they will seek the Lord's presence and persevere in the Lord's strength.

And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
readColossians 1:20

As believers cross cultures to tell others about Jesus, praise God for allowing them to be a part of His reconciling all things to Himself, asking Him to help them remember their role in His beautiful plan of salvation for others.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

10 people groups

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