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Irreligion in Canada

{{Short description|Religious community}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=June 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}

{{Infobox religious group

| group = Irreligion in Canada
{{flagicon|Canada}}

| image = Irreligious Distribution in Canada, 2021 Census.jpg

| caption = Population distribution of Irreligious Canadians by census division, 2021 census

| population = 12,577,475
34.6% of the total Canadian population (2021)

| popplace =

| region1 = Ontario

| pop1 = 4,433,675 (31.60%)

| region2 = British Columbia

| pop2 = 2,559,250 (52.06%)

| region3 = Quebec

| pop3 = 2,267,715 (27.29%)

| region4 = Alberta

| pop4 = 1,676,045 (40.12%)

| region5 = Manitoba

| pop5 = 480,315 (36.74%)

| langs = Canadian English • Canadian French
{{smaller|Other Languages of Canada}}

|related-c={{hlist|Irreligious Americans • Irreligious Australians • Irreligious Brits • Irreligious New Zealanders}}

}}

File:Percent Irreligious per Canadian Province gradient map (2011).svg

Irreligion is common throughout all provinces and territories of Canada. Irreligious Canadians include atheists, agnostics, and secular humanists.{{citation |last =Zuckerman |first =Phil |year =2010 |title =Atheism and Secularity: Issues, concepts, and definitions |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1hbaAHsAlUC&q=atheists%20in%20Canada&pg=PP1 |publisher= Praeger|isbn= 9780313351815 |accessdate =2010-02-03 }} The surveys may also include those who are deists, spiritual, and pantheists. The 2021 Canadian census reported that 34.6% of Canadians declare no religious affiliation, which is up from 23.9% in the 2011 Canadian census and 16.5% in the 2001 Canadian census.{{cite web|url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221026/dq221026b-eng.htm|title=The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity |date=26 October 2022 |accessdate=19 November 2022 |publisher=Statistics Canada/Statistique Canada}}{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130508/dq130508b-eng.htm?HPA |title=Religions in Canada—Census 2011 |date=8 May 2013 |publisher=Statistics Canada/Statistique Canada}} According to Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, among those estimated 4.9 million Canadians of no religion, an estimated 1.9 million would specify atheist, 1.8 million would specify agnostic, and 1.2 million humanist.{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/can_rel2.htm |title=Non-Christian religious data in Canada |publisher=Religioustolerance.org |date= |accessdate=2014-05-11 |archive-date=2017-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703124555/http://www.religioustolerance.org/can_rel2.htm |url-status=dead }}

Surveys and public opinion polls

In 2011, a survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid showed that 47% of the Canadian population believed religion does more harm in the world than good, while 64% believed that religion provides more questions than answers.{{cite web |url=http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5328 |title=Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good |date=September 12, 2011 |accessdate=October 2, 2011}} 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.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/almost-a-quarter-of-canadians-don-t-believe-in-any-god-new-poll-says-1.752194 |title=Almost a quarter of Canadians don't believe in any god, new poll says |date=Jun 3, 2008|work=CBC News}} A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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 with 30% who do not believe in a God. The same poll found that 33% of respondents who identified themselves as Catholics and 28% Protestants said they didn't believe in a God.{{cite web|url=http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5328 |title=Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good | Ipsos |publisher=Ipsos-na.com |date=Sep 12, 2011 |accessdate=2012-10-17}}

A 2010 80-questions 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.The results of this survey are considered accurate to within 4.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

  • {{cite news |url=https://vancouversun.com/life/Heaven+exists+hell+Canadians+believe/3477413/story.html#ixzz0yV7WsvUk |title=Heaven exists, but not hell, Canadians believe |author=Randy Boswell |date=Sep 3, 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
  • {{cite news |url=http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=62f83f13-408c-44ba-b608-2f1844ba7cf4 |title=Canadians yearn to believe, survey on spirituality shows |author=Randy Boswell |date=Sep 3, 2010 |access-date=May 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512222634/http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=62f83f13-408c-44ba-b608-2f1844ba7cf4 |archive-date=May 12, 2014 |url-status=dead }}
  • {{cite news |url=https://leaderpost.com/life/More+Canadians+believe+heaven+than+hell+survey/3475806/story.html |title=More Canadians believe in heaven than in hell: survey |author=Randy Boswell |date=Sep 3, 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Associations

Many non-religious Canadians have formed associations, such as the Humanist Association of Canada which was founded in 1968, the Centre for Inquiry Canada, the University of Toronto-based Toronto Secular Alliance, Canadian Atheists, and the [https://sofree.ca/ Society of Freethinkers] which was founded in 1992. In 1999, hundreds of non-religious Canadians signed a petition to remove the mention of "God" from the preamble to the Canadian Constitution. Past House of Commons members, Svend Robinson, who tabled this petition in Parliament, was subsequently relegated to the backbenches by his party leader.{{cite book|author=Kurt Bowen|title=Christians in a Secular World: The Canadian Experience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__38sGZLrvYC&pg=PA287|year=2005|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=978-0-7735-2712-6|page=287}} Shortly afterwards, the same group petitioned to remove the mention of "God" from the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", but have not yet succeeded.

