Abstract

While changes in the Quebec’s immigration patterns and demographics over the past forty years are well researched, scholars have rarely investigated how young Quebeckers make sense of themselves and the world around them. Previous research on the topic of youth religiosity in Western countries (Campiche, 1997; Smith and Lundquist Denton, 2005; Crawford and Rossiter, 2006; Lefebvre, 2006; Roehlkepartain et al, 2008; Valk et al, 2009; Kimball et al, 2010) has outlined adolescents’ interest in questions of meaning and in learning about religions from an unbiased perspective. We addresses this issue by adding to the data we have on adolescents meaning-making strategies within a sociological perspective, and seeks to integrate the voice of adolescents to discussions on educational questions that are directly relevant to their development and wellbeing.

This dissertation reports on a detailed investigation of seventeen Québécois teenagers’ lives and worldviews, using qualitative methods. Through an individual, semi-directed interview, 17 Montreal adolescents (nine girls and eight boys) between the ages of 14 and 19 (m = 16.05) were asked about their views on religion, spirituality, adolescence, the place of religion in society, as well as ethnic and religious diversity in their school, and their appreciation of the recently implemented Ethics and Religious Culture Program. We found that the participants to this study had a non-religious perspective, evidenced by a distrust of religious institutions and an absence of religious beliefs and practices, coupled with an interest for learning about religious culture and ethical questions, evidenced by a generally positive evaluation of the Ethics and Religious Culture Program.