Abstract
The evolution of religion in Canadian society during the 20th century is linked to two main social factors. First, continuous immigration has changed the original bipolar division of the religious landscape between French-speaking Catholicism and English-speaking Protestantism, giving a relative predominance to Catholics everywhere in the country. Second, the growing forces of modernity have eroded the membership of all traditional confessions, profoundly transforming the significance of religious belonging. This article reviews the situation of religiosity in Canada from three angles: its contribution to the construction of identity for individuals and groups, its contribution to moral and cultural framing of populations, and the fragmentation of beliefs. It concludes with the necessity of rethinking both the religious and the secular fields, and the relationship between them, in order to understand a modern society such as this.