Religion in Canada
|Part of a series on the|
|Culture of Canada|
Religion in Canada encompasses a wide range of groups. The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms refers to "God", and the monarch carries the title of "Defender of the Faith". However, Canada has no official religion, and support for religious pluralism (Freedom of religion in Canada) is an important part of Canada's political culture. The 2011 Canadian census reported that 67% of Canadians claim adherence to Christianity, followed by no religion at 24%, but rates of religious adherence have been steadily decreasing.
Pre-Canadian Native American religion was largely animistic. This included an intense reverence for spirits and nature. French settlement beginning in the 17th century established a Roman Catholic francophone population in Acadia, now Nova Scotia and Lower Canada, now Quebec, followed by English settlement that brought Anglicans and other Protestants to Upper Canada, now Ontario. The religious, cultural, and political antagonism between Canadian Protestants and Catholics remains a central theme of Canadian history.
It has been recently suggested that Canada has come to enter a post-Christian or secular state, where practice of the religion has "moved to the margins of public life", and irreligion is on the rise. A majority of Canadians consider religion to be unimportant, but still believe in a god.
To 1800 
By 1667 the Jesuits had established a station near present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin. Before the arrival of Europeans, the First Nations followed a wide array of mostly animistic religions. See also Native American mythology. The first Europeans to settle in great numbers in Canada were French Latin rite Roman Catholics, including a large number of Jesuits dedicated to converting the natives; an effort that eventually proved successful.
The first large Protestant communities were formed in the Maritimes after they were conquered by the British. Unable to convince enough British immigrants to go to the region, the government decided to import continental Protestants from Germany and Switzerland to populate the region and counterbalance the Roman Catholic Acadians. This group was known as the Foreign Protestants. This effort proved successful and today the South Shore region of Nova Scotia is still largely Lutheran. After the Expulsion of the Acadians a large number of New England Planters settled on the vacated lands bringing with them their Congregationalist belief. During the 1770s, guided by Henry Alline, the New Light movement of the Great Awakening swept through the Atlantic region converting many of the Congregationalist to the new theology. After Alline's death many of these Newlights eventually became Baptists, thus making Maritime Canada the heartland of the Baptist movement in Canada.
The American Revolution brought about a large influx of Protestants to Canada. United Empire Loyalists, fleeing the rebellious United States, moved in large numbers to Upper Canada and the Maritimes. They comprised a mix of Christian groups with a large number of Anglicans, but also many Presbyterians and Methodists.
19th century 
While Anglicans consolidated their hold on the upper classes, workingmen and farmers responded to the Methodist revivals, often sponsored by visiting preachers from America. Typical was Rev. James Caughey, an American sent by the Wesleyan Methodist Church from the 1840s through 1864. He brought in the converts by the score, most notably in the revivals in Canada West 1851-53. His technique combined restrained emotionalism with a clear call for personal commitment, coupled with follow-up action to organize support from converts. It was a time when the Holiness Movement caught fire, with the revitalized interest of men and women in Christian perfection. Caughey successfully bridged the gap between the style of earlier camp meetings and the needs of more sophisticated Methodist congregations in the emerging cities.
In the early nineteenth century in the Maritimes and Upper Canada, the Anglican Church held the same official position it did in England. This caused tension within English Canada, as much of the populace was not Anglican. Increasing immigration from Scotland created a very large Presbyterian community and they and other groups demanded equal rights. This was an important cause of the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada. With the arrival of responsible government, the Anglican monopoly was ended.
In Lower Canada, the Roman Catholic Church was officially pre-eminent and had a central role in the colony's culture and politics. Unlike English Canada, French-Canadian nationalism became very closely associated with Roman Catholicism. During this period, the Roman Catholic Church in the region became one of the most reactionary in the world. Known as Ultramontane Catholicism, the church adopted positions condemning all manifestations of liberalism.
In politics, those aligned with the Roman Catholic clergy in Quebec were known as les bleus (the blues). They formed a curious alliance with the staunchly monarchist and pro-British Anglicans of English Canada (often members of the Orange Order) to form the basis of the Canadian Conservative Party. The Reform Party, which later became the Liberal Party, was largely composed of the anti-clerical French-Canadians, known as les rouges (the reds) and the non-Anglican Protestant groups. In those times, right before elections, parish priests would give sermons to their flock where they said things like Le ciel est bleu et l'enfer est rouge. This translates as "Heaven/the sky is blue and hell is red".
