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BUDDHISM IN CANADA

Buddhism has become a major religion in Canada over the last half-century.
The ‘ethnic Buddhism’ associated with immigrant Asian peoples is the
most important aspect, but there is also a growing constituency of Euro-
Canadian Buddhists seriously interested in the faith. This book analyzes the
phenomenon of Buddhism in Canada from a regional perspective, providing
a review of the history of Buddhism and an analysis of its current situation
in the provinces and in three major metropolitan areas. The work provides
an important examination of the place of Buddhism in a developed Western
country associated with a traditional Judeo-Christian culture, but a country
nonetheless undergoing profound sociological transformation due in no small
part to large-scale immigration and religio-cultural pluralism.

Bruce Matthews is the Dean of Arts and C. B. Lumsden Professor of Com-


parative Religion at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada. A former
Commonwealth scholar in Buddhist Civilization at the University of Ceylon,
Peradeniya (1970–71), he has a long-standing interest in Buddhism and the
modern world.
Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism
General Editors:
Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown

Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism is a comprehensive study of the


Buddhist tradition. The series explores this complex and extensive tradition
from a variety of perspectives, using a range of different methodologies.
The series is diverse in its focus, including historical studies, textual transla-
tions and commentaries, sociological investigations, bibliographic studies, and
considerations of religious practice as an expression of Buddhism’s integral
religiosity. It also presents materials on modern intellectual historical studies,
including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary,
critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive
and imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of
Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research works that inform and advance
our knowledge and understanding of the Buddhist tradition.

A SURVEY OF VINAYA PAIN AND ITS ENDING


LITERATURE Carol S. Anderson
Charles S. Prebish
EMPTINESS APPRAISED
THE REFLEXIVE NATURE David F. Burton
OF AWARENESS
THE SOUND OF LIBERATING
Paul Williams
TRUTH
ALTRUISM AND REALITY Edited by Sallie B. King and
Paul Williams Paul O. Ingram
BUDDHISM AND HUMAN BUDDHIST THEOLOGY
RIGHTS Edited by Roger R. Jackson and
Edited by Damien Keown, John J. Makransky
Charles Prebish, Wayne Husted
THE GLORIOUS DEEDS
WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PURNA
OF THE BUDDHA Joel Tatelman
Kathryn R. Blackstone
EARLY BUDDHISM –
THE RESONANCE OF A NEW APPROACH
EMPTINESS Sue Hamilton
Gay Watson
CONTEMPORARY
AMERICAN BUDDHISM BUDDHIST ETHICS
Edited by Duncan Ryuken Williams Edited by Damien Keown
and Christopher Queen
INNOVATIVE BUDDHIST
IMAGING WISDOM WOMEN
Jacob N. Kinnard Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo
TEACHING BUDDHISM TIBETAN AND ZEN
IN THE WEST BUDDHISM IN BRITAIN
Edited by V. S. Hori, R. P. Hayes David N. Kay
and J. M. Shields
THE CONCEPT OF THE
EMPTY VISION BUDDHA
David L. McMahan Guang Xing
SELF, REALITY AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF
REASON IN TIBETAN DESIRE IN THE BUDDHIST
PHILOSOPHY PALI CANON
Thupten Jinpa David Webster

