Canada's Religions: An Historical Introduction

20. Epilogue: The Future of Religions in Canada

CHAPTER 20 Epilogue: The Future of Religions in Canada The history that was outlined in the preceding chapters has shown that, from the outset, religions have played a central role in the Canadian story. Canadians of whatever origin, be it Amerindian, French,British, American, Ukrainian, Italian, African, Arab, or Asiatic, have understood the world and their placein it in waysproposed by their religious faith community,be it Aboriginal, Christian, Muslim,Jewish, Hindu, or other. Thefaith ofCanadians has provided them with their basic understanding of the origin of the world and of its people; the meaning of life, love,justice,suffering, and death; the fundamental nature and purpose of the family and society; the necessary rules of behaviour in life; and the destiny of each human being. With few exceptions, Canadians believe that our time on earth is but one phase in a living journey that began in the eye of God and that is rooted in a spiritual and transcendent world, that extends beyond the grave, and that is destined to end in eternal bliss in the company of God. Each religion explains these fundamental realities in its own way, each providing its faithful with the assurance of understanding in faith, and the necessary hope in the life to come. Notwithstanding the above, the four centuries that have elapsed since the arrivalof the Europeansin Canada have often beencharacterized by rivalry, acrimony, and conflict among the leading religions in place. European Christians worked to eradicate Amerindian spiritualities , Protestants fought Catholics and vice versa, Jews were frequently the victims of discrimination by Christians, and Asiatic Chinese and Japanese were the targets of repressive legislation. That has been because each religion considered that it had the monopoly of truth; all 434 Canada's Religions others were in error. Therefore, the religious group that was dominant usually made life difficult for all religious minorities. This four-centuries-old story of conflict began to change after World War II, when global migrations and population mixing, coupled with a revolution in communications led to a radical reassessment of our perceptions of both ourselves and others. The growing number of immigrants to Canada from other-than-European and other-than-NorthAmerican countries of Asia, Africa, and elsewhere led Canadians to discover the rich diversity and richness of the religions of the world. These new Canadians also compelled us to ensure that our public institutions, such as schools, did not engage in religious proselytism and indoctrination. While learning to come to terms with the new pluralistic religious reality of today's Canada, Canadians reinterpreted and redefined their relationship with these new fellow citizens. The walls of the traditional imposed or self-imposed religious ghettoes, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and other, crumbled as Canadians learned to appreciate their new neighbours. This was the context in the 1960s when social and cultural revolutions swept the Western world and Canada in particular. While the Catholic Church was experiencing its Second Vatican Council and the United States underwent a dramatic crisis manifest in its counter-culture and the VietnamWarsocial trauma, Canada's central cultural and economic engines, Quebec and Ontario, underwent profound and rapid social change. In Quebec it was called the Quiet Revolution, a sudden and dramatic turning away from the old ways symbolized by the cure, the habitant, the large family, and the Union Nationale governing party of Maurice Duplessis. Overnight, the Liberal Party of Jean Lesage was elected to serve as the new broom. The state took over education at all levels,aswell asother social services,health care in particular. It stepped back from its long-standing partnership with the Catholic Church, a separation which suited the new Vatican II church. New religions and new religious movements soon appeared to take advantage of the new openness in Quebec society. In Ontario, the heart of English Canada, a similar social and cultural revolution occurred, albeit more quietly than in Quebec. Among other innovations, new statutes instituted French-language schools in the public school system, the French language was recognized in the legislature, and the traditional Christian-Protestant emphasis of Ontario's secular public schools was set aside. In 1984, Ontario's Catholic public school system (separate schools) was extended to the end ofhigh school Epilogue: The Future of Religions in Canada 435 studies. In addition, the same multiculturalism that had become federal government policy in 1971 was applied in Ontario government circles. The heartland ofCanada's traditional white anglo...