Shiism in Canada

Better understanding the Shi'a community in Canada.

Overview

The Shiism in Canada project is a collaborative research initiative between the Shi‘a Research Institute, Saint Mary’s University, and the Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research (CIECR) at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. The project aims to better understand the cultural, religious, and demographic realities of Shi‘a communities across Canada, highlighting the diversity of lived experiences and contributing to a fuller picture of Canada’s religious landscape.

Quick facts about the Shi’a community in Canada:

Canadian Shias belong mostly to the Twelver or Ismaili traditions, though exact census counts for each group are unavailable. We hope to change that through our survey and independent research.
There are approximately 300,000-600,000 Shi'a individuals in Canada, but immigration from Shi'a majority countries makes creating an estimate incredibly difficult.
Shi'a Muslims and Shi'a religious institutions are found all across the country, not just in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Research Portal

The Shiism in Canada portal allows researchers and members of the public to explore our datasets across geography. The portal is updated regularly to reflect data updates and advancements in our research.

This portal uses a variety of datasets for its estimations of Shi‘a populations and institutions. These include:

Canadian Census of Population (2001, 2011, 2021) data on immigration, ethnic/cultural identity, birth country, and mother tongue
ESRI’s ArcGIS Business Analyst (2025) data on religious institutions and other points of interest
Hackett, Conrad, Marcin Stonawski, Yunping Tong, Stephanie Kramer, Anne Fengyan Shi and Dalia Fahmy. 2025. “How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020.” Pew Research Center. doi: 10.58094/fj71-ny11
Shiism in Canada surveys

Reports and publications related to this project:

TBA