May 13, 2003
For Immediate Release
The Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual and Religious Care (OMC) is very pleased to have been named by Statistics Canada as a respondent for the “Religion Release” from the 2001 Census.
Liz Chappel, Executive Director of the OMC, explains that “The Council has anticipated the growth in the other-than-Christian and foreign-born populations and the effect that the growth will have on the provision of spiritual and religious care. OMC has evolved into an organization that provides authoritative Multifaith information, acts as a resource for Multifaith education and assists in the understanding of religious accommodation and determination of religious rights and practices that affect the people of the Province of Ontario. Information inquiries alone from government and other service providers have increased dramatically over the past five years.”
The 2001 Census data on Religious Denomination confirms the changes in faith group demographics that the Ontario Multifaith Council has anticipated since the 1991 census. With the introduction of the first Multifaith Calendar and Multifaith Information Manual in 1985, the OMC has worked to prepare provincial institutions and other service providers for changes in the accommodation of both collective and individual religious rights.
Comprised of thirty-three faith groups ranging from Anglican to Zoroastrian, the Council was established by the Provincial Government in 1972 to advise it on Spiritual Care and Religious Rights issues and policies in hospitals, correctional facilities, long-term care facilities and community-based programs.
The census data clearly shows a changing face in the province, one that is already reflected in our hospitals, correctional institutions, schools, homes for the aged and community programs. That will, in order to respect the dignity of Ontario’s increasingly diverse community, require an increasingly Multifaith approach to and understanding of spiritual and religious care.
Further releases will be available on the Ontario Multifaith Council's website at www.omc.ca
Contact:
Ms. Liz Chappel, Executive Director of the Ontario Multifaith Council at:
416-422-1490.