IN DEFENSE OF DHARMA THE NOTION OF DITTHI IN


Tessa J. Bartholomeusz THERAVADA BUDDHISM
Paul Fuller
BUDDHIST
PHENOMENOLOGY THE BUDDHIST THEORY
Dan Lusthaus OF SELF-COGNITION
Zhihua Yao
RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION
AND THE ORIGINS OF MORAL THEORY IN
BUDDHISM SANTIDEVA’S
Torkel Brekke SIKSASAMUCCAYA
Barbra R. Clayton
DEVELOPMENTS IN
AUSTRALIAN BUDDHISM BUDDHIST STUDIES FROM
Michelle Spuler INDIA TO AMERICA
Edited by Damien Keown
ZEN WAR STORIES
Brian Victoria DISCOURSE AND
IDEOLOGY IN MEDIEVAL
THE BUDDHIST JAPANESE BUDDHISM
UNCONSCIOUS Edited by Richard K. Payne and
William S. Waldron Taigen Dan Leighton
INDIAN BUDDHIST BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND
THEORIES OF PERSONS APPLIED PSYCHOLOGICAL
James Duerlinger RESEARCH
Edited by D. K. Nauriyal, Michael
ACTION DHARMA
S. Drummond and Y. B. Lal
Edited by Christopher Queen,
Charles Prebish and BUDDHISM IN CANADA
Damien Keown Edited by Bruce Matthews
The following titles are published in association with the Oxford Centre for
Buddhist Studies

Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies


a project of The Society for the Wider Understanding of the Buddhist Tradition

The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies conducts and promotes rigorous
teaching and research into all forms of the Buddhist tradition.

EARLY BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS


Noa Ronkin
MIPHAM’S DIALECTICS AND THE DEBATES ON EMPTINESS
Karma Phuntsho
HOW BUDDHISM BEGAN
The conditioned genesis of the early teachings
Richard F. Gombrich
BUDDHISM IN
CANADA

Edited by Bruce Matthews


First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2006 Editorial matter and selection Bruce Matthews;
individual chapters, the contributors
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Buddhism in Canada / edited by Bruce Matthews.
p. cm. – (Routledge critical studies in Buddhism)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-32279-0 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Buddhism–Canada. I. Matthews, Bruce, 1941– . II. Series.
BQ742.B83 2005
294.3′0971–dc22
2005018225

ISBN10: 0–415–32279–0 (Print Edition)


ISBN13: 9–78–0–415–32279–9

vi
CONTENTS

List of contributors ix
Foreword xii
PAUL BRAMADAT

Preface xvi
BRUCE MATTHEWS

1 Buddhism in British Columbia 1


JAMES PLACZEK AND LARRY DEVRIES, with Appendix by VICTOR CHAN

2 Buddhism in Alberta 30
LESLIE KAWAMURA

3 Buddhism in Saskatchewan and Manitoba 43


JAMES G. MULLENS

4 Buddhist diversity in Ontario 59


KAY KOPPEDRAYER AND MAVIS L. FENN

5 Buddhism in the Greater Toronto area:


the politics of recognition 85
JANET MCLELLAN

6 Lao Buddhism in Toronto: a case study of


community relations 105
MARYBETH WHITE

7 Buddhism in Québec 120


LOUIS-JACQUES DORAIS

8 Blurred boundaries: Buddhist communities in the


Greater Montréal region 142
MATHIEU BOISVERT, MANUEL LITALIEN AND FRANÇOIS THIBEAULT

vii
CONTENTS

9 Buddhism in Atlantic Canada 151


BRUCE MATTHEWS

Appendix: buddhismcanada.com:
a decade in cyber-samsara 162
GEORGE KLIMA

Index 167

viii
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CONTRIBUTORS

Mathieu Boisvert has been a professor at the Département des sciences


religieuses de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) since 1992. He
was initially trained in philology (Sanskrit, Pali), but now primarily works
in the anthropology of religion. He is one of the founders of the Groupe
de recherches interdisciplinaire sur le Montréal ethno-religieux (GRIMER),
research funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada.

Paul Bramadat is an associate professor in the Department of Religious


Studies at the University of Winnipeg. His research interests include reli-
gion and public policy in Canada and the intersection between religious
and ethnic modes of identity. His most recent work reconsiders the relation-
ship between religions, Canada’s multiculturalism program, and the federal
government.

Victor Chan is Executive Director of the Contemporary Tibetan Studies Pro-


gram, Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia.

Larry DeVries is located in the Pacific Rim Department at Langara College


in Vancouver BC and teaches mostly religious studies courses. He holds a
MA and PhD in South Asia Studies from the University of Minnesota
and has taught at such institutions as the University of Minnesota, the
University of Hawaii, and the University of Washington, as well as hold-
ing a research position at the University of Chicago under the National
Endowment for the Humanities.

