A brief history of Spiritism in Canada

Spiritism, as codified by Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who adopted the pen name Allan Kardec, is founded on belief in one God, the pursuit of moral and spiritual improvement, communication with spirits through mediums, and reincarnation as a process of continuous spiritual evolution. Understanding its historical roots helps situate the Spiritist movement within Canada’s evolving spiritual and cultural landscape.

The Spiritist Doctrine emerged in 19th-century France and later gained widespread recognition in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Cuba. However, several of its foundational ideas reached North America earlier, largely through the Spiritualist movement that gained prominence following the events associated with the Fox Sisters in the mid-1800s. While Spiritualism and Spiritism share an interest in communication with the spirit world, they differ significantly in structure and purpose: Spiritualism developed primarily as a movement centred on mediumistic phenomena, whereas Spiritism emerged as an organized doctrine integrating scientific inquiry, philosophical reflection, and moral teachings. Practices such as séances, table-turning, and the use of Ouija boards became familiar and popular in certain social and intellectual circles in both the United States and Canada. The movement attained considerable popularity; notably, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was known to have taken an interest in Spiritualist practices1.

While Spiritism itself is relatively recent in Canada, taking root only in the past few decades, Spiritualist ideas have always been present in the country through First Nations’ Cultures, which are profoundly rooted in an interconnected relationship with their land and with Nature and were treated more like a way of life rather than “just a religion”2. Although their spiritual worldviews share many similarities with Spiritualism and Spiritism, they are distinct, and it is essential to note that their ancient, diverse, and autonomous traditions have long recognized the interconnectedness between the material and spiritual worlds, predating European religious and philosophical frameworks. As a religion or philosophy, new concepts emerged later, introduced by European Spiritualists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the door opened by the Fox Sisters’ case. Among the most prominent figures who impacted the movement in Canada was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle3, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who visited the country on four occasions between 1894 and 1923. During two of these visits, he toured the country advocating for and explaining Spiritualist concepts4. Conan Doyle also participated in séances, including one held at the home of Dr. Thomas Glendening Hamilton, a physician and member of the Manitoba legislature5.

Beyond public lectures and high-profile advocates, Spiritualism also permeated Canada’s cultural and artistic spheres. Its ideas resonated with writers, artists, and performers who explored spiritual themes as part of broader reflections on identity, creativity, and meaning6. Writers such as Flora MacDonald Denison and Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, Dr. Maurice Bucke, founder of the University of Western Ontario Medical School, and inventor Alexander Graham Bell are reported to have shown interest in Spiritualist practices7. Visual artist Lawren Harris8 of the Group of Seven, as well as contemporary actor Dan Aykroyd, have likewise acknowledged spiritual influences in their work.

The most controversial and well-documented case involving Spiritualism in Canada concerns William Lyon Mackenzie King9, the country’s longest-serving and one of its most respected Prime Ministers. King regularly participated in séances conducted by mediums such as Etta Wriedt and with Dr. Thomas Glendening Hamilton. His diaries, published posthumously, reveal that he believed he had communicated with the spirits of historical figures, including Leonardo da Vinci, Wilfrid Laurier, his mother and grandfather, and former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Scholars generally agree that King sought personal comfort and guidance from these experiences rather than political counsel, but many times, according to his own manuscripts, he took the advice from “The Great Beyond” and acted according to the instructions given by his late mother or to mystical signs he saw everywhere10.

Although the Spiritualist movement in Canada reached its peak around the early 1900s and after the First World War, it has since experienced a decline in followers. It continues to exist today as a religion, a cultural phenomenon, and, for some, a subject of scientific or pseudoscientific inquiry. Spiritism, by contrast, understood as a religion, a science, and a philosophical doctrine, has emerged in the 1990s and experienced substantial growth in Canada, particularly in the first two decades of the new millenium. This expansion is closely linked to the arrival of Brazilian immigrants, who brought with them a well-established Spiritist tradition. Rooted in Christian ethics and charitable practice, Spiritist teachings are now disseminated widely through in-person activities and especially through online platforms across the country, which helps overcome geographic distances, language barriers, and the dispersion of immigrant communities, while enabling sustained connections with Spiritist centres in Brazil and across the globe.

Over the past two decades, a gradual institutionalization and diversification of Spiritist organizations happened across the country. Several groups and Spiritist associations have been established in numerous Canadian cities, including Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, London, Québec, Winnipeg, and Halifax. Many of these organizations are not-for-profit and registered charities affiliated with the Canadian Spiritist Council / Conseil Spirite Canadien (CSC)11, founded in 2008, which serves as a coordinating body for the Spiritist Movement in Canada and is a member of the International Spiritist Council (ISC)12. These organizations typically offer public lectures (in person and online), Sunday services, educational programs for adults, youth, and children, workshops, spiritual passes (laying on of hands), and spiritual healing activities. Other groups remain independent, often maintaining close ties with Brazilian Spiritist centers, the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, or regional Spiritist federations in Brazil.

The following examples illustrate the geographic and organizational diversity of Spiritist centres currently active in Canada. These include the Joanna de Ângelis Spiritist Group (active since 1996), the Toronto Spiritist Society (2010), the Allan Kardec Vancouver Society (2012), the Allan Kardec Spiritist Centre of London Ontario (2022), the Justice Amour et Charité (2000) and the Centre d’Études Spirites Fraternité (2005) in Montréal, and the Fraternity Spiritist Society of Calgary (2015).

At its core, Spiritism emphasizes moral transformation and spiritual progress through ethical conduct, self-improvement, and service to others. While many of its principles are ancient, they are presented in an organized framework that offers clarity, comfort, and meaning. Spiritism does not claim to be the religion of the future, but rather speaks to the future of religions as a whole. Although its future in Canada remains open, its teachings continue to serve as a source of guidance and hope amid the ongoing spiritual and social transformations of our world.

By Lucas Brasil

Chair of the Allan Kardec Spiritist Centre of London and director of CSC’s Communication Committee

With the collaboration of Monica Malta

Children and Youth Spiritist educator at the Allan Kardec Spiritist Centre of London and director of CSC’s Event Committee

1 Maynard, N. C. (1891). Was Abraham Lincoln a spiritualist? Or, curious revelations from the life of a trance medium. Rufus C. Hartranft.

2 https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/book/export/html/16411#:~:text=It%20was%20traditionally%20used%20by,traditional%20Indigenous%20culture%20anEven thoughtheircommoncommond%20identity.

3 https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ve/exhibit/?slug=a-case-in-sherlock-and-his-creator#

4 https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/25/doyleinwinnipeg.shtml#:~:text=history%20alive!,visiting%20Vancouver%2C%20Edmonton%20and%20Calgary. 

5 Nickels, James B. "Psychic Research in a Winnipeg Family: Reminiscences of Dr. Glen F. H

amilton", Manitoba History. 55 (June 2007): 52

6  https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/193509

7 Levine, Allan (2011). King: William Lyon Mackenzie King: a Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre. pp. 247. ISBN 978-1-55365-560-2.

8 https://torontolife.com/culture/lawren-harris-mystic/

9 Levine, Allan (2011). King: William Lyon Mackenzie King: a Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 978-1-55365-560-2.

10 Wagner, Anton. (2024). The Spiritualist Prime Minister. Vol. 1, Mackenzie King and the New Revelation. Vol. 2, Mackenzie King and his Mediums. ISBN-10: 1786772647 / ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1786772664

11 https://www.canadianspiritistcouncil.ca/

12 http://www.cei-spiritistcouncil.com/