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Evangelicals and the Dissemination of Canadian Census Data by Rick Hiemstra, Director, Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism

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Evangelicals and the Dissemination of Canadian Census Data by Rick Hiemstra, Director, Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism August 2009 / Volume 2 / Issue 3 I SSN 1920 - 0439 Evangelicals and the Dissemination of Canadian Census Data By Rick Hiemstra, Director, Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism Global National news anchor Kevin Newman co-wrote and co-produced the Revealed: Hip 2B Holy television documentary that aired May 25, 2009 on the Global Television Network. In an interview with the National Post, he had this to say about the documentary and Evangelicalism in Canada: “There’s nobody from western rural Canada in this documentary. This [Evangelicalism] is now urban, suburban, small-town. It’s everywhere – and that’s new.”1 It is curious how Evangelicalism, which has been “everywhere” since Protestants first came to Canada, could have escaped the attention of Mr. Newman up until now. But perhaps some of that apparent obscurity can be traced back to the dissemination of Canadian census data. Statistics Canada has been measuring religious affiliation since it began taking censuses in 1871. How it has reported those data has varied and often obscured the existence of religious minorities. The criteria for a religious group’s data to be included in census documents have been inconsistent and obscure at times, although many improvements have been made in recent censuses. Statistics Canada held a consultation on the dissemination of the upcoming 2011 census, a consultation that closed March 31, 2009. What follows is a modified form of the Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism’s written submission, which focuses on the dissemination of the religious affiliation data. This paper provides an overview of the history of the dissemination of the Canadian census with a focus on religious minorities and makes six recommendations for improvements. The Growth in the Dissemination of Religious Affiliation Data Since 1981 and especially in 1991 and 2001, Statistics Canada has made tremendous improvements in the dissemination of religious affiliation census data. Specifically, data for more religious code values are published, more cross tabulations with other census variables are provided, and community profiles that include religious affiliation data and many other census documents are now available on Statistics Canada’s website. This is a great asset to Canadians and researchers from here and abroad as both try to understand the Canadian religious landscape. Table 1 shows the growth in the types of cross tabulations that have been disseminated. This growth represents an insightful acknowledgement of the importance of religious affiliation in understanding other census variables. 1 Larissa Leipins, “Proselytism goes pop!” National Post, May 25, 2009: AL2. page 1 / 19 August 2009 / Volume 2 / Issue 3 August 2009 / Volume 2 / Issue 3 I SSN 1920 - 0439 I SSN 1920 - 0439 Table 1. Geographic and census variable cross-tabulations with census religious affiliation data disseminated in public census documents, 1911–1961 and 1981–2001 Census Year Cross Tabulations 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1981 1991 2001 Geographic Cross Tabulations Canada x x x x x x x x x Provinces, or Provinces and Territories x x x x x x x x x Census districts or divisions, or subdivisions x x x x x x Electoral districts x Principal cities x Cities and towns 5,000 and over x Cities and towns 10,000 and over x x Cities of 30,000 and over x Census metropolitan areas x x x x Urban / Rural x x x x x Electronic Community profiles x Census Variable Cross Tabulations Sex x x x x x x x x Age x x x x Birthplace x Education x x Farm / Not Farm x x x x x x Ethnicity x x x x Immigration status x x Generation status x Mother tongue x x Marital status x Family status x Mobility status x Knowledge of official languages x Citizenship x Visible Minorities x Evangelicals and the Dissemination of Canadian Census Data page 2 / 19 August 2009 / Volume 2 / Issue 3 August 2009 / Volume 2 / Issue 3 I SSN 1920 - 0439 I SSN 1920 - 0439 There are, however, several important ways that the coding and dissemination2 of religious affiliation data can be improved. The EFC will recommend improvements in the transparency and consistency of religious affiliation coding decisions and in how Statistics Canada decides what religious code value data to disseminate. We will look at some of the limitations of religious affiliation data without some measure of religious participation and make recommendations for how changes in dissemination practices can, in part, compensate for these limitations. We will also be recommending ways that access to religious affiliation data can be made more equitable for religious minorities. Three Periods of Dissemination Recent improvements in the dissemination of census religious affiliation data since 1981 might lead a casual observer to imagine that the process has been getting