Louis-Jacques Dorais graduated in anthropology from Université de Montréal


(MSc), and in ethnolinguistics from Université de Paris-III, Sorbonne
(Doct.). He has taught since 1972 in the Department of Anthropology,
Université Laval, Québec, Canada. Dorais specializes in language and
identity among overseas Vietnamese, the Inuit, and French-speaking
minorities in North America.

ix
CONTRIBUTORS

Mavis L. Fenn received her PhD from McMaster University, Hamilton,


Ontario, Canada. She teaches Asian Religion at the Department of Reli-
gious Studies at St Paul’s College (University of Waterloo), Ontario,
Canada. Her research interests include women in Buddhism and the
adaptation of Buddhism to the West. Her most recent articles are ‘The
Kutadanta Sutta: Tradition in tension’ and ‘The Ordination Issue: Where
are we now?’ (in progress). She is currently working on two projects:
‘Buddhism on a Canadian Campus’ and ‘Buddhist Women in Canada’
with Janet McClellan at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Leslie Kawamura is Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of
Religious Studies, Faculty of Humanities, the University of Calgary. He is
currently the Chair of the Asian Studies Group, the Coordinator of the Tri-
Faculty East Asian Studies BA Major program (Faculties of Communica-
tion and Culture, Humanities, and Social Sciences), and the Coordinator
of the East Asian Studies Minor for the Faculty of Communication and
Culture. He has written numerous papers as chapters of books or articles
in various journals. He has published eight books, including translations
of G. M. Nagao’s MAadhyamaka and YogAcAra, Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan’s
Sems dang sems byung (Mind in Buddhist Psychology), and The Bodhisattva
Doctrine in Buddhism. He has read papers at various conferences held
in the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, England, China, Japan, USA, and
Canada. His major field of research interest is early Yogacara in India,
using Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and English sources.
George Klima graduated from the University of Victoria. Subsequently, he
completed a PhD in General Psychology at Queen’s University, Kingston.
Ontario. After graduation, Klima worked in information technology for
twenty years in Montréal and Toronto, particularly with IBM Canada.
Kay Koppedrayer is a full-time faculty member of the Department of Religion
and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Her scholarly interests have taken her to places as diverse as Rosebud,
South Dakota; the Kingdom of Bhutan; Pawhuska, Oklahoma; Tanjavur
(in South India); and Barnet, Vermont. In addition to her work on Hindu-
ism and Buddhism in North America, her academic forays have taken
her into the world of expressive culture, in work on performance, sports,
ritual activities, and visual display.
Manuel Litalien is a PhD student in political science at Université du Québec
à Montréal. His research focuses on the relationship between religion
and politics in Southeast Asia, international relations in Pacific Asia, and
transnational theologico-political movements.
Bruce Matthews is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and C. B. Lumsden Professor
of Comparative Religion, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He

