Religions in Canada

I continue to get increasingly involved in interfaith groups including the Living Interfaith Society. As well as continuing with the Earth Spirituality group at Vancouver Unitarians (Happy Imbolc! Happy Brigid’s Day), I go twice a week to yoga at a yoga studio run by Sikhs (it’s lovely. Maybe I’m a Sikh? I certainly applaud their values, especially equality for all and a balance of spiritual and temporal); over past year have attended groups with Canadian Memorial United Church and now am starting a semi-monthly Quaker meditation group. And of course the wonders of the internet take me to many spiritual and religious videos and podcasts etc. 

And so I was curious (again–I’ve looked this up before) about the religious make up of Canada. If you are too, here’s a link you may find of interest:

https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/census/census-engagement/community-supporter/ethnocultural-and-religious-diversity

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221026/dq221026b-eng.htm

Here are some quotes from the link above:

According to the 2020 General Social Survey, 92.0% of the population aged 15 and older agreed that ethnic or cultural diversity is a Canadian value. 

In fact, more than 450 ethnic and cultural origins, 200 places of birth, 100 religions and 450 languages have been included in this census.

In 2021, over 19.3 million people reported a Christian religion, representing just over half of the Canadian population (53.3%). However, this proportion is down from 67.3% in 2011 and 77.1% in 2001.

Approximately 12.6 million people, or more than one-third of Canada’s population, reported having no religious affiliation. The proportion of this population has more than doubled in 20 years, going from 16.5% in 2001 to 34.6% in 2021.

While small, the proportion of Canada’s population who reported being Muslim, Hindu or Sikh has more than doubled in 20 years. From 2001 to 2021, these shares rose from 2.0% to 4.9% for Muslims, from 1.0% to 2.3% for Hindus and from 0.9% to 2.1% for Sikhs.

Racialized groups in Canada are all experiencing growth. In 2021, South Asian (7.1%), Chinese (4.7%) and Black (4.3%) people together represented 16.1% of Canada’s total population.

The decline in religious affiliation is consistent with other findings that fewer people reported the importance of religious or spiritual beliefs in their lives, down from 71.0% in 2003 to 54.1% in 2019.

Moreover, the share of the population who reported Sikhism as its religion also more than doubled since 2001, from 0.9% to 2.1% in 2021. About 770,000 people reported Sikhism as their religion in the 2021 Census.

Approximately 335,000 people reported being Jewish in 2021. This number has changed little over the last 20 years; in 2001, 330,000 reported a Jewish affiliation. Although Canada’s total population grew, the proportion of the population with Jewish religious affiliation decreased slightly from 1.1% in 2001 to 0.9% in 2021.

In 2021, close to 360,000 people, or 1.0% of Canada’s population, reported Buddhism as their religion, the same percentage as in the 2001 Census.

Yukon and British Columbia stand out with regard to their population reporting no religious affiliation. Close to three in five (59.7%) of Yukon’s population and slightly over one-half (52.1%) of British Columbia’s population reported no religious affiliation in 2021, compared with 34.6% for Canada as a whole.

Ontario and British Columbia have the largest proportions of the population who reported a religious affiliation other than Christian

British Columbia ranked second among provinces and territories, with a large non-Christian population (13.7%). More specifically, it had the highest proportion of people affiliated with a Sikh religion (5.9%).

The proportion of the population who reported a non-Christian religion was seven times higher in large urban centres than in rural areas

Finally, the top three religions reported by South Asians are Hinduism (29.9%), Sikhism (29.6%) and Islam (23.1%).

Religion refers to the person’s self-identification as having a connection or affiliation with any religious denomination, group, body, or other religiously defined community or system of belief. Religion is not limited to formal membership in a religious organization or group. For infants and children, religion refers to the specific religious group or denomination, if any, in which they are being raised. Persons without a religious connection or affiliation can self-identify as atheist, agnostic or humanist, or can provide another applicable answer.

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Many Unitarian groups are trying to lower their average age. In Vancouver, the average age is 42.2. What’s the average in your congregation?

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/search-recherche/productresults-resultatsproduits-eng.cfm?LANG=E&GEOCODE=2021A00055915022

Do “we” count? Are we counted?

I couldn’t find anything that gave statistics on Unitarian or Unitarian-Universalist. It’s probably out there. If you find it, let me know.

I was particularly curious as to whether on the census people like “us” were more likely to say “Unitarian” or “Unitarian Universalist”. I do recall someone seeing the numbers and saying that in Canada the number on the census was three times the number of members as reported through the Canadian Unitarian Council. They phrased it as – the largest group are UU’s – Unaffiliated Unitarians. That’s the group I now belong to. There’s a rich array of possibilities available to us UU’s. I’ve learned I’m very welcome at many religious and spiritual activities and groups.