By the late nineteenth century, Protestant pluralism had taken hold in English Canada. While much of the elite were still Anglican, other groups had become very prominent as well. Toronto had become home to the world's single largest Methodist community and it became known as the "Methodist Rome". The schools and universities created at this time reflected this pluralism with major centres of learning being established for each faith. One, King's College, later the University of Toronto, was set up as a non-denominational school. The influence of the Orange Order was strong, especially among Irish Protestant immigrants, and comprised a powerful anti-Catholic force in Ontario politics; its influence faded away after 1920.
The late nineteenth century also saw the beginning of a large shift in Canadian immigration patterns. Large numbers of Irish and Southern European immigrants were creating new Roman Catholic communities in English Canada. The population of the west brought significant Eastern Orthodox immigrants from Eastern Europe and Mormon and Pentecostal immigrants from the United States and Ireland
20th century 
In 1919-20 Canada's five major Protestant denominations (Anglican, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian) cooperatively undertook the "Forward Movement." The goal was to raise funds and to strengthen Christian spirituality in Canada. The movement invoked Anglophone nationalism by linking donations with the Victory Loan campaigns of the First World War I, and stressed the need for funds to Canadianize immigrants. Centred in Ontario, the campaign was a clear financial success, raising over $11 million. However the campaign exposed deep divisions among Protestants, with the traditional evangelists speaking of a personal relationship with God and the more liberal denominations emphasizing the Social Gospel and good works. Both factions (apart from the Anglicans) agreed on prohibition, which was demanded by the WCTU.
Domination of Canadian society by Protestant and Roman Catholic elements continued until well into the 20th century, however. Until the 1960s, most parts of Canada still had extensive Lord's Day laws that limited what one could do on a Sunday. The English-Canadian elite were still dominated by Protestants, and Jews and Roman Catholics were often excluded. A slow process of liberalization began after the Second World War in English-Canada. Overtly Christian laws were expunged, including those against homosexuality. Policies favouring Christian immigration were also abolished.
The most overwhelming change occurred in the Quiet Revolution Quebec in the 1960s. In 1950, the province was one of the most traditional Roman Catholic areas in the world. Church attendance rates were high, and the school system was largely controlled by the church. In the 1960s, the Catholic Church lost most of its influence in Quebec, and religiosity declined sharply. While the majority of Québécois are still professed Latin rite Roman Catholics, rates of church attendance are today extremely low, in fact, they are the lowest of any region in North America today. Common law relationships, abortion, and support for same-sex marriage are more common in Quebec than in the rest of Canada.
English Canada also underwent secularization. The United Church of Canada, the country's largest Protestant denomination, became one of the most liberal major Protestant churches in the world. It is committed to gay rights including marriage and ordination, and to the ordination of women. The United Church has seen its membership decline substantially since the 1990s, and other mainline churches have seen similar declines, while overall church attendance has increased in the 2000s.
In addition, a strong current of evangelical Protestantism exists outside of Quebec. The largest groups are found in the Atlantic Provinces and Western Canada, particularly in Alberta, southern Manitoba and the southern interior and Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, also known as the "Canadian Bible Belt". There is also a significant evangelical population in southern Ontario. In these areas, particularly outside the Greater Toronto Area, the culture is more conservative, somewhat more in line with that of the Midwestern and southern United States, and same-sex marriage, abortion, and common-law relationships are less popular. This movement has grown considerably in the past few years (primarily in those areas listed above) due to strong influences on public policy and stark divides, not unlike those in the United States, although the overall proportion of evangelicals in Canada remains considerably lower and the polarization much less intense. There are very few evangelicals in Quebec and in the largest urban areas, which are generally secular, although there are several congregations above 1000 in most large cities.
