Mission
- To recognize, and help all citizens in Canadian society recognize and understand, the:
- multiplicity of religious, spiritual, and non-religious identities, traditions, and worldviews of peoples in Canada and throughout the world, and the
- internally different traditions in each religious and non-religious tradition, through research-based approaches.
- To promote religious literacy through initiatives in work-based, school-based, and community-based contexts.
Vision
CCRL strives to support individuals in various spheres of society to recognize the richness and contributions of religious, spiritual, and non-religious identities of peoples in Canada and the world. In doing so, we equip individuals to understand and recognize one another’s differences as valuable contributions towards society, be able to navigate through these differences, and gain comfort in raising questions or speaking about religious, spiritual, and non-religious identities in their public environment.
There are groups across Canada trying to foster religious literacy and interfaith dialogue in the community and inform certain workplaces and institutions about religious diversity. CCRL aims to work with many of these initiatives and facilitate a cohesive presence to show the timely and salient work regarding religious literacy across Canada. By presenting collaborative relationships between religious and non-religious groups, we hope that all peoples in society will be comfortable to approach, learn from, and with the myriad of religious and non-religious orientations in Canada. On this basis, we aim to foster religious literacy across all sectors of society and among all age groups.
To focus on this goal and attain it, all our approaches will remain:
- Research-based;
- Evaluated based on current research findings;
- Localized based on our work with community leaders and members, an understanding of each community (religious or non-religious), and geographic dynamics; and
- Focused on the current needs of each group we work with.