Religion Data

Question:

Hello,

I’m working with a researcher who’s looking for data on gender, employment, and religion, to explore the relationship between Muslim religious identity and employment among women (at the national level). After looking around a bit it seems to me that accessing the GSS (work & home) via the RDC might be the only way to get down to the level of specific religious affiliation, but I thought I would check in here first. Would there be an option for a custom tab that would include these variables? Am I missing another source that might work for her?

Answer:

You have the National Household Survey that has religious affiliation data.
Religion (19), Age Groups (10), Sex (3), Selected Demographic, Cultural, Labour Force and Educational Characteristics (268) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2011 National Household Survey

There’s the 2001 census as well that has variable on religion, gender and employment.  Interestingly enough, the question on religion was not included in the 2016 Census since it is only asked every 10 years. The question will be considered for inclusion in the 2021 Census (source – Census Dictionary).

Justice Stats and Religious Affiliation

Question

We have a student who wonders if there is anything (survey) identifying religious affiliation, i.e., Muslim, of prisoners in Canada?

Answer

Our justice contacts have confirmed that they do not collect data on religious affiliation of prisoners in Canada.

The student may be interested in the data Correctional Services Canada seems to collect. They appear to have offender counts by religion from a system called the Offender Management System (see information and basic counts at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/prgrm/chap/rsa/doc-eng.shtml).