Islam is the second-largestreligion inCanada, practised by approximately 4.9% of the population.[2] Canadian Muslims are one of the most ethnically diverse religious groups across the country. Muslims have lived in Canada since 1871 and the first mosque was established in 1938.[3] Most Canadian Muslims areSunni, while a significant minority areShia andAhmadiyya.
There are a number of Islamic organizations andseminaries (madrasas). Opinion polls show most Muslims feel "very proud" to be Canadians, and majority are religious and attend mosque at least once a week.[4] More than half of Canadian Muslims live inOntario, with significant populations also living inQuebec,Alberta, andBritish Columbia.
Uniform hat insignia for Canadian military Muslim chaplains.
Four years after Canada's founding in 1867, the 1871 Canadian Census found 13 European Muslims among the population.[9][10] The first Muslim organization in Canada was registered by immigrants from greater Syria living inRegina, Saskatchewan in 1934. The first Canadianmosque was constructed inEdmonton in 1938 when there were approximately 700 European Muslims in the country.[11] The building is now part of the museum atFort Edmonton Park. The years afterWorld War II saw a small increase in the Muslim population. However, Muslims were still a distinct minority. It was only after the removal of European immigration preferences in the late 1960s and early 1970s that Muslims began to arrive in significant numbers.
Bosniaks andAlbanian Muslims were the founders ofJami Mosque, the first mosque in Toronto in 1968, whose readjustment intomasjid (originally an old Catholic school building) occurred on June 23, 1973. The mosque was readjusted for theBosniaks, with the support of the local Christians. Later, with the action of University of Toronto professor Qadeer Baig, it was purchased by Asian Muslims, while Albanians and Bosniaks later founded the Albanian Muslim Society andBosanska džamija (Bosnian Mosque) respectively. The oldest mosque inToronto, with the oldestminaret inOntario built in Osmanic style is inEtobicoke, part of the Bosnian Islamic Centre.[12]
The firstMadrasa (Islamic seminary) in North America,Al-Rashid Islamic Institute was established inCornwall, Ontario in 1983 to teachHafiz andUlama and focuses on the traditionalHanafi school of thought. The Seminary was established by Mazhar Alam, originally from Bihar, India, under the direction of his teacher the leading IndianTablighi scholarZakariyya Kandhlawi. Due to its proximity to the US border city of Massena the school has historically had a high percentage of American students. Their most prominent graduate, Muhammad Alshareef completed his Hifz in the early 1990s then went on to form theAlMaghrib Institute.
As with immigrants in general, Muslim immigrants have come to Canada for a variety of reasons. These include higher education, security, 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 theLebanese Civil War. The 1990s saw Somali Muslims arrive in the wake of theSomali Civil War as well asBosniaks fleeing the breakup of the formerYugoslavia. However Canada has yet to receive any significant numbers of Iraqis fleeing theIraqi War. But in general almost every Muslim country in the world has sent immigrants to Canada – fromPakistan,Bosnia and Herzegovina andAlbania toYemen andBangladesh.[13]
According to the Canadian Census of 1971 there were 33,000 Muslims in Canada.[14] 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.[15] The 1991 Census indicated 253,265 Muslims.[16]
By 2001, the Islamic community in Canada had grown to more than 579,000.[17] In the same year, the fertility rate for Muslims in Canada was higher than the rate for other Canadians (an average of 2.4 children per woman for Muslims in 2001, compared with 1.6 children per woman for other populations in Canada).[18][19]
Population estimates for the Census 2006 pointed to a figure of 800,000.[20] As of May 2013, Muslims account for 3.2% of the total population, with a total of over a million.[21][22] In January 2017, six Muslims were killed ina shooting attack at a Quebec city mosque.
In the contemporary era, there arehalal restaurants across Canada, including over 1000 in the Greater Toronto Area.[23]
According to the 2011 National Household Survey, there were 424,925 Muslims living in theGreater Toronto Area equalling 7.7% of the total metropolitan population, of which the Muslim community consists of persons ofPakistani,Bangladeshi,Indian,Iranian,African,Arab,Turkish,Bosniak,Albanian,Caucasian,Southeast Asian, andLatin descent.[28] Greater Montreal's Muslim community was 221,040[29] in 2011 or nearly 6% of the total metropolitan population which includes a highly diverse Muslim population from Western/Southern Europe, Caribbean, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Canada's national capitalOttawa hosts manyLebanese,Turkish,Bosniak,Albanian,South Asian andSomali Muslims, where the Muslim community numbered approximately 65,880 or 5.5% in 2011.[30] In addition toToronto,Ottawa andMontreal, nearly every major Canadian metropolitan area has a Muslim community, includingVancouver (73,215), where more than a third are of Iranian descent,Calgary (58,310),Edmonton (46,125),Windsor (15,575),Winnipeg (11,265), andHalifax (7,540). In recent years, there has been rapid population growth in Calgary and Edmonton because of the booming economy.[31]
Major Canadian cities have local Muslim organizations that deal mainly with issues pertaining to their home city, but that support national associations. Most Muslim organizations on the national level are umbrella groups and coordination bodies. Student-led initiatives are generally well supported and successful, including annual events such asMuslimFest and theReviving the Islamic Spirit conference, the largest Islamic event in Canada.