Religious mix 
Census results 
In the Canada 2011 Census, 67% of the Canadian population list Roman Catholicism or Protestantism or another christian faith as their religion, considerably less than 10 years before in theCanada 2001 Census, .   Representing one out of three Canadians, the Roman Catholic Church in Canada is by far the country's largest single denomination. Those who listed no religion account for 24% of total respondents. In 2001 in British Columbia, however, 35% of respondents reported no religion—more than any single denomination and more than all Protestants combined.
|- Roman Catholic||12,203,625||45.2||12,793,125||43.2||12,728,900||38.7|
|- Total Protestant||9,427,675||34.9||8,654,845||29.2|
|- United Church of Canada||3,093,120||11.5||2,839,125||9.6|
|- Anglican Church of Canada||2,188,110||8.1||2,035,495||6.9|
|- Protestant, not included elsewhere2||628,945||2.3||549,205||1.9|
|- Christian Orthodox||387,395||1.4||495,245||1.7|
|- Christian, not included elsewhere1||353,040||1.3||780,450||2.6|
|No Religious Affiliation||3,397,000||12.6||4,900,095||16.5||7,850,600||23.9|
|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.
|Province/territory||Christians||%||Non-religious||%||Muslims||%||Jews||%||Buddhists||%||Hindus||%||Sikhs||%||Eastern religions||%||Other religions||%|
|Newfoundland and Labrador||493,480||97.13||12,865||2.53||630||0.12||140||0.03||185||0.04||405||0.08||135||0.03||110||0.02||135||0.03|
|Prince Edward Island||123,795||92.81||8,950||6.71||195||0.15||55||0.04||140||0.1||30||0.02||0||0.0||105||0.08||100||0.07|
Abrahamic religions 
Bahai Faith 
The Canadian community is one of the earliest western communities, at one point sharing a joint National Spiritual Assembly with the United States, and is a co-recipient of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan. The first North American woman to declare herself a Bahá'í was Mrs. Kate C. Ives, of Canadian ancestry, though not living in Canada at the time. Moojan Momen, in reviewing "The Origins of the Bahá'í Community of Canada, 1898–1948" notes that "the Magee family... are credited with bringing the Bahá'í Faith to Canada. Edith Magee became a Bahá'í in 1898 in Chicago and returned to her home in London, Ontario, where four other female members of her family became Bahá'ís. This predominance of women converts became a feature of the Canadian Bahá'í community..."
|Canadian Christian bodies|
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 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). 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, prairie provinces, and southwestern Ontario 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 (74,377 of that is in Alberta) as of year-end 2007. And according to the Jehovah's Witnesses year report there are 111,963 active members (members who actively preach) in Canada.
Canada as a nation is becoming increasingly religiously diverse, especially in large urban centres such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, where minority groups and new immigrants who make up the growth in most religious groups congregate. Two significant trends become clear when we examine the current religious landscape closely. One is the loss of ‘secularized’ Canadians as active and regular participants in the churches and denominations they grew up in, which were overwhelmingly Christian, while these churches remain a part of Canadians cultural identity. The other is the increasing presence of ethnically diverse immigration within the religious makeup of the country.
As Mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics have experienced drastic losses over the past 30 years, others have been expanding rapidly: overall by 144% in ‘Eastern’ religions during the 1981-1991 decade. Considering Canada’s increasing reliance on immigration to bolster a low birth rate, the situation is only likely to continue to diversify. This increased influx of ethnic immigrants not only affects the types of religions represented in the Canadian context but also the increasingly multicultural and multilingual makeup of individual Christian denominations. From Chinese Anglican or Korean United Church communities, to the Lutheran focus on providing much needed services to immigrants new to the Canadian context and English language, immigration is making changes.
For some Protestant denominations, adapting to a new secular context has meant adjusting to their non-institutional roles in society by increasingly focusing on social justice. However the pull between conservative religious members and the more radical among the church members is complicated by the numbers of immigrant communities who may desire a church that fulfills a more ‘institutionally complete’ role as a buffer in this new country over the current tension filled debates over same-sex marriage, ordination of women and homosexuals, or the role of women in the church. This of course will depend on the background of the immigrant population, as in the Hong Kong context where ordination of Florence Li Tim Oi happened long before women’s ordination was ever raised on the Canadian Anglican church level.
As well a multicultural focus on the churches part may include non-Christian elements (such as the inclusion of a Buddhist priest in one incident) which are unwelcome to the transplanted religious community. Serving the needs and desires of different aspects of the Canadian and newly Canadian populations makes a difficult balancing act for the various mainline churches which are starved for money and active parishioners in a time where 16% of Canadians identify as non-religious and up to two-thirds of those who do identify with a denomination use the church only for it’s life-cycle rituals governing birth, marriage, and death. The church retains that hold in their parishioner’s lives but not the commitment of time and energy necessary to support an aging institution.
