Religious Diversity and Canada’s Future Jack Jedwab, Editor La diversité religieuse et l’avenir du Canada Jack Jedwab, éditeur VOLUME 6.1 WINTER 2008 HIVER Volume 6.1 WINTER 2008 HIVER 3 Religious Diversity and Canada’s Future: 103 « Culture Wars » in Québec : Remarques Introduction à propos du débat québécois sur les By Jack Jedwab accommodements religieux By Jean-François Gaudreault-DesBiens 5 Religious Diversity and Canada’s Future: Research Themes and Questions 106 Entrevue avec Solange Lefebvre La diversité religieuse et l’avenir du Canada : Thèmes de recherche et questions 109 Religion and State in a Pluralist Nation: Policy Challenges in Contemporary 6 Secularization and the Separation Canadian Society of Church and State in Canada By Karim H. Karim and Faiza Hirji By David Seljak 113 Religion and the State: In Defense 25 Religion and Social Capital in Canada of la laïcité inclusive By Jack Jedwab By Marc Gold 47 Religious Youth Radicalization in Canada 116 The Sacred Public Sphere: By Paul Bramadat and Scot Wortley Praying for Secularism By Sarah Elgazzar 74 Religious Diversity and Security in a Pluralistic Society: A Canadian Research Approach By Kamal Dib 87 Constructive Integration of Canadian Muslims: Comparison with Canada, Bosnia and France By Imam Zijad Delic Canadian Diversity is published by Diversité canadienne est publié par PRESIDENT / PRÉSIDENT Canadian Diversity is a quarterly publication of the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS). The Honouable Herbert Marx / L’honorable Herbert Marx It is distributed free of charge to individual and institutional members of the ACS. Canadian OUTGOING PRESIDENT / PRÉSIDENT SORTANT Maurice Basque Diversity is a bilingual publication. 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L’Association d’études canadiennes et un organisme pancanadien à but REPRÉSENTANTE DE LA COLOMBIE-BRITANNIQUE ET DU YUKON non lucratif dont l’objet est de promouvoir l’enseignement, la recherche est les publications Jean Teillet, Pape Salter Teillet sur le Canada. L’AEC est une société savante et membre de la Fédération canadienne des STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE AND TREASURER / sciences humaines et sociales. REPRÉSENTANTE DES ÉTUDIANTS ET TRÉSORIÈRE Andrea Braithwaite, McGill University EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ACS / DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL DE L’AEC The ACS acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Jack Jedwab Department of Canadian Heritage for this issue. DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING AND ADMINISTRATION / DIRECTEUR DES PROGRAMMES ET ADMINISTRATION James Ondrick L’AEC a bénéficié de l’appui financier du Gouvernement du Canada par l’entremise du ministère du Patrimoine canadien pour ce numéro. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / RÉDACTEUR EN CHEF Jack Jedwab MANAGING EDITOR / DIRECTRICE À LA RÉDACTION Marie-Pascale Desjardins LETTERS/LETTRES CO-EDITOR / CO-RÉDACTRICE Dornett Roachford Comments on this edition of Canadian Diversity? DESIGN / GRAPHISME We want to hear from you. Bang Marketing : 514 849-2264 • 1-888 942-BANG Write to Canadian Diversity – Letters, ACS, 1822A, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, [email protected] Montréal (Québec) H3H 1E4. Or e-mail us at <[email protected]> ADVERTISING / PUBLICITÉ Your letters may be edited for length and clarity. [email protected] Des commentaires sur ce numéro ? ACS ADDRESS / ADRESSE AEC 1822, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal (QC) H3H 1E4 Écrivez-nous à Diversité canadienne 514 925-3096 / [email protected] Lettres, AEC, 1822A, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal (Québec) H3H 1E4. RUN OF 8,500 COPIES / TIRAGE DE 8 500 EXEMPLAIRES Ou par courriel au <[email protected]> Vos lettres peuvent être CONVENTION POSTE PUBLICATION, 41006541 modifiées pour des raisons éditoriales. Religious Diversity and Canada’s Future: Introduction Jack Jedwab Jack Jedwab is the Executive Director of the Association for Canadian Studies. ublic opinion surveys reveal that relations between faith communities and between religious and secular Canadians are a very important preoccupation. The significant demographic change that the country has experienced over the Ppast four decades has been characterized by considerable growth in the percentage of Canadians that are not Christian. Over that same period, there has been an important increase in the numbers of Canadians reporting no religion, partly reflecting the diminished importance of religion in many people’s lives. L’identité religieuse a joué un rôle fondamental dans l’histoire du Canada. Indeed from the very outset, Canada was in the business of managing religious diversity. It established its own version of the wall of separation – in this case, however, it implied the institutional separation of Catholics from Protestants. Dû au fait que historiquement, les droits constitutionnels soient limités aux Catholiques et Protestantes en matière d’éducation, les juifs étaient considérés comme protestants jusqu’aux années soixante-dix. Growing up in parts of Canada in the 1970’s, non-Christians attending public schools joined with other students in singing praise to Jesus. Over the past few decades, the introduction of the Charters of Rights and the growing support amongst the population for principles of equality might make these examples appear anachronistic. Still, we are struggling with ways to accommodate religious diversity as witnessed in the very public debates over the funding of religiously-based schools in Ontario, the place of faith-based arbitration and around the establishment of a commission in Quebec looking into reasonable accommodation of diverse cultural practices focused on religious diversity. To examine these questions, this edition of Canadian Diversity has invited some of Canada’s leading thinkers to discuss various aspects of the contemporary debate around managing religious diversity. The concept of this issue of Canadian Diversity magazine was developed by Dr. Kamal Dib and Mr. Jaime Opazo, both leading policy researchers at the Department of Canadian Heritage. Early in 2006, they have noted the absence of a holistic approach towards a rational discussion of religion in Canada. They noted the knee-jerk reactions to global events and hasty attempts to "securitize" religion. Hence, they recognized the need to understand the socioeconomic dimensions of religious diversity in Canada and they have started a research agenda that resulted in quality studies and reports. This edition is the fruit of this research agenda on religious diversity. Its publication comes closely after a ground-breaking seminar hosted by the Department of Canadian Heritage on Religious Diversity in Canada on February 27, 2008. Messrs Dib and Opazo hope that the research effort represents a modest contribution to the study of contemporary Canadian demographic diversity. I want to thank them for their support. I also want to thank Jennifer Bitz of the Department of Canadian Heritage for her continued support as well as Fred Dufresne and Sofia-Gallagher-Rodriguez. I also acknowledge the important efforts of the ACS staff Marie-Pascale Desjardins and Dornett Roachford in generating this publication. In his essay, David Seljak concludes that the refusal to confront the persistence of religion in Canadian society by clinging to an abstract and ahistorical concept of the separation of Church and State leads to misunderstandings and injustices. He maintains that the residually Christian nature of this public sphere places a further burden on members of minority religious communities that adherents of mainline Christian churches do not need to shoulder. The issue of religion must be addressed in discussions of social inclusion, immigrant integration, multiculturalism, democratic participation and justice. Seljak argues that policy-makers and other stake-holders need to engage in a broad dialogue to craft solutions to the issues of religious pluralism and multiculturalism that can take advantage of