TheAhmadiyya Community has about 50 Local Chapters scattered across Canada, mainly in southern Ontario. The community have 25 places of worship in Canada.[39][40][41]
UnderSection 2(a) of the Charter, the wearing of ahijab is permitted in schools and places of work, although Quebec has ruled that medical faculties are not required to accommodate Muslim women who wish to be served by female employees.[43] Religious holidays and dietary restrictions are also respected, but outside major urban areas it may be difficult to findhalal food. It is also often difficult to observeIslamic rules against usury. Some Muslims in some parts of Canada have asked to have family dispute courts to oversee small family cases but were faced with rigorous opposition from both within the Muslim community (both conservative and liberal), and by non-Muslim groups.[44][45]
In 2011, the Harper government attempted to ban the niqab during citizenship ceremonies.[46] In 2015, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled against the ban,[47] and the Supreme Court turned down the government's appeal.
As of 2024, there are at least 458 mosques and Islamic centres across Canada. Most of the mosques are located either in large metropolitan cities, suburbs, or some small cities.
T. B. Irving - (1914-2002), was a Canadian-American Muslim author, known for producing the first American English translation of theQur'an
Shabir Ally - Guyanese-born Canadian Islamic Scholar, President of the Islamic Information & Dawah Centre International in Toronto
Mustafa Khattab BA, MA, PhD - Canadian-Egyptian Islamic scholar and author, known for publishing 'The Clear Qur'an,' which is the Canadian English translation of theQur'an
Hilwie Hamdon - (1905-1988), was a Muslim woman in Edmonton, Alberta, who organized support and funding to build the first mosque in Canada, theAl-Rashid Mosque
There are several organizations working to support the Canadian Muslim community by representing their causes and voices, and channeling the efforts of Muslims for the greater good of Canadians as well as people struggling in other parts of the world. Some are listed below:
Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) is a charitable organization and a grassroots movement to establish an Islamic presence in Canada that is balanced, constructive, and integrated in the social fabric and culture of Canada.[48]
National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) is an independent, non-partisan and non-profit organization that protects Canadian human rights and civil liberties, challenges discrimination and Islamophobia.[49]
Islamic Relief Canada helps Canadian Muslims channel charitable contributions to not only Canadians but people in need across the globe. Their platform helps strengthen the relationship between donors and beneficiaries by providing a high level of transparency.[50]
Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW) is an organization dedicated to the empowerment, equality and equity of all Muslim women in Canada. It has chapters all over Canada and has launched several projects through community engagement, public policy, stakeholder engagement and amplified awareness of the social injustices that Muslim women and girls endure in Canada.[51]
Muslim Welfare Canada works to fight hunger through its food banks and meals on wheels programs for senior citizens. They also run homes/shelters for women and children as well as refugees.[52][53]
Canadian Islamic Broadcasting Network - An online radio station that was setup in 2019 with the intention of broadcasting Islamic information across Canada via internet radio. The main focus of the station is to provide Islamic Talk programming.
Muslim Federal Employee Network is national level network for Muslims in the Federal Public Service. It plays a key leadership role in supporting the Government of Canada to become a model of inclusion of Muslim public servants. The Muslim Federal Employees Network provides an open and safe forum for Muslim and non-Muslim employees to connect and discuss issues related to the promotion of a healthy and inclusive work environment for Muslim employees in the federal public service.
In a 2016 Environics poll, 83% of Muslims were "very proud" to be Canadian, compared with 73% of non-Muslim Canadians who said the same thing. Canadian Muslims reported "Canada's freedom and democracy" as the greatest source of pride, and "multiculturalism and diversity" as the second greatest. 94% of Canadian Muslims reported a "strong" or "very strong" sense of belonging to Canada. 78% of Canadian Muslims attend mosque at least once a week. 73% of women wear some sort of head-covering in public (58% wear thehijab, 13% wear thechador and 2% wear theniqab). Both pride in being Canadian and having a strong sense of belonging had increased in Canadian Muslims as compared to a 2006 survey. Mosque attendance and wearing a head covering in public had also increased since the 2006 survey.[4]
As per the Environics poll, 36% of the Canadian Muslims agreed with the statement homosexuality should be accepted by society which is lower than the general population (80%). However, the acceptance was higher among Muslims born in Canada (52%) and among young Canadian Muslims (47%). The groups that mostly showed unacceptance of homosexuality were the older age group 45 to 59 (55%) and the lowest income group (56%).[54]
According to the surveys conducted by the Angus Reid Institute (ARI), 24% of the Canadians had a favorable opinion of Islam in 2013 which increased to 34% in the 2016 survey and in Quebec, it increased from 16% in 2013 to 32% in 2016.
A majority (75%) of the Canadians strongly support allowing Muslim women to wear hijab in public. However, the wearing of full face and body covering niqab and burka is strongly opposed. Only three-in-ten Canadians are supportive of it.[55]
In 2023 the Canadian Muslim donor group known as the Network-100 GTA consisting of 400 working professionals pulled financial support from theLiberal Party, who had received over $20,000 prior since 2014, due to residing Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in theGaza war.[59] TheNational Council of Canadian Muslims made a statement during the holidayRamadan in 2024 with the mention ofMPs not being welcome in their places of worship until a ceasefire was enacted.[60]
A May 2024 poll showed 41% of Muslims intended to vote for the NDP, 31% for Liberals and 15% for the Conservatives.[58]
^Boase, Sharon (September 16, 2004). "Women's groups fight sharia in Ontario; Two reports submitted by a Muslim women's organization say introducing Islamic law into the province will harm the rights of vulnerable women".Hamilton Spectator.
^Ogilvie, Megan (April 1, 2005). "Canadian Muslims give mixed reviews on moratorium; Debate urged on Islamic penal code Proposal would halt death penalty Proposal would halt stoning, death penalty".Toronto Star.
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