A loud portion of the evangelical and sectarian Protestant groups proclaim their growth as well but as Roger O’Tool notes they make up 7% of the Canadian population and seem to gain most of their growth from a higher birthrate. What is significant is the higher participation of their members in contrast to Mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics. This high commitment would seem to translate into the kind of political power evangelicals in the United States enjoy but despite Canada's historically Christian background as Lori Beaman notes neatly “...[forming] the backdrop for social process” explicit religiosity appears to have not effectively moved the government towards legal discrimination against gay marriage. Much as many Roman Catholics in Quebec ignore the Church’s stance on birth control, abortion, or premarital sex, the churches do not dictate much of the daily lives of regular Canadians.
Christianity remains a social justice and community force within Canada but its cultural loss of active and engaged participants has not been supplanted by the gains in immigrant numbers, thus Canada’s religious landscape has become increasingly diverse.
|Newfoundland and Labrador||97.1%|
|Prince Edward Island||92.8%|
Four years after Canada's founding in 1867, the 1871 Canadian Census found 13 Muslims among the population. The first Canadian mosque was constructed in Edmonton in 1938, when there were approximately 700 Muslims in the country. 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 Canada's 2001 census, there were 579,740 Muslims in Canada, just under 2% of the population. In 2006, the Muslim population was estimated to be 0.8 million or about 2.6%. In 2010, the Pew Research Centre estimates there were about 0.9 million Muslims in Canada. About 65% were Sunni, while 15% were Shia. Some Muslims are non-practicing.
In 2007, the CBC introduced a popular television sitcom called Little Mosque on the Prairie, a contemporary reflection and critical commentary on attitudes towards Islam in Canada. In 2008, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, visited the Baitun Nur Mosque, the largest mosque in Canada for its inaugural session with the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
|Newfoundland and Labrador||0.1%|
|Prince Edward Island||0.1%|
The Jewish community in Canada is almost as old as the nation itself. The earliest documentation of Jews in Canada are British Army records from the French and Indian War from 1754. In 1760, General Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst attacked and won Montreal for the British. In his regiment there were several Jews, including four among his officer corps, most notably Lieutenant Aaron Hart who is considered the father of Canadian Jewry. In 1807, Ezekiel Hart was elected to the legislature of Lower Canada, becoming the first Jew in the British Empire to hold an official position. Hart was sworn in on a Hebrew Bible as opposed to a Christian Bible. The next day an objection was raised that Hart had not taken the oath in the manner required for sitting in the assembly — an oath of abjuration, which would have required Hart to swear "on the true faith of a Christian". Hart was expelled from the assembly, only to be re-elected two more times. In 1768, the first synagogue in Canada was built in Montreal, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal. In 1832, partly because of the work of Ezekiel Hart, a law was passed that guaranteed Jews the same political rights and freedoms as Christians.
The Jewish population saw a growth during the 1880s due to the pogroms of Russia and growing anti-Semitism. Between the years of 1880 and 1930 the Jewish population grew to 155,000. In 1872, Henry Nathan, Jr. became the first Jewish Member of Parliament, representing the Victoria, BC area in the newly created House of Commons. The First World War halted the flow of immigrants into Canada, and after the War there was a change in Canada's immigration policy to limit the immigration of people from "non-preferred nations", i.e., those not from the United Kingdom or otherwise White Anglo-Saxon Protestant nations. In June 1939 Canada and the United States were the last hope for 907 Jewish refugees aboard the steamship SS St. Louis which had been denied to land in Havana although the passengers had entry visas. The Canadian government ignored the protests of Canadian Jewish organizations. King said the crisis was not a "Canadian problem" and Blair added in a letter to O.D. Skelton, Undersecretary of State for External Affairs, dated June 16, 1939, "No country could open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who want to leave Europe: the line must be drawn somewhere." The ship finally had to return to Germany. During the Second World War almost twenty thousand Canadian Jews volunteered to fight overseas. Nearly 40,000 Holocaust survivors moved to Canada in the late 1940s to rebuild their lives.