x
CONTRIBUTORS

has studied Buddhism and politics in South and Southeast Asia (particu-
larly Sri Lanka and Burma) since 1970. He regularly travels to Asia and
in Sri Lanka has developed strong, informative links with both government
and civil society. He has written many authoritative articles on conflict
and peace processes in Buddhist countries.
Janet McLellan is Assistant Professor in the Religion and Culture Depart-
ment at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is the author of Many Petals
of the Lotus: Five Asian Buddhist Communities in Toronto. Her current
research involves Cambodian refugees in Ontario and examines the role
religion plays in their resettlement and adaptation, in constructing a Khmer
Canadian identity, and in the development of transnational networks.
James G. Mullens received his PhD in Religious Studies from McMaster
University and is a member of the Department of Religious Studies
and Anthropology at the University of Saskatchewan, where he has taught
Buddhist Studies and Comparative Religion since 1989. His areas of
research specialization are Buddhist monastic history; Buddhism and
society; engaged Buddhism; and religion and nonviolence.
James Placzek is the Chair of the Pacific Rim Department at Langara College
in Vancouver BC, and an honorary research associate of the Institute of
Asian Research, University of British Columbia. He lived for seven years
in Thailand, and witnessed the beginnings of the Western branch of the
Ajahn Chah lineage, but never ordained. He has degrees in Psychology,
Linguistics, and an interdisciplinary PhD in Southeast Asian Cultures
and History, all of which he finds relevant in the study of Buddhism in
the West.
François Thibeault is currently studying religions at Université du Québec à
Montréal, in the MA program of the Département de sciences religieuses.
His research focuses primarily on the interpretation and the process of
the implantation of Buddhism in the West, particularly in the Province
of Québec. His research includes a specific concern for Buddhist ethnic
communities and their relationship to the larger Québec society.
Marybeth White completed a double major honors degree in Religious Studies
and Philosophy at York University. Her Master of Arts thesis explores
Thich Nhat Hanh’s and Rita Gross’ views of family, community and
Buddhist practice, and the validity of parenting as a path toward the
Buddhist ideal of enlightenment. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate in
the Religion and Culture Department at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her
research involves issues of religious identity among second-generation
Lao refugees in North America.

xi
FOREWORD

Paul Bramadat

For most of its roughly 2,500 years, Buddhism has been confined to various
parts of Asia. However, at least two phenomena have introduced the tradi-
tion to a great many people outside Asia. First, of course, the interaction
in the past half millennia between European scholars, clerics, merchants,
soldiers, and colonizers on the one hand and the inhabitants of predomin-
antly Buddhist (or Buddhist-influenced) regions on the other hand have
brought Buddhism into the imaginations of many people in the West. While
such forays into the Orient produced highly distorted images of the East that
still bedevil us today (Said 1978; Paper, Paper and Lai 2005), these several
centuries of interaction did lay the groundwork for the more favourable con-
temporary reception of Buddhism in the West.
Second, and more recently, a number of changes within the spheres of
communication, capitalism, and mass transportation have made it possible
for millions of Buddhists to migrate to North America. Such migrations
have been occurring for a variety of reasons for over a hundred years (and
longer in Europe), but these movements clearly entered an entirely new
phase by the 1960s, due to the global reorganization occasioned by World
War II. These historical changes in international migration patterns are
interesting, but this is not the place to consider them.1 What is worth noting,
though, is that while there have been small Buddhist communities in Canada
since the beginning of the twentieth century, the numbers of Buddhists in
this country have increased dramatically in roughly the past twenty years.
This is partly due to the fact that in the late 1960s, federal policy makers
dramatically revised their approaches both to immigration and Canadian
culture.
Regarding the question of Canadian culture, most readers will know that
Prime Minister Trudeau’s 1971 inauguration of the Multiculturalism Policy
represented a fairly significant change in the way the Canadian national
meta-narrative was to be reconstructed. Although there are still debates about
why the policy was launched and whether it was and is effective, public
opinion polls consistently show that most Canadians embrace the policy
and the progressive ethical ideals on which it is founded.2