steadily better over time. However, this has not been the case. Appendix A looks at what may be described as three periods in Canadian census religious affiliation dissemination, 1891–1931, 1941–1971, and 1981–2001. The first period, 1891–1931, was characterized by diversity in the religious code values disseminated. In 1931 data for 61 religious code values were published in census documents. Of these 61 religious code values, 8 represented religious affiliations that were not Christian or linked to aWestern Christian tradition. Canada was overwhelmingly Christian in this period and yet, in comparison with the second dissemination period, the Bureau of Statistics was more open to reflecting the non-Christian religious diversity of the nation in the dissemination of census data. The second census period of religious affiliation dissemination, 1941–1971, saw a dramatic reduction in the number of religious code values reported. The gaps in religious code value reporting for this period have been shaded in Appendix A in order to highlight the contrast with the dissemination periods that precede and follow it. In 1961 data were reported for only 26 religious code values, less than half the number from 1931. This paper will look at the coding for the 1961 religious affiliation variable later on in order to illustrate some of the problems with the dissemination of religious code value data in this period. The third census period of religious affiliation dissemination, 1981–2001, saw a return to diversity in religious code value reporting, with many of the values from the first period returning and many new ones being added. It would seem that with the advent of an official federal policy of multiculturalism there was again a greater emphasis on reflecting Canada’s religious diversity (which in many cases also means ethnic and cultural diversity) in the dissemination of census documents. It is often asserted that in a situation where one group is dominant in a society, it will use this position to the detriment of minority groups. It is worth noting then that during the first period of census dissemination, in which Canada could be described as being hegemonically Christian, this hegemony was no impediment to the government’s reflecting the nation’s religious diversity in its public census documents. The question that needs to be answered is “Why did the Canadian Bureau of Statistics, in the second census period, which was arguably a period of secularization in Canada, reduce the diversity of the dissemination of religious code values?” In 1981, public census documents available online 2 Coding means the way data is grouped for the purpose of analysis. Dissemination means the ways data is presented page 3 / 19 and made available to the public. August 2009 / Volume 2 / Issue 3 I SSN 1920 - 0439 reported data for 85 religious code values, which increased slightly to 86 in 2001. Once again diversity in the reporting of religious code values was being emphasized, and Statistics Canada has rendered a great service to Canadians in doing so. Coding of the Religious Affiliation Variable There is a great diversity of religious groups in Canada, among which evangelical Christian groups figure importantly. This diversity, however, has not generally been acknowledged in scholarly discourse on Canadian religious history. To some extent this is because scholars have been working with Canadian census data from the second, less diverse, dissemination period. Tables in the second dissemination period comparing religious data from earlier censuses used the contemporary, more restricted, categories. The table “Numerical and percentage distribution of the population by religious denominations, Canada, 1871–1951”3 lists 105,937 persons under the religious code value of “Other” for 1951. The corresponding “other sects” religious code value from 1931 lists only 4,014. Clearly 101,923 persons who had been listed under a wider range of religious code values in the 1931 dissemination had been conflated into an almost useless aggregate comparative statistic for the 1951 dissemination. The half-century gap between the more diverse disseminations of 1931 and 1981 created a climate in which a less diverse religious portrait of Canada could solidify. Census volumes from 1931 and earlier are not widely available, and comparative charts disseminated since 1981 go back only a few decades and are constrained by the less diverse data and categories of the second period. Therefore, unless Canadians have access to a library with a comprehensive deposit of census documents, it is unlikely that they will encounter data earlier than 1981 that reveal the broader diversity of religious affiliation in Canada. The EFC’s Centre for Research on Canada Evangelicalism obtained a copy of the 1961 Census of Canada Population Code Book – Religion from Statistics Canada. This document helps us to understand the extent to which the diversity of the religious landscape was hidden in aggregate categories. What follows is a list of all the 1961 religious code values that were coded as “Other.” The list is long and would usually be consigned to an appendix.
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