Today the Canadian Jewish community is the sixth largest in the world and practices in both of the official languages of Canada. There is an increase in the number of people that use Hebrew, other than religious ceremonies, while there is a decline in the Yiddish language. Most of Canada's Jews live in Ontario and Quebec, with Toronto having the largest Jewish population centre. Recently, anti-Semitism has been a growing concern in Canada. In 2009, anti-Semitic incidents jumped a fivefold, with over 113 incidents, and some reports listing 479 in Toronto alone.
|Prince Edward Island||0.04%|
|Newfoundland and Labrador||0.03%|
Dharmic religions 
Hindus in Canada generally come from one of four groups. The first is primarily made up of Indian immigrants who began arriving in British Columbia about 100 years ago and continue to immigrate today (Hindus from all over India immigrate to Canada today, but the largest Indian subgroups are the Gujaratis and Punjabis). The second major group of Hindus immigrated from Sri Lanka, going back to the 1940s, when a few hundred Sri Lankan Tamils migrated to Canada. The 1983 communal riots in Sri Lanka precipitated the mass exodus of Tamils. A third group is made up of Canadian converts to the various sects of Hinduism through the efforts of the Hare Krishna movement, the Gurus during the last 50 years, and other organizations. Finally, the small Nepalese Canadian community is mostly Hindu.
According to the 2001 Census of Canada, there were 297,200 practitioners of Hinduism. However, the non-profit organization Association for Canadian Studies estimates the Hindu population grew to 372,500 by 2006, or just under 1.2% of the population of Canada. The vast majority of Hindus reside in Ontario (primarily in Toronto, Scarborough, Brampton, Hamilton, Windsor & Ottawa), Quebec (primarily around the Montreal area) & British Columbia, (primarily around the Vancouver area). Have significant populations.
The Hindu Population in Canada according to the 2001 Census.
|Newfoundland and Labrador||405|
|Prince Edward Island||30|
Buddhism has been practiced in Canada for more than a century and in recent years has grown dramatically. Buddhism arrived in Canada with the arrival of Chinese laborers in the territories during the 19th century. Modern Buddhism in Canada traces to Japanese immigration during the late 19th century. The first Japanese Buddhist temple in Canada was built at the Ishikawa Hotel in Vancouver in 1905. Over time, the Japanese Jōdo Shinshū branch of Buddhism became the prevalent form of Buddhism in Canada and established the largest Buddhist organization in Canada.
- The Buddhist Population in Canada according to the 2001 Census.
|Newfoundland and Labrador||185|
|Prince Edward Island||140|
Canadian Sikhs are the largest religious group among Indo-Canadians. According to the 2001 census there are 278,410  Sikhs in Canada. Sikhs have been in Canada since at least 1887. One of the first Sikh soldiers arrived in Canada following Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
- The Sikh Population in Canada according to the 2001 Census.
|Newfoundland and Labrador||135|
|Prince Edward Island||1|
Other religions 
In Neo-Druid history a notable community was the Reformed Druids of North America, one of whose four Founders was a Canadian, which was served the US Druid community as well as the Canadian Druid community. Neo-Druidism largely spread in Canada through the Ancient Order of the Druids during the 19th century.
Unitarian Universalism 
Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a result of that search and not obedience to an authoritarian requirement.
Other communities 
Unaffiliated (Irreligion) 
Irreligious Canadians include atheists, agnostics, and humanists. The surveys may also include those who are spiritual, deists, and pantheists. In 1991, they made up 12.3 percent which, according to the 2001 census, increased to 16.2 percent. Some non-religious Canadians have formed associations, such as the Humanist Association of Canada, Toronto Secular Alliance or the Centre for Inquiry Canada, as well as a number of University Campus Groups.
|Prince Edward Island||6.5%|
|Newfoundland and Labrador||2.5%|
Agnostics and atheists 
In 2011, a survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid shows that 47% believed religion does more harm in the world than good, while 64% believed that religion provides more questions than answers. A 2008 Canadian Press Harris-Decima telephone survey of just over 1,000 Canadians found 23% were willing to state they do not believe in any god.
The Canadian Ipsos Reid poll released September 12, 2011 entitled "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good," sampled 1,129 Canadian adults and came up 30% who do not believe in a god. Interestingly, the same poll found that 33% of respondents who identified themselves as Catholics and 28% Protestants said they didn't believe in a god.
A 2010 80-question mail-in survey of 420 Canadians by Carleton University Survey Centre and the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies found 30% agreed with the statement "I know God really exists and I have no doubts", 20% acknowledged they "have doubts" but "feel that I do believe in God", 10% answered they believe in God "sometimes", 20% said they don't believe in a "personal God" but "do believe in a higher power", 12% adopted the classic agnostic position and said they "don't know whether there is a God and don't believe there is a way to find out", and 7% said no god exists. Slightly more than half believed in heaven, while less than a third believed in hell, with 53.5% saying they believed in life after death. About 27% said they believe in reincarnation, and 50% expressed belief in religious miracles.