xii
FOREWORD

Regarding the question of immigration, some readers will be unfamiliar


with the fact that our immigration policies were once rather unapologetic-
ally based on race (or, to put it another way, were generated by racism).
After World War II, as racism became increasingly discredited, Canadian
and American policy makers and cultural leaders rejected these policies as
ineffective means of preparing ourselves for the more multicultural world
so many people felt was emerging. The highly problematic ‘quota’ system
that had helped for decades to ‘keep Canada white’ (a popular slogan in the
early part of the twentieth century) finally gave way at the end of the 1960s
to the ‘point’ system. According to this new approach – still in place today,
in modified form – immigration candidates are deemed acceptable if they
accumulate a certain number of points which are awarded for their educa-
tion level, family status, occupational experience, proficiency in one of the
two official languages, and so on. These policy changes opened the door to
many Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs, and fundamentally altered the
nature of Canadian immigration. Moreover, as any study of contemporary
Canadian Buddhism will demonstrate, many Buddhists also found their way
to Canada as refugees in the wake of the Vietnam War, the Chinese invasion
of Tibet, and the Cambodian genocide.
While it is very difficult to determine with much precision the size of
what is variously called the non-Asian, white, convert, non-ethnic, or
Euro-American Buddhist population, anecdotal evidence suggests that their
numbers are significant. Their forms and levels of involvement in Buddhism
might be, in historical terms, somewhat unusual,3 but they are an increasingly
important segment of the larger Buddhist community. Although this is
not the central concern of these chapters, part of the backdrop of this book
is the tension between ‘Asian’ or ‘ethnic’ and ‘Western’ or ‘non-Asian’
Buddhists. In Canada, even within the same sub-tradition of Buddhism,
Asian and non-Asian groups often operate separately, in what Numrich
(1996) calls ‘parallel congregations.’ While some Asians are concerned that
Westerners and some ‘new agers’ are merely dabbling temporarily in a
deep and demanding tradition, some non-Asians are concerned that Asian
practitioners are perhaps too attached to culture-bound (e.g., strictly Thai
or Sinhalese) accretions rather than the strictly religious or spiritual elements
of Buddhism.
Although there are Buddhist groups across Canada, it is easy to see why
Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees and their children, relatively recent
and economically mobile Chinese business class immigrants, third- or fourth-
generation overwhelmingly exogamous integrated Japanese, and non-Asian
Buddhists, would find it very difficult to work together to build a pan-
Buddhist or ecumenical movement in this country. Nevertheless, although
the linguistic, cultural, and social class differences between these groups
tend to militate against the kinds of institutions that seem to be necessary
to ensure the future health of Buddhism, we are presently witnessing the

xiii
PAUL BRAMADAT

beginnings of some of these structures (most obviously, the Nalanda College


of Buddhist Studies, and Buddhismcanada.com).
In short, a variety of forces have combined to greatly increase the Buddhist
presence in Canada. At the same time, most Canadians know very little
about Buddhism. In his Preface, Bruce Matthews echoes Charles Prebish
(1999: 234) by noting that the study of Buddhism in North America is in
its infancy. In Buddhism in Canada, Matthews and his colleagues have
provided readers with an extremely valuable contribution to the public
and private conversations many people are having about a tradition that is
no longer strictly associated with distant lands and epochs. The question
is whether or not non-Buddhist Canadians are prepared to understand this
tradition, or to relate constructively with its communities and practitioners.
The answer to both questions is, emphatically, no. Research conducted by
Chris Klassen (2002) indicates that with a few exceptions (notably, in Québec),
most Canadian secondary schools do not consistently offer education
about religion to their students; and, when such elective courses are offered,
they are rarely promoted. Of course, what Lois Sweet calls our ‘religious
illiteracy’ (1997) is not simply a by-product of an ill-conceived secularization
of our schools. In fact, virtually throughout our governments and in most
places in our media, religion is treated as either dangerous, doomed to
extinction, or at least a strictly private matter. Consequently, we know little
about Buddhism or our Buddhist neighbours (not to mention our Christian,
Muslim, and Sikh neighbours).
Buddhism in Canada functions first and foremost as a kind of national
Buddhist ‘map.’ In this sense, it is an important step in the study of this
tradition in Canada. Clearly, this book will serve as the reference point for
future in-depth studies of the temples, traditions, and leaders the authors
discuss. Furthermore, as local and national policy makers endeavour to
improve the way governments respond to religious – rather than merely
ethnic or racial – differences, they will benefit from this book’s broad topo-
graphical sketch of the tradition. In addition, the book also offers several
thick descriptions of particular groups and individuals. Matthews’ discussion
of Trungpa Rinpoche’s time and legacy in Halifax, and White’s considera-
tion of the challenges the Lao community faced in Caledon are just two
examples of the kinds of portraits that will help to add some ethnographic
detail to the map.
There are elements of Canadian institutions, history, and society that are
often promoted by our governments as core features of our culture (e.g.,
hockey, politeness, Medicare), but the inhabitants of this vast geography
have never been able to agree upon a single unifying culture, ideology, or
identity. Many Canadians are beginning to feel a sense of pride in our much
celebrated (and often criticized) willingness to accept the cultural changes
and ambiguities that are associated with evolving demographic, moral, and
political realities. With this in mind, it is not surprising that Buddhists,

