One of the things I find so fascinating about Canada, and Ontario in particular (because I know it best), is how differently we handle the issue of religion from the US. First off, unlike he US, there is no central group/organization that recognizes religions. "Recognition" is handled in a very weird way via individual recognition by varying levels of government departments. The key ones are Corrections (both Provincial and Federal), marriage licensing (Provincial), and the Canada Revenue Agency (definer of non-profit status). It is actually quite possible that a religion is "recognized" in one province, unrecognized in another, and illegal in a third (it's happened ). BTW, only about 50% of Canadians self identify as "Christian" (loosely construed).

Holidays, at least in Ontario, are based on the Christian religious calender, but provisions are also made, and required by law, for holidays from any religion so long as the practitioner identifies them to the concerned party - say employer or university prof (e.g. I cannot schedule exams for a religious holiday if one of my students self declares as being a part of that religion).

This has created a very interesting cultural atmosphere surrounding "religion" in Canada; one that I suspect goes back to a) our frontier society roots and b) our extremely cold winters (before global warming ). On the whole, I would say that most Canadians are more likely to agree to compromise on symbol systems in any secular ritual (e.g. the opening of Parliament), to shy away from most confrontationalist types of public rituals and to have more ecumenical (very broadly defined) public rituals.

This has led to some very "odd" public rituals. I remember one from about 20 years ago, an Earth Day public ritual, that had components from every major Christian denomination, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, Ba'Hai, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism - quite the event!