At Canadian Affairs, we are focused on publishing high-quality reported journalism on topics pertinent to Canadians’ lives — news that matters to Canadians’ families, their communities, their jobs and their pocketbooks.
Of course, many other publications publish news on these topics as well. So that is not our only criterion for choosing what to cover.
We also consider whether a topic is undercovered. We aim to be an additive source of news, publishing content that either challenges the prevailing media coverage or elevates an overlooked topic.
Religion reporting meets both of these criteria.
Some readers may dismiss the notion that religion matters to Canadians anymore. We beg to differ.
While it is true that about one-third of Canadians profess no religious affiliation, a doubling from 20 years ago, religious beliefs and affiliations do continue to inform many Canadians’ values.
Values in turn inform individuals’ actions. They inform how people vote and their politics, when and whether they get married, whether to have kids, what kind of education their kids should receive, how they spend their money, how they engage in civic society and so on. One need look no further than the divisive debate over the Israel-Palestine conflict to appreciate that religion does indeed still have far-reaching implications today, both good and ill.
Second, religion today is woefully undercovered.
It used to be the case that all of Canada’s major newspapers had religion reporters. These were journalists who had deep experience covering diverse faith groups and their activities. As one member of the faith community recently put it, these journalists knew what questions to ask. A reporter wasn’t starting from ground zero with their questions when they called.
Today, following years of cost cutting, none of Canada’s daily newspapers have religion reporters. Religion reporting has virtually disappeared from the Canadian news landscape.
One exception to this trend is the Winnipeg Free Press, Manitoba’s paper of record. Since 2019, diverse Manitoba faith groups and individuals have made donations to fund that paper’s faith coverage. These faith funders do not dictate what stories get covered, but they are invited to make the Free Press’ journalists’ aware of topical issues within their faith communities.
One of the Free Press’ religion reporters, John Longhurst, also writes for Canadian Affairs and has instigated a religion reporting project here. Faith funders from diverse faith backgrounds — Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Protestants, Hindus and others — have been invited to contribute modest funding to cover the cost of Canadian Affairs’ religion coverage. Some have responded to the call.
As with the Free Press’ religion reporting project, these funders will not dictate our coverage. But they will have the opportunity to alert us to trends within their communities.
On the national scene, none of Canada’s media cover religion in an intentional way. That leaves Canadian Affairs as the only national publication dedicating resources to covering this important subject. Through our journalism, we want to reflect the ways — good and bad — that religion and faith continue to affect Canadians and their communities today. We hope this initiative brings forth articles that are relevant to your lives and communities.
We welcome your feedback on our coverage.
Canadian Affairs’ religion reporting project funders are:
- The Canadian Centre for Christian Charities
- Presbytery of West Toronto
- The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
- The United Church of Canada
Neat idea! Looking forward to reading it.