In 2015, the [http://www.mlq.qc.ca Mouvement Laïque Québécois] (Quebec Secular Movement) obtained in Supreme Court that "reciting prayer at start of each meeting of council is in breach of principle of religious neutrality of state and results in discriminatory interference with freedom of conscience and religion" and should therefore be abolished{{cite web |title=Supreme Court of Canada |url=https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/15288/index.do}}

Survey by province

File:Canadian religious affiliation in 2021.png

The Canadian provinces and territories ranked by percentage of population claiming no religion according to the 2001 Canadian Census,{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/rel/contents.cfm|title=Religions in Canada, 2001 Census|author=StatCan Staff|publisher=Statistics Canada|date=2003-05-13|accessdate=2009-12-18}} the 2011 Canadian Census{{Cite web|url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/130508/dq130508b-eng.htm?HPA|title = The Daily — 2011 National Household Survey: Immigration, place of birth, citizenship, ethnic origin, visible minorities, language and religion|date = 8 May 2013}} and the 2021 Canadian Census{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2022-02-09 |title=Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Canada [Country] |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}} These results were obtained with the question "What is this person's religion?"

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right; margin-left:10px"
Rankstyle="text-align:center;"|Jurisdiction

!% Irreligious (2021)

% Irreligious (2011)% Irreligious (2001)

!Change (2011—2021)

Change (2001–2011)
-align=left | {{Flag|Canada}}

|34.6%

23.9%16.2%

|+10.7

+7.7
01align=left | {{Flag|Yukon}}

|59.7%

49.9%37.4%

|+9.8

+12.5
02align=left | {{Flag|British Columbia}}

|52.1%

44.1%35.1%

|+8

+9.0
03align=left | {{Flag|Alberta}}

|40.1%

31.6%23.1%

|+8.5

+8.5
04align=left | {{Flag|Northwest Territories}}

|39.8%

30.5%17.4%

|+9.3

+13.1
05align="left" | {{Flag|Nova Scotia}}

|37.6%

21.8%11.6%

|+15.8

+10.2
06align="left" | {{Flag|Manitoba}}

|36.7%

26.5%18.3%

|+10.2

+8.2
07align="left" | {{Flag|Saskatchewan}}

|36.6%

24.4%15.4%

|+12.2

+9.0
08align="left" | {{Flag|Ontario}}

|31.6%

23.1%16.0%

|+8.5

+7.1
09align=left | {{Flag|New Brunswick}}

|29.7%

15.1%7.8%

|+14.6

+7.3
10align=left | {{Flag|Prince Edward Island}}

|28.5%

14.4%6.5%

|+14.1

+7.9
11align="left" | {{Flag|Quebec}}

|27.3%

12.1%5.6%

|+15.2

+6.5
12align="left" | {{Flag|Nunavut}}

|24.9%

13.0%6.0%

|+11.9

+7.0
13align=left | {{Flag|Newfoundland and Labrador}}

|16.0%

6.2%2.5%

|+9.8

+3.7

The Canadian provinces ranked by percentage of population claiming to believe in God according to Association for Canadian Studies.{{cite web|url=https://acs-aec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ACS-Do-Canadians-Believe-in-God-EN.pdf|title=Do Canadians Believe in God?|author=JACK JEDWAB, PRESIDENT OF THE ACS|publisher=Association for Canadian Studies|date=2019-07-01|accessdate=2019-12-29}} These are results obtained of respondents' agreement with the statement "I believe in God", in a poll conducted in May 2019.

