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Islam thrives in Quebec
Catholicism tops. Immigration bolsters Muslim numbers beyond those of Jewish community
HARVEY SHEPHERD
The Gazette
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Islam has become the No. 1 non-Christian faith in Quebec, as in Canada as a whole.
Swollen by immigration from south Asia, north Africa and the Middle East, the number of Quebec Muslims increased by almost 11/2 times in the 10 years between 1991 and 2001.
This pushed them past Jewish Quebecers.
Salaam Elmenyawi, chairperson of the Muslim Council of Montreal, said he hopes the Muslim growth will help defuse East-West polarization.
“Now Islam is going to be a Western religion and we look forward to making a positive contribution,” said Elmenyawi, a chaplain at Concordia University.
“We hope that this will help to bring the world closer together.”
Data from the 2001 Canadian census made public by Statistics Canada yesterday show that the 108,620 Muslims in Quebec were up by 141.8 per cent from a decade earlier.
The Jewish figure slipped by eight per cent, to 89,915.
Elmenyawi said there might actually be more than 150,000 Muslims in Quebec. Quite a few Muslim residents of Montreal had not become Canadian citizens when census data were collected.
Bashir Hussain, chairperson of the Montreal Chapter of the Council of Muslim Communities in Canada, can remember when there were only a handful of Muslims in Montreal in the early 1960s. “Now we have about 30 mosques and places of prayer, and it’s still not enough,” he said.
Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, says the Muslim community is a young one.
"By the time the data are collected in the 2011 census, if they are collected, there may be more Muslim than Protestant students in Montreal schools.
“Clearly, the conventional Catholic-Protestant dichotomies in Quebec are going to be more and more difficult to justify.”
He noted that not all Montreal Muslims are Arabs. There are large groups from south Asia and elsewhere.
Joseph Gabay, president of the Quebec Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, is not surprised that Montreal’s Jewish community had a small decline.
“Cities like Vancouver and Toronto have an increase in their Jewish populations, and part of that increase comes from Montreal.”
The census data show Roman Catholics are still by far the largest group in Quebec. The 5.9 million Catholics in 2001 were up by 1.3 per cent, although they declined to 83.2 per cent from 86 per cent of the population.
Protestants declined a little in both absolute and percentage terms. However, Baptists rose by 28.9 per cent to almost 35,455.
Buoyed by some of the same factors as Muslims, Christian Orthodox rose 12.4 per cent, Buddhists 30.8 per cent, Hindus 73.7 per cent, Sikhs 81.7 per cent.
Harvey Shepherd writes about religion.
Top Religious Denominations in Quebec - 2001
Religion Number %
-
Roman Catholic 5,930,380 83.2
-
No religion 400,325 5.6
-
Muslim 108,620 1.5
-
Jewish 89,915 1.3
-
Anglican 85,475 1.2
-
Protestant 64,040 0.9
not included elsewhere*
- Christian 56,750 0.8
not included elsewhere+
-
United Church 52,950 0.7
-
Greek Orthodox 50,020 0.7
-
Buddhist 41,375 0.6
*Includes persons who reported only “Protestant.”
- Includes persons who reported “Christian,” as well as those who reported “Apostolic,” “Born-again Christian” and “Evangelical.”
SOURCE: statistics canada
Major Religious Denominations in Quebec - 1991* and 2001
2001 1991 change
Religion Number % Number % %
Roman Catholic 5,930,385 83.2 5,855,980 86.0 1.3
Protestant 333,595 4.7 359,750 5.3 -6.7
Christian Orthodox 100,370 1.4 89,285 1.3 12.4
Christian 56,750 0.8 38,975 0.6 45.6
not included elsewhere+
Muslim 108,620 1.5 44,930 0.7 141.8
Jewish 89,915 1.3 97,730 1.4 -8.0
Buddhist 41,380 0.6 31,640 0.5 30.8
Hindu 24,530 0.3 14,120 0.2 73.7
Sikh 8,220 0.1 4,525 0.1 81.7
No religion 400,325 5.6 257,270 3.8 55.6
*For comparability purposes, 1991 data are presented according to 2001 boundaries.
- Includes persons who report “Christian,” as well as those who report “Apostolic,” “Born-again Christian” and “Evangelical.”
SOURCE: Statistics Canada
Religious Affiliations of Immigrants Arriving in Canada
Before 1961- 1971- 1981- 1991-
Religion 1961 1970 1980 1990 2001
Roman Catholic 39.2 43.4 33.9 32.9 23.0
Protestant 39.2 26.9 21.0 14.5 10.7
Christian Orthodox 3.8 6.3 3.8 3.0 6.3
Other Christian 1.3 2.2 3.8 4.9 5.3
Jewish 2.7 2.0 2.2 1.9 1.2
Muslim 0.2 1.3 5.4 7.5 15.0
Hindu 0.0 1.4 3.6 4.9 6.5
Buddhist 0.4 0.9 4.8 7.5 4.6
Sikh 0.1 1.1 3.9 4.3 4.7
No religion 11.0 13.5 16.5 17.3 21.3
Other religion 2.1 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.4
SOURCE: Statistics Canada
