Religion in Canada

Top religious denominations in Canada in 2001.

Religion in Canada encompasses a wide range of groups, and Canada has no official religion. The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms mentions "God", and the monarch carries the title of "Defender of the Faith", but no specific beliefs are specified, and support for
religious pluralism is an important part of Canada's political culture. Nonetheless, a majority of census respondents report they are Christians.

Religious mix

Census results

In the Canada 2001 Census, 72% of the Canadian population list Roman Catholicism or Protestantism as a religion. The Roman Catholic
Church in Canada is by far the country's largest single denomination. Those who listed no religion account for 16% of total respondents. In
British Columbia, however, 35% of respondents reported no religion - more than any single denomination and more than all Protestants
combined. For further information on historically significant religions in Canada, please see Canadian census results on religion.

Top Religious Denominations in Canada

2001 1991 % change
Number % Number % (in numbers)
Christian 77 80
- Roman Catholic 12,936,905 43.6 12,203,625 45.2
+4.8
- Total Protestant 8,654,850 29.2 9,427,675 34.9
-8.2
- United Church of Canada 2,839,125 9.6 3,093,120 11.5
-8.2
- Anglican Church of Canada 2,035,495 6.9 2,188,110 8.1-7.0
- Christian, not included elsewhere¹ 780,450 2.6 353,040 1.3+121.1
- Baptist 729,475 2.5 663,360 2.5+10.0
- Lutheran 606,590 2.0 636,205 2.4-4.7
- Protestant, not included elsewhere² 549,205 1.9
- Presbyterian 409,830 1.4 636,295 2.4 -35.6
- Christian Orthodox 479,620 1.6 387,395 1.4 +23.8
- Coptic Orthodox 10,285 0.03 5,020 0.02 +104.9
- Romanian Orthodox 4,675 0.02 4,570 0.02 +2.3
No religion 4,796,325 16.2 3,333,245 12.3 +43.9
Other
- Muslim 579,640 2.0 253,265 0.9 +128.9
- Jewish 329,995 1.1 318,185 1.2 +3.7
- Buddhist 300,345 1.0 163,415 0.6 +83.8
- Hindu 297,200 1.0 157,015 0.6 +89.3
- Sikh 278,415 0.9 147,440 0.5 +88.8
¹ Includes persons who report “Christian”, and those who report “Apostolic”, “Born-again Christian” and “Evangelical”.
² Includes persons who report only “Protestant”.
* For comparability purposes, 1991 data are presented according to 2001 boundaries.

Christianity in Canada

Notre-Dame Basilica, a Roman Catholic church in Old Montreal of Montreal, Quebec. On its completion in 1888, it was the largest church in
North America.

The majority of Canadian Christians attend church infrequently. Cross-national surveys of religiosity rates such as the Pew Global Attitudes
Project indicate that, on average, Canadian Christians are less observant than those of the United States but are still more overtly religious than
their counterparts in Britain or in western Europe. In 2002, 30% of Canadians reported to Pew researchers that religion was "very important" to
them. A 2005 Gallup poll showed that 28% of Canadians consider religion to be "very important" (55% of Americans and 19% of Britons say
the same). [6] Regional differences within Canada exist, however, with British Columbia and Quebec reporting especially low metrics of
traditional religious observance, as well as a significant urban-rural divide, while Alberta and rural Ontario saw high rates of religious
attendance. The rates for weekly church attendance are contested, with estimates running as low as 11% as per the latest Ipsos-Reid poll and as
high as 25% as per Christianity Today magazine. This American magazine reported that three polls conducted by Focus on the Family, Time
Canada and the Vanier Institute of the Family showed church attendance increasing for the first time in a generation, with weekly attendance at
25 per cent. This number is similar to the statistics reported by premier Canadian sociologist of religion Prof. Reginald Bibby of the University
of Lethbridge, who has been studying Canadian religious patterns since 1975. Although lower than in the US, which has reported weekly
church attendance at about 40% since the Second World War, weekly church attendance rates are higher than those in Northern Europe.

As well as the large churches—Roman Catholic, United, and Anglican, which together count more than half of the Canadian population as
nominal adherents—Canada also has many smaller Christian groups, including Orthodox Christianity. The Egyptian population in Ontario and
Quebec (Greater Toronto in particular) has seen a large influx of the Coptic Orthodox population in just a few decades. The relatively large
Ukrainian population of Manitoba and Saskatchewan has produced many followers of the Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox
Churches, while southern Manitoba has been settled largely by Mennonites. The concentration of these smaller groups often varies greatly
across the country. Baptists are especially numerous in the Maritimes. The Maritimes and prairie provinces have significant numbers of
Lutherans. Southwest Ontario has seen large numbers of German and Russian immigrants, including many Mennonites and Hutterites, as well
as a significant contingent of Dutch Reformed. Alberta has seen considerable immigration from the American plains, creating a significant
Mormon minority in that province. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims 178,102 members (73,630 of that is in Alberta) as of
year-end 2007[2]. And according to the Jehovah witness year report there are 111,963 active members (members who actively preach) in Canada.

Non-Christian religions

Non-Christian religions in Canada are overwhelmingly concentrated in metropolitan cites such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and to a
much smaller extent in mid-sized cities such as Ottawa, Quebec, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax. A possible exception is Judaism,
which has long been a notable minority even in smaller centres. Much of the increase in non-Christian religions is attributed to changing
immigration trends in the last fifty years. Increased immigration from Asia, the Middle East and Africa has created ever-growing Muslim,
Buddhist, Sikh, and Hindu communities. Canada is also home to smaller communities of the Bahá'í Faith, Unitarian Universalists, Pagans, and
subscribers to First Nations religions.