xiv
FOREWORD

whose tradition seeks to illuminate the impermanence at the heart of the


universe, would find Canada to be a congenial environment in which to root
and recreate their lives and tradition. Those of us interested in Buddhism
in Canada will find this book to be a most helpful guide to the new terrain
of Canadian religion.

Notes
1 See Ebaugh and Saltzman Chafetz 2002; Haddad, et al. 2003; Bramadat and
Seljak 2005; Journal of International Migration and Integration.
2 However, the xenophobic backlash against Muslims and others in the aftermath
of 11 September 2001 indicates that at least some Canadians do not, or do not
unequivocally, support all of the goals of the Multiculturalism Policy.
3 In other words, some are ‘nightstand’ Buddhists, some are ‘New Age’ Buddhists,
some are serious practitioners (who might take vows and become monks or nuns),
some are closely associated with a specific, well-defined Asian Buddhist teacher or
school of thought, some pick and choose from the various leaders and traditions,
some import elements of Buddhist practice or thought into their core Christian
or Jewish identities. This is, of course, just a partial list of the various ways a
non-Asian might express his or her Buddhism.

Bibliography
Bramadat, Paul and Seljak, David (eds) (2005) Religion and Ethnicity in Canada.
Toronto, ON: Pearson Education.
Ebaugh, Helen Rose and Chafetz, Janet Saltzman (eds) (2002) Religion Across Borders:
Transnational Immigrant Networks. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, Smith, Jane T. and Esposito, John L. (eds) (2003)
Religion and Immigration: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Experiences in the United
States. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Klassen, Chris (2002) “Teaching World Religions in Public Schools Across Canada,”
Unpublished manuscript. York University, Ontario.
McLellan, Janet and White, Marybeth (2005) “Social Capital and Identity Politics
Among Asian Buddhists in Toronto,” Journal of International Migration and
Integration, 6(2): 235–53.
Numrich, Paul David (1996) Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two
Immigrant Theravada Buddhist Temples. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee
Press.
Paper, Jordan, Paper, Li Chuang and Lai, David Chenyuan (2005) “The Chinese
in Canada: Their Unrecognized Religion,” in P. Bramadat and D. Seljak (eds)
Religion and Ethnicity in Canada. Toronto, ON: Pearson Education.
Prebish, Charles (1999) Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in
America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Said, Edward (1978) Orientalism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Sweet, Lois (1997) God in the Classroom. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart.

xv
PREFACE

Bruce Matthews

Buddhism has a fascinating history in Canada. This book aims to show how
the faith has developed in Canada, and something of its present circum-
stances. The contributors focus on specific geographical regions. The account
unfolds from west to east, beginning with a review of Buddhism in British
Columbia by James Placzek and Larry DeVries, for the West Coast was the
site of the original migration of Asian Buddhists in the mid-nineteenth century
and is still a vital centre of Buddhist activity and culture. An addendum to
this chapter by Victor Chan on the impact of the visit of the Dalai Lama
to Vancouver in the spring of 2004 provides an interesting insight into the
importance of Asian Buddhist leadership and image in the Canadian con-
text. Leslie Kawamura sets down the story in Alberta, and James Mullens
the two prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Kay Koppedrayer
and Mavis Fenn examine Buddhism in Ontario, and Janet McLellan the
city of Toronto, which claims the most diverse number of Buddhist com-
munities in the country. Marybeth White offers a ‘thick description’ of a
unique situation with the Lao Buddhist community in that city, alerting us
to several challenges that confront ethnic Buddhist groups in many parts
of the nation. Louis-Jacques Dorais provides an analysis of Buddhism in
Québec, with special focus on the Vietnamese community. Mathieu Boisvert,
Manuel Litalien and François Thibeault have provided a valuable survey
of Buddhism in Canada’s largest French-speaking city, Montréal. Bruce
Matthews shows that the Atlantic provinces may not have significant numbers
of Buddhists, but what sects and communities there are give a fascinating
glimpse into the spread of the faith into this sparsely populated and tradi-
tional region, reminding us that there is not a province or territory in Canada
(including Nunuvut in the far north) that does not have some Buddhist
outreach or expression. A final appendix by George Klima relates to a vital
website that he has carefully constructed of hundreds of Canadian Buddhist
organizations, a resource of significance for anyone interested in the enormous
diversity of the Buddhist experience in this land. I need as well to thank
five others in particular: Paul Bramadat of the University of Winnipeg (and
recent editor and author, along with David Seljak, of Religion and Ethnicity

