I came into I Am: Céline Dion expecting her to talk about her faith. Seeing as she’s from a large Roman Catholic family and has expressed enduring Catholic faith, I expected to see her turn to her faith to carry her through her illness. And yet, Céline Dion didn’t mention her religion once. 

In retrospect, it should not have been surprising that religion takes a backseat. As Al Donato discussed in a 2018 piece on Dion’s faith, she rarely speaks about it in public. Still, despite not discussing religion explicitly, there is an undercurrent of faith throughout the documentary that begins with Dion’s touching memories of childhood and ends with her current struggle against stiff person syndrome. 

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While her religious beliefs are not explicit, her spirituality often shines through, especially when it comes to her love for her family. “Times like this will live forever,” she says, as childhood photographs of her family are featured onscreen. 

The only explicit mention of Dion’s religious background comes in a story about her family, particularly the strength of her mother. Growing up with 13 siblings, Dion describes her childhood as warm and loving, but sometimes challenging. Noting that her parents sometimes struggled to provide for all of them, she describes her mother cooking carrot pies on a night where the family had almost no food in the fridge. 

“She never told us ‘we have nothing to eat tonight.’ She started to make dough, and there [were] carrots… She said she prayed before [serving us dinner]. She prayed that she was not going to hear, ‘mom, what is that?’”

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This mention of prayer reminds us of her family’s religious faith, but the story also demonstrates her mother’s faith in herself, faith in her ability — with the love and support of her family — to make the best of her circumstances. 

This is the kind of faith that follows Celine through the entire documentary, as she, a global popstar and a single mother of two children, struggles to make the best of her one-in-a-million diagnosis. 

This faith in herself is also on display in her recent interview with CBC News’s Adrienne Arsenault. When asked about whether she feels pressure from fans to return to the stage, Dion responds swiftly and confidently.

 “I’ll sing again,” she says. And the viewer cannot help but have faith in her.

***

Amarah Hasham-Steele is a summer intern at Broadview, based in Toronto. 

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