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right; margin-left:10px"
Rankstyle="text-align:center;" |Jurisdiction% Strongly or somewhat agree% Strongly or somewhat disagreeRatio
-align="left" | {{Flag|Canada}}58.80%28.40%2.07
01align="left" | {{Flag|Nova Scotia}}42.40%42.40%1.00
02align="left" | {{Flag|British Columbia}}48.20%39.60%1.22
03align="left" | {{Flag|Quebec}}53.50%33.50%1.60
04align="left" | {{Flag|Prince Edward Island}}40.00%20.00%2.00
05align="left" | {{Flag|Alberta}}63.70%25.80%2.47
06align="left" | {{Flag|Ontario}}63.60%24.50%2.60
07align="left" | {{Flag|New Brunswick}}60.50%18.70%3.24
08align="left" | {{Flag|Manitoba}}65.80%20.30%3.24
09align="left" | {{Flag|Newfoundland and Labrador}}65.80%15.80%4.16
10align="left" | {{Flag|Saskatchewan}}73.20%9.00%8.13

Ethnic group

class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"

|+ % of Irreligious Canadians
Ethnic groups (2001−2021)

rowspan=2 |

! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|2021
{{Cite web |date=October 26, 2022 |title= Religion by visible minority and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810034201|publisher=Statistics Canada}}{{Cite web |publisher=Government of Canada |author=Statistics Canada |date=2022-10-26 |title=Religion by Indigenous identity: Canada, provinces and territories |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810028801 |access-date=2022-10-29}}

! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|2011
{{Cite web |publisher=Government of Canada |author=Statistics Canada |date=2019-01-23 |title=2011 National Household Survey: Data tables Religion (19), Age Groups (10), Sex (3), Selected Demographic, Cultural, Labour Force and Educational Characteristics (268) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2011 National Household Survey |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=107554&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-10-29}}

! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|2001
{{Cite web |publisher=Government of Canada |author=Statistics Canada |date=2013-12-23 |title=2001 Census Topic-based tabulations Religion (95) and Visible Minority Groups (15) for Population, for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2001 Census - 20% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/English/census01/products/standard/themes/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=1&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=1&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=55825&PRID=0&PTYPE=55440&S=0&SHOWALL=No&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=56&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-10-29}}

Population

!%

!Population

!

!Population

!%

style="text-align:left"| European

| 9,289,060

| {{Percentage | 9289060 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 6,020,695

| {{Percentage | 6020695 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 3,811,880

| {{Percentage | 3811880 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Chinese

| 1,230,520

| {{Percentage | 1230520 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 852,740

| {{Percentage | 852740 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 603,115

| {{Percentage | 603115 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Indigenous

| 849,560

| {{Percentage | 849560 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 437,570

| {{Percentage | 437570 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 212,120

| {{Percentage | 212120 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| African

| 278,895

| {{Percentage | 278895 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 125,905

| {{Percentage | 125905 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 80,430

| {{Percentage | 80430 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| South Asian

| 156,885

| {{Percentage | 156885 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 67,405

| {{Percentage | 67405 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 30,610

| {{Percentage | 30610 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Latin American

| 141,470

| {{Percentage | 141470 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 51,035

| {{Percentage | 51035 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 20,775

| {{Percentage | 20775 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Southeast Asians

| 139,805

| {{Percentage | 139805 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 71,840

| {{Percentage | 71840 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 39,915

| {{Percentage | 39915 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Multiracial

| 102,885

| {{Percentage | 102885 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 39,715

| {{Percentage | 39715 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 13,875

| {{Percentage | 13,875 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| West Asians

| 102,610

| {{Percentage | 102610 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 39,930

| {{Percentage | 39930 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 9,940

| {{Percentage | 9940 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Koreans

| 86,780

| {{Percentage | 86780 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 44,195

| {{Percentage | 44195 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 20,040

| {{Percentage | 20040 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Japanese

| 66,930

| {{Percentage | 66,930 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 49,150

| {{Percentage | 49150 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 34,660

| {{Percentage | 34660 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Filipino

| 54,735

| {{Percentage | 54735 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 19,230

| {{Percentage | 19230 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 6,990

| {{Percentage | 6990 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Arabs

| 40,010

| {{Percentage | 40010 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 15,300

| {{Percentage | 15300 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 5,435

| {{Percentage | 5435 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| Other Ethnicity

| 37,365

| {{Percentage | 37365 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 15,885

| {{Percentage | 15885 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 9,320

| {{Percentage | 9320 | 4900095 | 2 }}

style="text-align:left"| 20px Total Irreligious
Canadian Population

| 12,577,475

| {{Percentage | 12577475 | 12577475 | 2 }}

| 7,850,605

| {{Percentage | 7850605 | 7850605 | 2 }}

| 4,900,095

| {{Percentage | 4900095 | 4900095 | 2 }}

See also

{{Portal|Religion|Canada}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/rel/canada.cfm Canada religious census 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505034659/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/rel/canada.cfm |date=2017-05-05 }}

{{North America topic|Irreligion in}}

{{Irreligion}}

Category:Religion in Canada

Canada

Category:Secularism in Canada

Category:Atheism in Canada