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The Project

The Project

The Grant Application
The Team

The Project

The Religion and Diversity Project was a $2.5 million, seven (7) year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) housed at the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).

The project addressed the following question:


Specifically, the project investigated the following questions:

  1. How are religious identities socially constructed? 
  2. How is religious expression defined and delimited in law and public policy? 
  3. How and why do gender and sexuality act as flashpoints in debates on religious freedom? 
  4. What are alternative strategies for managing religious diversity?
The project's main contribution was to identify in detail the contours of religious diversity in Canada and the potential benefits of approaches to diversity that promote substantive or deep equality and move beyond tolerance and accommodation. Our comparative research placed Canada in the context of other Western democracies and identifies global patterns in responses to religious diversity. Our research provides new data and theoretical articulations concerning religious diversity. This research program presented diversity not primarily as a problem, but as a resource and to propose strategies for equality that will advance knowledge and enhance public policy decision-making.

The Grant Application

To consult the Religion and Diversity Project grant application and full project description, please click here.

The Team

In order to achieve its goals, the project brought together 37 team members from over 20 universities across the globe and also included over 100 student team members and postdoctoral fellows. It boasted a number of important partners and stakeholders and has established links with research associates. To find out more about these key players, keep on browsing and visit the following pages:

Team Members
Student Team Members
Postdoctoral Fellows
Research Associates

Events Calendar
October 2021
October 2016  

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Research Centres
