cent Protestant, and 1.4 percent Eastern Orthodox.
Jews represented about 1.2 percent of the Canadian
population. Reflecting the changing sources of im-
migration and Canada’s increasingly multicultural
society, these demographics changed significantly
over the decade of the 1990’s. The total number of
Christians in percentage terms declined from 81
percent in 1991 to 74 percent in 2001, with Catholics
falling to 43.6 percent of the population and Protes-
tants to 29 percent of the population. Meanwhile,
there was a significant increase in adherents of Islam
(doubling in population over the 1990’s to become
2 percent of the Canadian population). Likewise,
there was a large increase of adherents to Hinduism
and Sikhism (both increasing by 89 percent) and
Buddhism (increasing by 84 percent), with all three
of these religions growing to about 1 percent each of
the Canadian population by decade’s end. This in-
crease is largely explained by the large number of
adherents of these religions who were part of the 1.8
million immigrants to Canada during the 1990’s.
The most influential faiths in Canada have tradi-
tionally been Roman Catholic, Anglican, and the
United Church of Canada (formed by a union of
Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational, and other
churches in 1925).These three denominations were
traditionally granted special prerogatives under Ca-
nadian law, especially in the field of education, and
played a dominant role in Canadian society. All
three underwent significant changes in the latter
half of the twentieth century, including the 1990’s.
While the number of adherents and the traditions of
Catholicism did not diminish, the same cannot be
said of the influence on society of the Catholic hier-
archy and priests, especially in Quebec. (Particularly
damaging to the Catholic Church in Canada were
disclosures of abuse at the Mount Cashel Boys Home
in Newfoundland, which was closed in 1990.) The
Anglican and United Churches seemed to show a de-
cline in both numbers and influence. It seems that
the progressive social attitudes of the mainline
Protestant denominations on such issues as homo-
sexual and abortion rights did not draw more adher-
ents to these churches. In fact, the Protestant groups
that showed the most growth were those of an evan-
gelical and freestanding character. A vivid example
is the “Toronto Blessing” revival that began in the
Toronto Airport Vineyard Fellowship in January,
1994, and attracted millions of participants to its
physically charismatic worship services.
The heartland of Canadian Catholicism has al-
ways been French-speaking Quebec. The Quiet Rev-
olution of the 1960’s and 1970’s had already seen the
secularization of the once clericalist Quebec society.
This trend was to continue through the 1990’s. A
symbol of this changed status occurred in 1990. The
chairman of the Montreal Catholic School Commis-
sion called upon the Quebec provincial government
to encourage immigration by people who shared
Judeo-Christian values. This call was immediately re-
pudiated by the provincial leaders as conflicting with
Quebec’s secular character.
Another sign of Canada’s determination to ac-
commodate a broader faith experience than the tra-
ditional Catholic and Protestant religions inherited
from the mother countries of France and England
was illustrated in a debate over national prayer. The
federal parliament in Canada traditionally began its
daily sessions with a prayer dedicated in part to Jesus
Christ. In February, 1994, the Canadian Parliament
voted unanimously to substitute the nondenomina-
tional reference to “Almighty God” for the Christian
reference.
The Canadian government traditionally funded,
at least to some extent, Catholic and Protestant
schools; this led to controversy in the 1990’s. In
1991, protesters took over an Amherstburg public
school to protest the increasing jurisdiction of the
Catholic school system over formerly public schools.
In 1994, a suit by Jewish parents to obtain public
funding for their schools was rejected by the Ontario
Court of Appeal. In 1996, the Supreme Court in its
Adler v. Ontariodecision upheld the Province of On-
tario in funding Catholic schools to the exclusion of
Jewish schools as part of the political compromise
that made the 1867 confederation possible. While
accepting the advantages granted to Canada’s larg-
est denominations in school funding, however, the
courts were eager to show that Canada welcomed all
faiths. In the same year, for example, in the case of
Ross v. New Brunswick School District No. 15, the Su-
preme Court found that a school board was liable for
discrimination for failing to take action against a
teacher who made vituperative comments against
Jewish people during his off-duty time.
Despite these debates over Canada’s increasingly
pluralistic and even secularized approach to faith
and spirituality, there is an academic consensus on
the different role that religion plays in Canadian po-
litical life from that of its southern neighbor, theThe Nineties in America Religion and spirituality in Canada 709