ABSTRACT
Quebec is unique in North America for its religious heritage. Eastern Canada is one of the oldest colonized areas, birthplace of Roman Catholicism, followed by an important settlement for Protestantism and Anglicanism. This province also stands out from Canada by its important movable and immovable religious heritage. In 2004, 2,751 places of worship built before 1975 or recently closed were listed in the inventory of places of worship in Quebec maintained by the Council for Religious Heritage (Committee on Culture 2006). Among these buildings are 2,023 Catholic places of worship (including churches, conventual chapels, oratories, sanctuaries and places of pilgrimage), 238 Anglican buildings, 181 belonging to the United Church of Canada, 25 synagogues, 49 Presbyterian churches and some buildings belonging to various other Protestant traditions (with Buddhists counting in this 2004 inventory only two recent pagodas and two Sikh gurdwaras).1 Hence, this chapter presents aspects of public policies relating to religious heritage and its funding in Quebec. First, Quebec’s specificity will need to be examined in the light of the importance of heritage in North America, as well as its policies with respect to religion. Secondly, developments over the last 15 years and some legal aspects will be addressed. A third point will cover the effects of classification and funding granted during this period, as well as places of worship undergoing transformation, following a recent survey by the Quebec Council for Religious Heritage (Conseil du Patrimoine Religieux du Québec, CPRQ). A brief summary of the main criticisms in the debate and a few illustrative examples will follow.