xvi
PREFACE

in Canada)1 for kindly agreeing to write the Foreword; Robert Florida of the
University of Victoria, British Columbia, has helped in editing some of the
work in this volume, as has Mrs Herbert (Lee) Lewis of Wolfville. Lindsay
Taylor, a graduate student in the Faculty of Education at Acadia University,
and Leanna McDonald in my office, have kindly helped guide the manuscript
over its entire evolution as a computerized document.
These chapters will largely speak for themselves. Most of the contribu-
tors began discussion on the need for such a record at a symposium on
‘Buddhism and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism’, held at Bishop’s Uni-
versity in Lennoxville, Québec, in 1999. Two years before, I had participated
as the Canadian contributor at an international conference on ‘The State of
Buddhist Studies in the World’, at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The
task of preparation gave me the opportunity to review Canadian scholarly
work on Buddhism produced over the last twenty-five years. There was, in
fact, a great deal, but only a small sector of that published scholarship dealt
directly with the Canadian Buddhist experience, notably work by Roy Amore
(1979), Elliot Tepper (1980), Louis-Jacques Dorais (1993) and Janet McLellan
(1999).2 The Lennoxville symposium stimulated a more detailed, published
record of Buddhism in our land. In discussing how to ‘characterize’ the
different kinds of Buddhism (to use the language of Jan Nattier), we con-
sidered separate reviews of ethnic Buddhism identified with specific cultures
or ‘vehicles’ ( yAnas), Euro-Canadian Buddhism, and a seemingly evolving
‘North Americanized’ or ‘Canadianized’ Buddhism.3 We noted that previous
ground-breaking work on Buddhism in the United States by such scholars
as Charles Prebish (1979, 1999, with Tanaka 1998), Rick Fields (1981), Paul
Numrich (1996) and Kenneth Tanaka (1999) used one or more of these
approaches to explore a complex subject. In the end, however, we decided that
the best way for us to consider the topic in the Canadian context was from
a geographical perspective. In this regard, we are conscious of the limitations
such a method imposes. There are a few ‘thick descriptions’ to be sure, but
in general the chapters are deliberately designed to set down in broad terms
relevant historical information and reviews of the current state of the religion
in Canadian society. As contributors, only two of us (Leslie Kawamura and
Victor Chan) come directly from an ethnic Buddhist background. In this
regard, we take seriously the caution of E. H. Rick Jarrow when he warns
about the danger of ‘outsider’ research becoming a kind of ‘voyeurism . . . the
non-involved gaze that may theorize without the risk of contact . . . a dis-
embodied objectivity’ (Hori 2002: 108). Hopefully our chapters go beyond
this dismal prospect, and offer informative and empathetic accounts of this
great global religion in the contemporary Canadian circumstance.
By way of background, I turn now to offer some general observations on
the subject of Buddhism in Canada. The Canadian federal census (Statistics
Canada 2001) indicates that just over 300,000 people specify a Buddhist
affiliation (1 per cent of the total population), though official statistics do

xvii
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