Immigration and its diversity
While today's Protestant and Roman Catholic churches are the largest religious denominations in Canada, today's multicultural Canada has been shaped by waves of immigration, which have enriched both its history and its religious landscape. However, it wasn't until the 1960s that we really began to speak of openness and pluralism, as immigration diversified greatly, allowing all faiths to rub shoulders, from Islam to Hinduism, Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism. As a result, temples, synagogues, mosques, churches and other places of worship can be found in every corner of the country, especially in the ethnic neighborhoods of Canada's major cities. The most striking case in point is Toronto, which is not only the country's largest city, but also its most multicultural. This is hardly surprising, given that Ontario is Canada's most immigrant-receiving province. But despite all this diversity, Christianity is often in the majority far from the major urban centers and in French-speaking regions.
Minority religious groups
Many Hutterites live in communities in the heart of the plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Immigrants from Germany, entire families arrived in Canada in the early 19th century, rejected by their homelands for their beliefs. Living together and sharing are the watchwords of these communities of around 100 people. Evangelical and Protestant, they go to church together, meet to eat and exchange daily, their activities are directly linked to their needs, their work varies according to the seasons and revolves around the agricultural sector, on farms. Special schools are set up for these people, who live on the bangs of society, yet integrate more or less depending on the area. For example, they are often seen at markets. Their style of dress is singular: dressed in body-covering garments and a headscarf, the women are the ones most easily spotted by their appearance. A large colony of Hutterites can be found at Pincher Creek, about 2h15 from Calgary.
There are also groups of Mormons, two of whom founded the community of Bountiful, British Columbia. These communities have given rise to much debate and led to a constitutional law against polygamy, which is still practiced by some Mormon groups.
Mennonites, mostly of German and Dutch origin, are a very representative community in Canada, with over 200,000 Mennonites spread across the country today. Very attached to their traditions, they live mainly from agriculture and settled in the Canadian plains from the 18th century onwards.
Aboriginal spirituality
Before the arrival of the first French settlers in the 16th century, the various Aboriginal nations that populated the territory practiced their own spirituality. This spirituality advocated harmony and interdependence between all forms of life, the so-called great circle of life. For example, food, which was considered a gift from the animal spirits, was considered sacred. As a result, meals were accompanied by rituals, songs and drumming, and ended with a thanksgiving dance called "makoucham".
It should be noted that Aboriginal spirituality is based primarily on animism, the belief in a spirit or life force that animates living beings, objects and natural elements, as well as in protective genies. Aboriginal legends that still circulate today often make reference to this.
Quiet Revolution: The beginning of a new era in Quebec
The end of the 1950s saw the last lap of the "Grande Noirceur" period, epitomized by Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale party, who governed according to conservative ideology, advocating, among other things, outdated traditional values. While religion was constantly interfering in social, political and economic life, the situation changed radically in the 1960s, a period known as the "Quiet Revolution". This period in Quebec's contemporary history was characterized not only by the separation of Catholic Church and State, but also by the emergence of a new Quebec national identity, distinct from that of other French Canadians. It was also at this time that names with religious connotations became secularized, and that we spoke of openness and pluralism.
Religion in 21st Century Canada
As a sign of the country's openness, politician Jagmeet Singh was the first turban-wearing Sikh to become a member of the Ontario legislature. He has gone from being the MPP for the Greater Toronto Area to being the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, another first for a party in federal politics. But Canada's positions on the issue of religious neutrality and accommodation practices related to cultural differences are the opposite of those in Quebec. Indeed, since the early 2000s, the debate has been raging in Quebec on accommodation practices related to cultural differences (compromises made by a society in relation to the demands - especially religious - of the cultural minorities that make up that society), giving rise to various bills under four provincial governments. The most recent is Bill 21, which became the Loi sur laïcité de l'État on June 16, 2019. An election promise kept by the Legault government, the new law prohibits the wearing of religious symbols by certain public servants in authority, such as police officers, judges and teachers in the public school system. Despite public protests and legal challenges, a majority of the Quebec population is satisfied with the adoption of the law.
