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Islam in Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
According to 2001 census, there were 579,640 Muslims in Canada, just under 2% of the population[1]. In 2006, Muslim population is estimated to be 783,700 or about 2.5%[2].
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Most Canadian Muslims [i.e. followers of Islam] are people who were raised Muslim. There are also small numbers of converts to Islam from other religions. As with immigrants in general, Muslim immigrants have come to Canada for a variety of reasons. These include higher education, employment, and family reunification. Others have come for religious and political freedom, and safety and security, leaving behind civil wars, persecution, and other forms of civil and ethnic strife. In the 1980s, Canada became an important place of refuge for those fleeing the Lebanese Civil War. The 1990s saw Somali Muslims arrive in the wake of the Somali Civil War as well as Bosnian Muslims fleeing the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. However Canada has yet to receive any significant numbers of Iraqis [Muslim or Christian] fleeing the Iraqi Civil War. But in general almost every Muslim country in the world has sent immigrants to Canada - from Albania to Yemen.[1]
The majority of Canadian Muslims -- and not coincidentally a large proportion of the country's immigrants -- live in the province of Ontario, with the largest groups settled in and around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). According to the 2001 Census, there were 254,110 Muslims living in the Greater Toronto Area. [2] Assuming that most immigrants from Pakistan and Iran are Muslims, the two largest Muslim communities in the GTA were Pakistani (>50,000) and Iranian (>30,000).[3] Canada's national capital Ottawa hosts many Lebanese and Somali Muslims, where the Muslim community numbered approximately 40,000 in 2001.[4] Greater Montreal's Muslim community neared 100,000 in 2001.[5] It is home to large numbers of Canadians of Moroccan, Algerian and Lebanese descent, as well as smaller Syrian, Iranian, Pakistani and Turkish communities.[6] These communities are not exclusively, but predominantly, Muslim. In addition to Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal, nearly every major Canadian metropolitan area has a Muslim community, including Halifax (3,070), Windsor, Ontario (10,745), Winnipeg (4,805),Calgary (28,920), Edmonton (19,580), Vancouver (52,590), where more than a third are of Iranian descent, and Toronto (30,230). [7]
Table 1: Current and Projected Muslim Population of Canada[8]
| Muslim Population | 2001 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 579,700 | 1,421,400 |
| Atlantic Provinces | 5,300 | 14,500 |
| Alberta | 103,900 | 247,600 |
| Quebec | 57,200 | 131,100 |
| Manitoba | 4,900 | 12,100 |
| Saskatchewan | 2,000 | 4,700 |
| Ontario | 356,700 | 910,600 |
| British Columbia | 49,300 | 100,300 |
As the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of religious expression, Canadian Muslims face no official religious discrimination. Under Section 2(a) of the Charter, the wearing of the hijab is permitted in schools and places of work. Religious holidays and dietary restrictions are also respected, but outside major urban areas it may be difficult to find halal food. It is also often difficult to observe Islamic rules against usury.
The Muslim community in Canada is almost as old as the nation itself. Four years after Canada's founding in 1867, the 1871 Canadian Census found 13 Muslims among the population.[9] The first Canadian mosque was constructed in Edmonton in 1938, when there were approximately 700 Muslims in the country.[10] This building is now part of the museum at Fort Edmonton. The years after World War II saw a small increase in the Muslim population. However Muslims were still a distinct minority. It was only with the removal of European immigration preferences in the late 1960s that Muslims began to arrive in significant numbers.
According to the Canadian Census of 1971 there were 33,000 Muslims in Canada. [11] In the 1970s large-scale non-European immigration to Canada began. This was reflected in the growth of the Muslim community in Canada. In 1981, the Census listed 98,000 Muslims. [12] The 1991 Census indicated 253,265 Muslims. [13] By 2001, the Islamic community in Canada had grown to more than 579,000. [14] Preliminary estimates for Census 2006 point to a figure of almost 800,000. [15] The community is expected to grow to 1.1 million by 2011 and 1.4 million by 2017.[16]
Compared to Muslims in Europe, Canadian Muslims have not faced the same set of problems. [17] The Muslim community in Canada is just one among many ethnic, religious, racial and cultural communities that together make up Canada. At the same time, it must be noted that although Canadian Muslims may be classified as Muslims for official governmental statistical and policy-making purposes, that does not necessarily mean that all who are identified as such are practicing Muslims. In other words, they may be culturally Muslim, while at the same leading secular lives. Among the more prominent Canadian Muslims are Rahim Jaffer, who has sat as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Edmonton-Strathcona since 1997, Irshad Manji and a feminist Muslim activist who wrote the international bestseller "The Trouble With Islam" - an excoriation of violent radical Islam.
The Muslim community in Canada is represented by several organizations: the Canadian Islamic Congress, which represents the conservative mainstream in the community and has the support of most mosques, the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) which has its foundation rooted in traditional Islamic ideology with a focus on dynamic application within the current Canadian context, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) which has now become one of the leading advocacy and civil liberties organizations on behalf of the Muslim community, the Muslim Canadian Congress, a progressive, liberal group that was founded in 2002 as well as other large organisations such as Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). These are only some of the key organisations within the Muslim Canadian community, as the community is a large, diverse community with well over 60 ethno-cultural groups. Thus, organisations are continually emerging as they seek to meet the needs of community members.
Student associations are strongly established at most Canadian universities, with the MSA at the University of Vancouver, started in 1966, being the largest student organization on campus[3]. Student-led initiatives are generally well supported and successful, including annual events such as MuslimFest and the Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference, the largest Islamic event in Canada.
- ^ 2001 Census of Canada: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/home/index.cfm
- ^ Canada Census 2001
- ^ 2001 Census of Canada
- ^ 2001 Census of Canada
- ^ 2001 Census of Canada
- ^ 2001 Census of Canada
- ^ 2001 Census of Canada
- ^ Canada's Demo-Religious Revolution
- ^ 1871 Census of Canada
- ^ Saudi Aramco World: Canada's Pioneer Mosque: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199804/canada.s.pioneer.mosque.htm
- ^ 1971 Census of Canada
- ^ 1981 Census of Canada
- ^ 1991 Census of Canada
- ^ 2001 Census of Canada
- ^ Canada's Demo-Religious Revolution
- ^ Canada's Demo-Religious Revolution
- ^ Canada's Muslims: An International Comparison: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/islam/muslim-survey.html
- Canada religious census 2001
- Canada’s Demo-Religious Revolution: 2017
- Canadian Muslim Business and service Directory
- Islamic Association in Canada
- Canadian Council Of Muslim Women
- MuslimFest - Artistic, Innovative, Captivating
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