The Churches of Pierre Poilievre

Pierre Poilievre is visiting a lot of churches these days.

The federal Conservative leader has been sharing photos from his appearances at a variety of churches from across the country. He’s visited the Church of South India in Etobicoke, a Coptic church in Markham for Easter and the All Nations Full Gospel Church in North York, among many others. He was also at the National Prayer Breakfast back in May.

In February, the Lunar New Year was particularly busy for Poilievre. He spent the countdown celebrations at the Aberdeen Centre mall in Richmond, B.C., handing out red envelopes while wearing a traditional Tang suit in blue with a dragon pattern. The next morning, he made it to Sunday service at North York, Ontario’s Triumph Chinese Evangelical Missionary Church. He wore the same Tang suit and once again had red envelopes in hand.

These church visits have been ramping up. On July 5, Poilievre attended three evangelical churches in Liberal Toronto ridings, all in the span of the day. He briefly participated in services and made short political speeches.

And while Poilievre has visited mosques in the past, the Globe and Mail reports that he’s halted those visits this year.

Justin Trudeau may be known and lightly roasted for his propensity for photo opportunities, but Poilievre has been collecting many himself and posting them on social media.

Accompanying the images are his praises of “patriotic Canadians,” “faith, family and freedom” and how “Conservatives will always protect the religious freedom of all Canadians so everyone can worship in peace and safety.”

Poilievre was raised Catholic and makes occasional references to God in his speeches. But according to the biography Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life by Andrew Lawton, his friends and colleagues don’t believe that faith has played a meaningful role in his adult life. He discusses it in an abstract and philosophical manner and attends churches only when campaigning.

So what is this patriotism that Poilievre is attempting to tap into? Are religious freedoms under threat or is he exaggerating?

Carmen Celestini, who lectures at the University of Waterloo and is a leading researcher on religion and the right, helps dissect what’s going on. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Tyee: Why is ‘religious freedom’ a theme for Poilievre?

Carmen Celestini: COVID is definitely one of the catalysts. Think about some of the individuals who have become influencers throughout and outside of the convoy protest itself, like Artur Pawlowski [the Calgary preacher found guilty of contempt for holding indoor gatherings without masks during the pandemic].

He talks about how to end religious persecution and let religious freedom ring free in Canada. Even though it was because of COVID that people couldn’t meet, not specifically that Christians couldn’t meet, that narrative picked up.

How do some of the “culture wars” and conspiracy theories on the right play into religion?

We have a lot of Christian nationalists, who can be white, who are holding on to this idea of anti-immigration, that they are being replaced and persecuted and prosecuted for their faith in Canada.

At the same time we recognize historically there is this laden idea. Regardless of your denomination or ethnicity, there are certain values that go under this umbrella of Christianity.

What are our family traditions? What are our traditional gender roles? These ideas are really [part of] the moral panic that rose up since the pandemic.

The anti-LGBTQ moral panic (the “groomer” moral panic, as they refer to it) and the anti-immigration, anti-critical-race-theory moral panic — all of these are attached to Christianity.

How is this playing out in Poilievre’s campaign?

Poilievre is really paying attention to these movements.

He’s going to a lot of churches. Not all of them are Christian nationalists. But there’s an appeal to it because of the progressiveness of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party... talking about abortion, talking about women’s rights, talking about LGBT rights.

These are things Poilievre can speak to these Christian groups and say, “I won’t let the pendulum go any further, it’s time for us to go back to our traditionalism.”

As a conservative politician, how unusual is it that Poilievre is tapping into evangelical groups?

The Reform Party and Wildrose Party of earlier times aligned very much closely with evangelicals. But being blatant? I don’t think we would ever see one of our politicians holding up a Bible during a protest.

Diversity and multiculturalism is such an important part of our Canadian fabric that [politicians] would engage with those communities too. But what’s happening now with Poilievre, rather than attending a Hindu event or a Sikh event or an Islamic event, he’s attending Christian events.

A couple of years ago, he put out an Easter poster. His face is superimposed on it and it says, “He is risen.” You look at this and you’re like, “Who is risen? Poilievre or Jesus?” It’s this link that he holds Christian values.

[There were two versions of this Easter poster, one of which was published in Ottawa’s Your Community Voice newspaper.]

What have you seen lately in your own field research?

Here in Ingersoll, near Waterloo, there’s this group called Liberty Coalition Canada that did this political church revival. I went to it and it was really all about politics and how to get their religious voice in: protecting children, protecting women, traditionalism, how SOGI [sexual orientation and gender identity] and immigration will harm Christianity. The minister starts using the Bible to justify and deliver this.

How much of this is coming up to Canada from the U.S.?

We do have a lot of connections with the Americans. A lot of these ideas are there because the internet is borderless, and these ideas are borderless as well. If you look at Liberty Coalition Canada, it’s not necessarily nationalistic. It has more to do with creating God’s kingdom here on Earth and following his rules and his ideas.

There are connections and movements here that are uniquely Canadian. We didn’t have until the end of Roe v. Wade the same sort of battles about abortion.

But now they’re all here sort of bubbling up in the underground. The 1 Million March 4 Children was definitely part of this. Groups that were involved in Christian nationalism, anti-abortion, anti-mandates — all of those things are coming together and converging as one.

What’s happening with anti-trans laws in provinces pushing for this is religion being a part of it and demonizing communities. We see that American-style politics of negativity, which can provide that Poilievre is the hero, that’s he’s just going to say it and not be afraid of the elites and the powerful and save Canada.

The congregations that Poilievre has been visiting and taking pictures with appear to be quite diverse in terms of denominations and demographics, such as Chinese and Indian churches with immigrant roots. Why might those groups be throwing their support behind Poilievre if there are anti-immigrant white nationalists in his camp?

This is their country, this is their homeland too. Christian enclaves are multicultural. They still see a sense of a threat happening. If you were a Christian, and there’s Muslims or Hindus or people from any other religion that seem to be growing very quickly because of immigration, they see that as an attack on them and their nation.

But he’s definitely appealing to a general Christian base, including a lot of white Christian nationalists who aren’t as welcoming to multicultural churches.

Why should Canadians care what’s happening in some Christian circles and Poilievre’s attempts to speak to them?

We need to realize the distrust and disenfranchisement of our institutions that these individuals felt during COVID. After the pandemic, that’s not going to disappear. A lot of these groups are trying to change politics. It’s going to be on library boards and municipal governments.

Rather than policies, they’re trying to push an ideology into our politics and it behooves us all to pay attention to that.