Outing Canada’s Ghost Religious Population

By Alex Berljawsky

Have you ever wondered whether Canada functions as a mostly secular country?

As you are no doubt aware, the Canadian census will be released in a few months, and question 30 on the long form (sent to about a quarter of Canadian households) is a misleading question about religion. It asks Canadians, “What is this person’s religion?”, which is very useful information, but proceeds with the instruction, “Indicate a specific denomination or religion even if this person is not currently a practicing member of that group.”

As of the 2021 Census of Canada, 34.6% of the population responded “No Religion”. If we had more detail on the functional role that religion plays in daily life, we have reason to believe that the true percentage of secular Canadians might be between 50% to 70% of the total population.

The existing Census instruction biases Canadians who have left the faith of their childhood to select their parent’s religion, leading to an overcount of religious practitioners to an unknown extent.

Changing Canada’s Faulty Religion Question

The Centre For Inquiry Canada (CFIC) is a part of a coalition of secular, atheist, and humanist organizations that wants to inform non-practicing Canadians to select “No religion” on the 2026 census. The goal is to get as accurate a picture of the demographics of belief in Canada as possible. And to do this, it will be necessary to petition Statistics Canada to change the Census religion question from the current nominal one (which, in effect, asks the respondent to stick a label on themselves) to a realistic functional question that reflects how people really live.

The 2026 Census is a critical opportunity to influence Canadian public policy. Statistics Canada’s “weak affiliation” model encourages respondents to name a religion even if non-practicing. This artificially inflates religious adherence, creating a “phantom constituency.” Inflated data is currently used to justify public funding for separate schools, tax exemptions via the “Halo Effect” narrative, and religious chaplaincy.

“The Real You”: A Campaign to Create Awareness of Functional Secularism

“The Real You” campaign is designed to utilize playful irony to nudge “cultural Christians” as well as nominal affiliates to mark “No Religion.” By aligning census data with the lived reality of functionally secular Canadians, we aim to challenge religious privilege and advocate for evidence-based governance.

The campaign’s communications objectives are strategically focused on three achievable and measurable outcomes that lay the groundwork for future advocacy of census changes in 2031. 

First, the objective of Data Accuracy aims to significantly increase the percentage of respondents selecting “No Religion,” which is directly measurable against the 2021 census results (34.6%). 

Second, the Cultural Shift objective seeks to normalize “No Religion” as a positive identity, which will be measured through social media Engagement Rate, specifically comments and shares indicating personal identification.

Third, achieving these two public-facing goals will fulfill the Policy Impact objective by undermining the current demographic justification for religious privilege. We aim to establish a statistical and cultural foundation required for our consortium to advocate for evidence-based governance and structural census changes in the next census cycle.

The Ghost Religious Population: Targeting Audience Segments

The campaign focuses on three core audience segments to drive conversion to “No Religion”:

• The “Cultural” Affiliate: Individuals who were baptized or raised in a religious faith but have not attended services or practiced in years.
• The Functionally Secular Spiritualist: People who find meaning in nature, mindfulness, or community but still feel a residual pressure to “check the box.”
• The Pragmatic Rationalist: Individuals who value evidence-based policy and scientific inquiry.

The self-identified secular audience, including humanists, atheists, and secularists, is not the primary focus of “The Real You” campaign, as they are already highly motivated to select the “No Religion” option on the census. This group represents the ancillary audience who are already “converted” and therefore don’t require the campaign’s nudges. Their vital role is to serve as authentic advocates, sharing the campaign’s content, explaining the political and fiscal implications of accurate census data, and validating “No Religion” as a positive identity for the targeted segments of “Cultural Affiliates” and “Functionally Secular”.

Our overarching creative approach is “Lifestyle Secularism,” which deliberately avoids expressing grievances and instead focuses on the playful irony of maintaining a religious label that does not match a modern, secular life.

Here are some ghost religious stereotypes:

Concept	Theme	Primary Irony
#1 Yoga Sanctuary	Modern Rituals	Your mat is more “sacred” to you than a pew.
#2 Holiday Traditionalist	Food vs. Faith	Eating tourtière isn’t a theological stance. Liking kreplach does not qualify you as Jewish.
#3 Scientific Method	Data Integrity	If you believe in science, provide accurate data.
#4 The “Just in Case” Baptism	Personal Growth	You don’t let your parents dress you anymore; why let them pick your religion?
#5 Sunday Lie-In	Reclaimed Time	Brunch is your actual Sunday ritual.
#6 Ethics Without Extras	Secular Morality	You’re good because you care, not because of a creed.
#7 Phantom Parishioner	Political Weight	You are a “ghost” in their system; make yourself visible.
#8 Wedding Guest Paradox	Social vs. Sacred	Attending a wedding doesn’t make you a member.
#9 Nature Cathedral	Natural Peace	The mountains are your temple.
#10 Real Estate Reality	Physical Disconnect	You live near a church, but you live in a secular world.

Where the Census religion question revision group is now:

1. The committee is reaching out to secular and humanist groups in Canada and other countries about their Census communication plans.
2. Contact with Statistics Canada. We have had preliminary exchanges with StatsCan officers explaining our committee’s objectives. We have also asked StatsCan for data on who has requested Question 30 data (that is, the Census religion question).
3. Communication Plan Review. The committee has drafted a marketing strategy for a campaign to encourage people to choose “No Religion” in the May 2026 Census, consisting of 10 diverse design concepts suitable for social media dissemination.
4. Public Awareness Program. The British Columbia Humanist Association has launched a “Tick No Religion” campaign, whose goal is to ask people not attending a place of worship to pledge to mark “No religion” on their census form. The campaign slogan will be, “If you don’t go, mark NO”. It will be followed by social media content and some paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram, as well as a press release closer to the actual census. BC Humanists are also finalizing some messaging documents for other groups to take up the campaign – either through their own press releases, letters to the editor or social media efforts.

The Census Revision Committee’s spectrum of creative concepts was produced in a “white label” design for use by all Canadian secular organizations. Each of the member organizations will be releasing these materials over the next few months. We encourage everyone to share with your friends, family, neighbours, etc.