Analysis series Religions in Canada Provinces and territories

British Columbia: One-third report no religion

British Columbia was the only province, other than the Yukon Territory, that had no religion as the most frequent response reported in the 2001 Census. Just under 1.4 million British Columbia residents reported that they had no religion, a 39% increase since 1991. They accounted for 35% of the population in 2001, compared with 30% in 1991.

British Columbia had the lowest proportion of Roman Catholics among the provinces in 2001. The census enumerated just over 666,900 Roman Catholics, a 12% increase from 1991. They accounted for only 17% of the population in 2001, lowest in Canada, down from 18% a decade earlier.

The number of Protestants declined 11% to just over 1.2 million. They represented 31% of British Columbia’s population, compared with 42% a decade earlier.

All major Protestant denominations, except one, declined during the 1990s. The only gain occurred among Baptists, whose numbers rose 28% to almost 107,500. The census counted more than 361,800 members of the United Church in British Columbia, the largest of the Protestant faiths. They represented 9% of the provincial population.

At the same time, there was substantial growth among Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. The number of Muslims in British Columbia more than doubled to just over 56,200, accounting for 1.5% of the population. The census also counted 85,500 Buddhists (+135%), 31,500 Hindus (+74%) and more than 135,300 Sikhs (+81.5%). British Columbia was home to virtually one-half of Canada’s Sikh population.

Similar to the provincial trend, no religion was the most frequent response of Vancouver’s residents to the 2001 Census religion question. The number of persons reporting no religion in 2001 was 676,200, an increase of 39% from 1991.

In Vancouver, the share of Roman Catholics fell slightly from 19% of the population to 18%. The share of Protestant denominations fell from 37% to 25%. The United Church, the largest Protestant faith in Vancouver, represented 8% of Vancouver’s population in 2001, followed by Anglicans at 6% of the population.

The vast majority of British Columbia’s population of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs lived in Vancouver. Vancouver’s Muslim population more than doubled to 52,600, representing nearly 3% of its population. The Buddhists population also more than doubled to 74,500 representing 4% of Vancouver population. Hindus and Sikhs also incurred large increases. Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism were among the top 10 religions for Vancouver in 2001.

	Major religious denominations, British Columbia, 2001 and 1991
	Top 10 religious denominations, British Columbia , 2001