Medium growth projection for 2006 and 2031 
|- Roman Catholic||13,830,000||42.5||15,389,000||36.6||+11.3|
|- Total Protestant||8,970,000||27.6||8,973,000||21.3||+0.0|
|- Christian Orthodox||566,000||1.7||978,000||2.3||+72.8|
|- Christian, not included elsewhere1||974,000||3.0||1,944,000||4.6||+99.6|
|No Religious Affiliation||5,680,000||17.5||8,780,000||20.9||+54.6|
|1 Includes persons who report “Christian”, “Apostolic”, “Born-again Christian” and “Evangelical”.
Note: 2006 data has been projected from 2001
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
- No Religion 31.9
- Hindu 30.2
- Sikh 29.7
- Muslim 28.1
Government and religion 
Canada today has no official church, and the government is officially committed to religious pluralism. While the Canadian government's official ties to religion, specifically Christianity are few, it more overtly recognizes the existence of God and even the supremacy of God. Both the preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the national anthem in both languages refer to God. Nevertheless the rise of irreligion within the country and influx of non-Christian peoples has led to a greater separation of government and religion. Demonstrated in forms like "Christmas holidays" being called "winter festivals" in public schools. Some religious schools are government-funded as per Section Twenty-nine of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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 bar Roman Catholics or those who marry Catholics from inheriting the throne, and the reigning monarch is also ex officio Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Within Canada, the Queen's title includes the phrases "By the Grace of God" and "Defender of the Faith."
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. In 1957, Parliament declared Thanksgiving "a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."
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.
See also 
- "Religions in Canada—Census 2011". Statistics Canada/Statistique Canada.
- Hales, Dianne R; Lauzon, Lara (2010). An Invitation to Health (2nd Canadian ed.). Nelson Education,. p. 440. ISBN 978-0-17-650009-2. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982)". Department of Justice Canada. 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
- Miedema, Gary R (2005). For Canada's sake: public religion, centennial celebrations, the re-making .... McGill-Queen's University Press. p. xv. ISBN 0-7735-2877-6. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- "Canada". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- Native North American Religious Traditions: Dancing for Life - Page 5, Jordan D. Paper - 2007
- Christian churches in Canada fading out: USA next? – USA Today. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
- Anglican Church facing the threat of extinction – Globa and Mail. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
- Poll: Most Canadians say religion not important, although the majority believe in God retrieved 2012-10-06
- Thomas Guthrie Marquis, Jesuit missions: A chronicle of the cross in the wilderness (1964)
- Beverley, James and Barry Moody, Editors. The Journal of Henry Alline. Lancelot Press for the Acadia Divinity School and the Baptist Historical Committee. 1982.
- Bumsted, J. M. Henry Alline. Lancelot Press, Hantsport, 1984.
- Rawlyk, George. The Sermons of Henry Alline. Lancelot Press for Acadia Divinity College and The Baptist Historical Committee of the United Baptist Convention of the Atlantic Provinces. 1986.
- Peter Bush, "The Reverend James Caughey and Wesleyan Methodist Revivalism in Canada West, 1851-1856," Ontario History, Sept 1987, Vol. 79 Issue 3, pp 231-250
- George Rawlyk, The Contribution of Presbyterianism to the Maritime Provinces (1997)
- "Canada". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Retrieved 2011-12-12. See drop-down essay on "Early European Settlement and the Formation of the Modern State"
- Raymond J. Lahey, The First Thousand Years: A Brief History of the Catholic Church in Canada (2002)
- Cecil J. Houston, and William J. Smyth, The sash Canada wore: A historical geography of the Orange Order in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 1980).
