Walking around Toronto, you’d think you were in a real-life version of “it’s a small world after all”. Canada’s urban centres are great pictures of multiculturalism. It’s not uncommon to see a mosque, temple and a church when you’re driving around.

Looking closer at this Canadian cultural jambalaya, we start to see big religious changes simmering in the cultural stew. Examining Canada’s religions from coast-to-coast also reveals a very interesting trend.

Census data
Focus on red, green and yellow, but also keep an eye out for dark purple (Muslim), dark blue (Sikh) and sky blue (“other” Christians), which are significant minority religions.

Atlantic Canada
Religion, along with fishing and unintelligible accents, dominates Atlantic Canada. The region doesn’t get a lot of immigration. WASPs populated this region centuries ago, and their footprint is evident.

Quebec
Quebec is really two regions: the urbanized Montreal-Quebec City region and then Northern Quebec. In my mind, the latter consists of flannel-wearing lumberjacks named Pierre.

Despite the two distinct cultures, Catholicism is a dominating constant.
This shocks me; I have a hard time juxtaposing the reach of religion in Quebec with the perception of the French as hedonists and liberals.

Ontario
Minority religions are significant in Ontario, a testament to its diversity.

There’s a spike in nonbelievers — leading me to believe that TTC public transit is proof that a higher power does not exist.

Prairies
WASPs reign again in the Prairies, although Catholics give up share points to the nonbelievers.

The Prairies are a hard read — the lack of ethnic diversity and immigration in this region should suggest a minimal nonreligious population like the Atlantics. I’m guessing that the substantial Native Canadian population accounts for the high nonreligious figure.

Alberta
Catholics must have something against oil, since they have a weak base in Alberta. However, the nonreligious must love petrol, as they contest for second place.

Alberta’s population makeup is roughly the same as the Prairies, yet they have a significantly larger nonreligious group.

British Columbia
BC has a strong nonreligious majority, the only one in Canada.

Weed-smokin’, same-sex-legalizin’, asian-populizin’, non-churchgoin’ British Columbia! This adds to the case that Vancouver is Canada’s San Francisco.

The rising nonreligious
Notice how the yellow slice (nonreligious) trends bigger and bigger as you reach BC. If you subscribed to the theory that trends start west and end east, this is a very interesting development. This then becomes a time-lapse series, with BC being the final stage; a picture of where Canadian religion will be in years to come.

If this trend continues, we may see a nonreligious Canada in a generation or two (except for Quebec and the Atlantics, who may take longer, or buck the trend).

Marketing effect
Without religion, are people going to become more liberal like British Columbians? Are we all going to push for marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage? Would we finally show risqué, European-style ads without throwing a hissy fit?

I hope so. I’d love to see ads with a little more edge. Canadians’ politeness spills over into advertising, as confrontational ads (This is Advil versus Tylenol, Tide beats Sunlight) don’t score well with us. Ads involving even a hint of sex appeal cause uproars (see this), so marketers and advertisers have no choice but to produce brutally bland, safe creatives.

Canada’s Faith?
While we don’t have a bible belt, the folks out east come close to forming one. Canada’s christian roots also shine through today, although BC may be an indication that those days are numbered.

The census also doesn’t take into account whether the population is devout and practising. So you could easily make a case that Canadians worship Jesus, or Mohammed, or Ganesh…but I’m betting that in a few decades, it’ll be none of the above.

Source: Statistics Canada