Canadians are hungry for spirituality, delegates heard, and are far more religious than the media believe. An Angus-Reid poll released at the conference showed that six out of 10 Canadians say religion is an important part of their lives, while another survey showed that 6.2 million Canadians attend religious services every week. To indicate where the media's priorities are, a survey revealed there are 76 fulltime sports reporters at Canada's 19 largest daily newspapers, and just five religion writers. Author Lois Sweet, a former religion reporter for The Toronto Star, revealed the findings of a scan of over 1,300 clippings, and said that even though the results are unscientific, a visitor from outer space would conclude that Canada's largest religious groups are Roman Catholics and Jews. Canada's 1991 census showed that 45 percent of Canadians are Catholic, while just 1.2 percent are Jewish.
Religion becomes part of stories on ethics, gays, racism, immigration and many other issues.
Sweet, author of the book God in the Classroom, conceded that journalists bring their own, sometimes secular, biases to their work. He too noted that Jews receive disproportionately high coverage. Globe and Mail editor William Thorsell was taken to task by faith leaders and delegates for his stand that there's no reason for his paper to cover religion, unless it affects public policy.