Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Canada, according to a new survey.
Statistics Canada published a survey on religiosity and found that since 1996 the Muslim population has tripled in Canada from 1.1% to 3.7%.
Muslims were categorised as ‘other’ in 1985 as there were so few to make a category in federal surveys, while in 1944 the Muslim population was so small, ‘Muslim’ was deleted from the census altogether.
The survey found that religiosity in itself is declining as a whole in Canada.
“The proportion of people who attended group religious activities at least once a month nearly halved, from 43% in 1985 to 23% in 2019,” said the report.
71% of people reported in 2003 that religious belief is important compared to 54% in 2019.
Recently, there has been an increase in anti-muslim hate crime and violence in Canada.
A few months ago, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged his support for Canadian Muslims and vowed that “there is no place in Canada for Islamophobia” during a national summit on the issue.
