Ecumenical Canada

The spires of Christian churches have always been common landmarks in Canadian cities. Today, it is not unusual to see these towers sharing the horizon with the domes of temples and mosques. As new immigrants bring new languages and customs to Canada, they also bring new faiths. In 2001, a total of 43% of Canadians reported an affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. The number of Roman Catholics increased slightly (5%) during the 1990s, but their share of the total population fell marginally.

	Chapel Ste-Anne, Caraquet, N.B. Photo: Marie-Josée Robichaud

Protestant denominations made up 29% of the population, continuing a long-term downward trend, a decrease from 36% in 1991. This is quite the change from a century ago when, in 1901, 56% of the population was Protestant.

Conversely, the number of Canadians who reported religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism has increased substantially. This shift in the nation’s religious make-up is the result of the changing sources of immigrants, which has contributed to a more diverse religious profile.

The largest gains in religious affiliations occurred among those who identified themselves as Muslim, who more than doubled in number from 253,300 in 1991 to 579,600 in 2001. These individuals represented 2% of the total population in 2001, up from under 1% a decade earlier.

The number of people who identified themselves as Hindu increased 89% to 297,200. Those who identified themselves as Sikh rose 89% to 278,400, while the number of Buddhists increased 84% to about 300,300. Each represented around 1% of the total population

The 2001 Census also recorded an increase in those reporting simply that they were 'Christian,' without specifying a Catholic, Protestant or Christian Orthodox faith. This group more than doubled (121%) during the decade to 780,400, representing 2.6% of the population in 2001.

Not only are Canadian church buildings being joined on the landscape by the architecture of Eastern religions; some of these churches no longer even signify places of Christian worship. An increasing number of Canadians now profess not to follow any religion at all. As a result, some churches are being converted to day-care centres, food banks and even living quarters. In 1981, about 7% of Canadians reported that they had no connections with an organized religion. By 2001, that figure had increased to 16%.