Vancouver Sun: Religion in Canada, a breakdown

A Christian country

Roman Catholics still make up the largest religious group in the country. The largest groups are in Quebec (45.3 per cent) followed by Ontario (31 per cent).

As a percentage of the population, they represent 38.7 per cent of Canadians.

In the 2001 census, that figure was 43 per cent.

The age gap

Minority religious groups tend to be younger than Christians.

Religions by median age:

United Church: 52.3

Anglican: 51.1

Roman Catholic: 42.9

Hindu: 34.2

Sikh: 32.8

No religion: 32.7

Muslim: 28.9

The growth and decline of religious numbers Religions by percentage increase:

Muslim: 72.53

Hindu: 67.68

No religion: 63.68

Sikh: 63.43

Buddhist: 22.14

Christian Orthodox: 14.82

Jewish: -0.15

Roman Catholic: -0.5

Anglican: -19.83

United: -29.29

It would be incorrect to say that the rise of the Muslim population in Canada is a recent addition to the Canadian cultural mosaic. The first Muslims arrived in Canada in the immediate years before and after Confederation.

The country’s first mosque, the Al Rashid Mosque in Edmonton, opened in 1938, at a time when the 1931 census identified some 645 Muslims in Canada.

Secular Canada

Key numbers:

23.9: Percentage of Canadian population declaring no religious affiliation.

16.5: Percentage of Canadian population declaring no religious affiliation in 2001.

48,675: Atheists in Canada

36,285: Agnostics in Canada

About one-fifth of all immigrants in the last decade had no religious affiliation, according to Statistics Canada. The top source? China.

So is religion on the decline in Canada? Experts say no.

The smallest of the religions in Canada

Mission de l’Esprit Saint: 515

Grace Communion International: 605

Swedenborgian: 830

Satanist: 1,050

Rastafarian: 1,055

Scientologist: 1,745

Jain: 3,320

Humanist: 3,455

Spiritualist: 4,315

Sikhs

British Columbia and Ontario are the top two provinces, respectively, for the country’s approximately 455,000 Sikhs. Just over three-quarters of B.C.’s population, or almost 156,000, lived in Vancouver.

But the population is growing elsewhere, says the Canadian chapter of the World Sikh Organization. The economic boom in Saskatchewan and Alberta has drawn Sikhs with the need to find a balance between a Sikh keeping his beard and turban and requirements to wear safety equipment such as gas masks.

“I gauge where the growing pains are by the number of calls I get,” said Balpreet Singh Boparai, the organization’s legal counsel.

United Church

One of the largest churches in the country continues to see a decline in their numbers. After an eight per cent drop in numbers between 1991 and 2001, numbers declined by almost 30 per cent between 2001 and 2011 based on statistics from the National Household Survey. The past 20 years has seen about one million fewer people reporting being part of the United Church.

“We know the United Church of Canada has to find a place in Canadian society that truly represents the changing nature of Canada,” said senior church spokesman Bruce Gregersen.

That means the church may have to be open and flexible, adapting its foundational beliefs to new realities to attract a new group of Canadians.

“It isn’t easy and sometimes it’s criticized that you’re simply giving up your core belief,” Gregersen said. “The other way you can look at it is we’re inviting them to join us in their questions.”

The Force is no longer strong

The number of Canadians who identify themselves as Jedi has dropped so dramatically since 2001 that the figure is too small to be statistically relevant. According to Statistics Canada, the downward trend in those wise in the ways of the Force is not a phenomenon particular to Canada, but reported by statisticians in the United Kingdom and Australia. Maybe the Jedi will return to Canada in greater numbers when the next movie in the saga is released.

How Statistics Canada defined religion

“Religion refers to the person’s self-identification as having a connection or affiliation with any religious denomination group body sect cult or other religiously defined community or system of belief. Religion is not limited to formal membership in a religious organization or group. Persons without a religious connection or affiliation can self-identify as atheist agnostic or humanist or can provide another applicable response.”