Churchgoing among native children in Canada’s northern territories

What are kids up to in Canada’s north? Is there any hope for them? The only news we hear seems to be bad news. That is a pity because there is considerable good news which goes unreported. One concerns churchgoing.

In the following we assume that religion is good for the well-being of children and families. Even the dismal science (economics) makes that assumption when it regards religion as providing meaning, purpose and hope, a form of human capital that complements that supplied by the school system. Social sciences also consider religious commitment to be a determinant of physical and emotional health, family well-being, volunteering, charitable giving and other community involvements.

We may excuse the media for not reporting on the story of churchgoing in the north, because until recently there has been no data. But now there is and the story is indeed good news. For example, who would guess that as many as six in ten Inuit children under 12 attend religious services at least monthly? Of these, four in ten attend services weekly. To put these figures into context, consider that these are higher rates of attendance than those in Canada’s most religiously committed provinces, PEI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The rates for Inuit children are over three times as high as the rates in Quebec. Among the North American Indian children in the north, over one third attend at least monthly, and one in five weekly. These rates are slightly higher than the rates for non-native children in the north. (Our source is the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth for 1994-95, Statistics Canada.)

If we consider the children exposed to religion each year we find that eight in ten Inuit children attend religious services at least once a year, and another six per cent have a mother or father who attends at least monthly. In other words, by this definition only 14% of Inuit children are not exposed to religion each year. By contrast, 50% of the non-native children in the north are not exposed to religion in a given year. The figure is 38% for the North American Indian or Métis children in the north.

The churches in the north provide more than just religious services. The ministers and priests also provide counseling services to parents. Some 15% of the non-native children, 29% of the North American Indian children, and 35% of Inuit children have parents who received help with personal problems in the previous year.

The picture painted is one of relatively strong churches. (Non-Christian religious affiliation is rare in the north; well under 1% of the population belonged to native or Inuit religions in the 1991 Census). Yet it is possible that the religious part of the cultural ecology is as fragile as the natural ecology. One anthropologist reported on very high commitment among the Eskimo in the Baker Lake region in the 1950s: "The average service lasts for one and a half hours and there are six services a week in the Anglican chapel, five a week in the Roman Catholic". Government services may be able to replace part of the services provided by the churches, but would the replacements be of equal high quality? Would they be able to give the children and families a sense of right and wrong, good and bad, purpose and meaning, love of neighbour and enemy, and belief in eternal life? Governments should be concerned not to damage either the cultural or natural ecology of the north if they place a value on the quality of life of families and children.

This article is based in part on a study completed for CCRI, and available on its web site http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~fjones/