- Daryl Baswick, "Social Evangelism, the Canadian Churches, and the Forward Movement, 1919-1920," Ontario History vol 12#1 1997, pp 303-319
- Sharon Anne Cook, "'Earnest Christian Women, Bent on Saving our Canadian Youth': The Ontario Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Scientific Temperance Instruction, 1881-1930," Ontario History, Sept 1994, Vol. 86 Issue 3, pp 249-267
- "Canada". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Retrieved 2011-12-12. See drop-down essay on "History Since 1960"
- George A. Rawlyk, Aspects of the Canadian Evangelical Experience (McGill-Queen's, 1997)
- "Summary Tables". 0.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- "96F0030XIE2001015 - Religions in Canada". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- "Christian religious data from Canada". Religioustolerance.org. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- "96F0030XIE2001015 - Religions in Canada". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- "Population by religion, by province and territory (2001 Census)". 0.statcan.gc.ca. Jan 25, 2005. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- "Origins of the Baha'i Community of Canada 1898-1948, The, by Will C. van den Hoonaard". Bahai-library.com. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- "Can a "Reagan Revolution" Happen in Canada?". Gallup.com. Jan 20, 2006. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- Alberta. LDS Newsroom.
- Roger O’Toole, “Religion in Canada: Its Development and Contemporary Situation” In Lori Beaman, ed., Religion and Canadian Society: Traditions, Transitions, and Innovations. (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006), 18.
- Bryan Hillis, “Outsiders Becoming Mainstream: The Theology, History and Ethnicity of Being Luthern in Canada” In P. Bramadat & D. Seljak, Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada. (Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2005), 268.
- Roger O’Toole, “Religion in Canada: Its Development and Contemporary Situation” In Lori Beaman, ed., Religion and Canadian Society: Traditions, Transitions, and Innovations. (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006), 13-14.
- Wendy Fletcher, “Canadian Anglicanism and Ethnicity” In P. Bramadat & D. Seljak, Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada. (Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2005.), 156.
- Greer Anne Wenh-In Ng, “The United Church of Canada: A Church Fittingly National” In P. Bramadat & D. Seljak, Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada. (Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2005), 232.
- "96F0030XIE2001015 - Religions in Canada". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- Roger O’Toole, “Religion in Canada: Its Development and Contemporary Situation” In Lori Beaman, ed., Religion and Canadian Society: Traditions, Transitions, and Innovations. (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006), 17.
- Lori Beaman, ed., Religion and Canadian Society: Traditions, Transitions, and Innovations. (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006), 3.
- Roger O’Toole, “Religion in Canada: Its Development and Contemporary Situation” In Lori Beaman, ed., Religion and Canadian Society: Traditions, Transitions, and Innovations. (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006), 12.
- "Statistics Canada". 0.statcan.gc.ca. Jan 25, 2005. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- 1871 Census of Canada
- Saudi Aramco World: Canada's Pioneer Mosque: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199804/canada.s.pioneer.mosque.htm
- "Population by religion, by province and territory (2001 Census)". 0.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- "World Muslim Population Data Tables - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life". Features.pewforum.org. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- http://www.environicsinstitute.org/PDF-MuslimsandMulticulturalisminCanada-LiftingtheVeil.pdf -- Muslims and Multiculturalism in Canada. March 2007. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
- "CBC Television - Little Mosque on the Prairie". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- Morton, Graeme (Jul 5, 2008). "Politicians and faithful open Canada's largest mosque". Canada.com (Canwest News Service). Retrieved 2008-07-12.
- "Hart, Aaron". Exposition Shalom Québec. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
- Brown, Michael (1986). The Beginning of Jewish Emancipation in Canada: The Hart Affair. Michael, vol. 10.
- Bloch, Abraham P. (1987). One a Day: An Anthology of Jewish Historical Anniversaries for Every Day of the Year. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 31. ISBN 0-88125-108-9.
- Weinfeld, Morton; Shaffir, William; Cotler, Irwin (1981). The Canadian Jewish Mosaic. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 262, 385. ISBN 0-471-79929-7.
- "The Virtual Jewish History Tour - Canada". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
- Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906 
- Keung, Nicholas (Apr 11, 2010). "Anti-semitism incidents jump five-fold in Canada". Toronto: thestar.com. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- "Selected Religions, for Canada, Provinces and Territories - 20% Sample Data". Religions in Canada: Highlight Tables, 2001 Census. Statistics Canada. 2004. Retrieved 2006-05-23.