Islam in Canada

Further information: Islam in Canada

A Mosque in Ottawa.

The Muslim community in Canada is almost as old as the nation itself. Four years after Canada's founding in 1867, the 1871 Canadian Census
found 13 Muslims among the population.[3] The first Canadian mosque was constructed in Edmonton in 1938, when there were approximately
700 Muslims in the country. [4] This building is now part of the museum at Fort Edmonton Park. The years after World War II saw a small
increase in the Muslim population. However, Muslims were still a distinct minority. It was only with the removal of European immigration
preferences in the late 1960s that Muslims began to arrive in significant numbers.

According to 2001 census, there were 579,640 Muslims in Canada, just under 2% of the population [5]. In 2006, Muslim population is estimated
to be 783,700 or about 2.5% [6].

Sikhism in Canada

Sikhs have been in Canada since 1897. One of the first Sikh soldiers arrived in Canada in 1897 following Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
Sikhs were one of the few Asian immigrant communities who were loyal members of the British Empire. The irony was that greater entry
restrictions were placed on prospective Sikh immigrants as compared to the Japanese and Chinese. While Canadian politicians, missionaries,
unions and the press did not want Asian labour, British Columbia industrialists were short of labour and thus Sikhs were able to get an early
foothold at the turn of the century in British Columbia. Of the nearly 5,000 East Indians in Canada by 1907, over 98% were Sikhs, mostly
retired British army veterans. [3]. Sikh immigration to Canada was banned in 1908, and the population began to shrink.

According to century of struggle and success the Sikh Canadian experience "With the advent of World War II and the internment of Japanese
Canadians, Sikhs were able to prosper. Before going to the internment camps Japanese preferred to sell their homes and properties to their Sikh
neighbors who they had known for so long. As the war economy picked up speed and moved into high gear, Sikhs were given positions of
greater responsibility on the factory floors across the country as well as sharpening their skills as successful businessmen. Just as the war helped
to emancipate North American women, showing that they were capable of doing a man's job, Sikhs were showing that they were just as talented
as their European counterparts. One of the last major roadblocks remained the right to vote. The year was 1947, fifty years since the first Sikh
immigrants had arrived, yet they were still denied this fundamental right. A right that was long overdue and Sikhs rallied to the cause, holding
town hall meetings and lobbying local politicians and the government in Ottawa to try change the law." [4]

After the 1960s Canada's immigration laws were liberalized and racial quotas were removed, allowing far more Sikhs to immigrate to Canada.
The Sikh population has rapidly increased in the decades since. Major Sikh communities exist in most of the major cities of British Columbia
and Ontario. Sikhs have become an integral part of Canada's economy and culture.

Canadians with no religious affiliation

Non-religious Canadians are common throughout all provinces and territories. Non-religious Canadians include atheists, agnostics, humanists
as well as other nontheists. In 1991, they made up 12.3 percent which increased to 16.2 percent in 2001 of the population according to the 2001
census. Some non-religious Canadians have formed some associations, such as the Humanist Association of Canada or the Toronto Secular
Alliance. In 1991, some non-religious Canadians signed a petition, tabled in Parliament by Svend Robinson, to remove "God" from the
preamble to the Canadian Constitution, after which he was relegated to the backbenches by his party leader. Shortly afterwards, the same group
petitioned to remove "God" from the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", but to no avail. According to www.religioustolerance.org, among
the estimated 4,900,095 Canadians of no religion, an estimated 18,605 would specify atheist, 17,815 would specify agnostic, and 1,245
humanist. A more recent research in the year 2005 has shown that the irreligious group has risen significantly. Phil Zuckerman, an Associate
Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College writes of several academic and non-academic sources who have placed rates of those claiming no
religion in Canada between 19% and 30%.[7]

Age and religion

According to the 2001 census, the major religions in Canada have the following median age. Canada has a median age of 37.3.

 Presbyterian 46.1
 United Church 44.1
 Anglican 43.8
 Lutheran 43.3
 Jewish 41.5
 Greek Orthodox 40.7
 Baptist 39.3
 Buddhist 38.0
 Roman Catholic 37.8
 Pentecostal 33.5
 Hindu 31.9
 No religion 31.1
 Sikh 29.7
 Muslim 28.1

Government and religion

Canada today has no official church, and the government is officially committed to religious pluralism. In some fields Christian influence
remains.

Christmas and Easter are nationwide holidays, and while Jews, Muslims, and other groups are allowed to take their holy days off work they do
not share the same official recognition [citation needed]. The French version of "O Canada", the official national anthem, contains a Catholic reference
to "carrying the cross". In some parts of the country Sunday shopping is still banned, but this is steadily becoming less common. There was an
ongoing battle in the late 20th century to have religious garb accepted throughout Canadian society, mostly focused on Sikh turbans. Eventually
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Royal Canadian Legion, and other groups accepted members wearing turbans.

Canada is a Commonwealth realm in which the head of state is shared with 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom. The UK's
succession laws forbid Roman Catholics and their spouses from occupying the throne, and the reigning monarch is also ex officio Supreme
Governor of the Church of England, but Canada is not bound by these laws. Within Canada, the Queen's title include the phrases "By the Grace
of God" and "Defender of the Faith."

While the Canadian government's official ties to Christianity are few, it more overtly recognizes the existence of God and even the supremacy
of God [7]. Both the preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the national anthem in both languages refer to God.

In 1957, Parliament declared Thanksgiving (Canada), "a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which
Canada has been blessed.", stating that God is almighty and that Canada is blessed. [8]

Some religious schools are government-funded. See Section Twenty-nine of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.