- "Population by religion, by province and territory (2001 Census)". 0.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- A.W. Barber. "Buddhism". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- "A Journalist's Guide to Buddhism" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- McAteer, Michael (Apr 22, 1989). "Non-violence to any living thing". Toronto Star. p. M.23. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- Lambek 2002, p. 557
- "Sikhism in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Todd, Douglas. "University of Victoria chaplain marks solstice with pagan rituals | Vancouver Sun". Blogs.vancouversun.com. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
- Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia - Volumes 1-5 - Page 1353, John T. Koch - 2006
- (The 4th principle of Unitarian Universalism)UUA.org Seven principles
- 2001 Other religions retrieved February 26, 2013
- "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good". Sep 12, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- "Almost a quarter of Canadians don't believe in any god, new poll says". CBC News. Jun 3, 2008. A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
- "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good | Ipsos". Ipsos-na.com. Sep 12, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- The results of this survey are considered accurate to within 4.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
- Randy Boswell (Sep 3, 2010). "Heaven exists, but not hell, Canadians believe".
- Randy Boswell (Sep 3, 2010). "Canadians yearn to believe, survey on spirituality shows".
- Randy Boswell (Sep 3, 2010). "More Canadians believe in heaven than in hell: survey".
- "Projections of the Diversity of the Canadian Population" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- "Religions in Canada". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- Richard Moon (Oct 30, 2008). Law and Religious Pluralism in Canada. UBC Press. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-0-7748-1497-3.
- Lance W. Roberts; Rodney A. Clifton; Barry Ferguson (Aug 15, 2005). Recent Social Trends in Canada, 1960-2000. McGill-Queens. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-7735-2955-7.
- Marguerite Van Die (Jun 1, 2001). Religion and Public Life in Canada: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. University of Toronto Press. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-8020-8245-9.
- Anne F. Bayefsky; Arieh Waldman (2007). State Support Of Religious Education: Canada Versus the United Nations. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 3. ISBN 978-90-04-14980-9.
- "U.K. Royal Succession Rules To Change". Huffington Post. Oct 28, 2011.
- Kevin Boyle (Aug 5, 1997). Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report. Taylor & Francis. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-415-15978-4.
- [dead link]
Further reading 
- Beaman, Lori G. (2006). Religion and Canadian society: traditions, transitions, and innovations. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 1-55130-306-X
- Beaman,, Lori G; Peter Beyer (2008). Religion and diversity in Canada. Leiden Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-17015-5
- Bramadat, Paul; David Seljak (2009). Religion and Ethnicity in Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-1018-7
- Bramadat, Paul; Seljak, David (2008). Christianity and ethnicity in Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9875-7.
- Choquette, Robert (2004). Canada's religions: an historical introduction. University of Ottawa Press. ISBN 0-7766-3027-X
- Fay, Terence J. A History of Canadian Catholics. (2002). 392 pp., ISBN 978-0-7735-2313-5.
- Magocsi, Paul R (1999). Encyclopedia of Canada's peoples. Society of Ontario, University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-2938-8.
- Bettridge, William Craddock A Brief History Of The Church In Upper Canada; Containing The Acts Of Parliament, Imperial And Provincial, Royal Instructions, Proceedings Of The Deputation, Correspondence with the Government, Clergy Reserves' Question Nabu Press; August 19, 2010
- Christie, Nancy & Gauvreau, Michael Christian Churches and Their Peoples, 1840-1965: A Social History of Religion in Canada University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; December 15, 2010
- Miedema, Gary R (2005). For Canada's sake: public religion, centennial celebrations, the re-making .... McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2877-6.
- Moon, Richard (2008). Law and religious pluralism in Canada. UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-1497-3
- Murphy, Terrence, and Roberto Perin, eds. A Concise History of Christianity in Canada (1996).
- Stackhouse, John (1993). Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 1-57383-131-X
- Stimson, E. R. 'History Of The Separation Of Church And State In Canada' BiblioLife, April 6, 2010
- Swyripa, Frances. Storied Landscapes: Ethno-Religious Identity and the Canadian Prairies (University of Manitoba Press, 2010) 296 pp. ISBN 978-0-88755-720-0
- Van Die, Marguerite (2001). Religion and public life in Canada: historical and comparative perspectives. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-4461-1
- Wilson, Douglas J. The Church Grows in Canada. Toronto: Committee on Missionary Education [of the] Canadian Council of Churches, 1966. x, , 224 p. + fold. map.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Religion in Canada|
- CBC Digital Archives - Religion in the Classroom
- Canada religious census 2001
- Canadian Church Reading Room, with extensive links to on-line resources on Christianity in Canada (Tyndale Seminary)
- Canada’s Demo-Religious Revolution: 2017