Arab Canadians

Canadian ethnic group From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arab Canadians (French: Arabo-Canadiens) come from all of the countries of the Arab world. According to the 2021 Census, there were 795,665 Canadians, or 2.2%, who claimed Arab ancestry.[3] According to the 2011 census there were 380,620 Canadians who claimed full or partial ancestry from an Arabic-speaking country.[4][verify] The large majority of the Canadians of Arab origin population live in either Ontario or Quebec.[5]

Ontario284,215 (2.0%)
Quebec280,075 (3.3%)
Alberta69,505 (1.6%)
British Columbia28,010 (0.6%)
Quick facts كنديون عرب, Total population ...
Arab Canadians
Arabo-Canadiens
كنديون عرب
Arab Canadians as percent of population by census division (2021)
Total population
795,665

2.8% of the total Canadian population (2021)

(2021 Census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Windsor, London
Ontario284,215 (2.0%)
Quebec280,075 (3.3%)
Alberta69,505 (1.6%)
British Columbia28,010 (0.6%)
Nova Scotia10,610 (1.1%)
Languages
Religion
Related ethnic groups
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Population

According to the 2021 census by Statistics Canada, 795,665 Canadians identified as Arab, constituting 2.2% of the entire Canadian population. The five provinces with the most Arabs in 2021 were Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia. Over 75% of Arab Canadians lived in either Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, or Windsor. Throughout Canada, Montreal contains the highest number of Arabs with 290,070.

Just over 3 in 10 Arab Canadians are born in Canada. For the rest that are foreign-born, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Egypt, and Iraq were the most common places of birth.

History

Raja G. Khouri, who has served as President of the Canadian Arab Federation, in 2003 described the interconnected perceptions of a Canadian national identity and Arab identity.[6] In 2009, University of Alberta professor Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar described the "double consciousness" of Arab Canadians, variously struggling with their Arab Canadian identity versus a sense of "being Canadian".[7] Abdul-Jabbar has proposed that citizens or residents of Arab descent have come to consider a cautious dual-identity approach as essential to social integration in the country.[8]

Presented at the 2009 annual American Sociological Association meeting, research from Madona Mokbel detailed the "Dichotomous Perceptions of the Arab Canadian Identity in Canada", particularly since the 2001 9/11 attacks.[9][10] Shortly after the attacks, Canadian Museum of Civilization postponed an exhibit, The Lands within Me, displaying the diasporic-based works of thirty Arab-Canadian artists. Moral outrage at the short notice of the postponement, suspicion of its connection to the attacks and subsequent protest at the decision, has been described as an early centralizing medium for Arab Canadian identity.[11]

Dr Christina Civantos of Miami University, writing in Food for Our Grandmothers, has detailed the broad and sometimes conflicting elements that constitute the Arab world and which, therefore, do not always simply amalgamate into a coherent Arab Canadian identity.[12] The collection of writing by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian feminists, in analysis by Amaney Jamal, has been described as shifting the definition of Arab Canadian identity onwards from "essentializing categories" while still explicitly confronting the racial and cultural realities of Arabs in North America.[13]

In 2013, academic Paul Eid, a researcher at Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, has remarked that Canadians of a Coptic Egyptian background are the most likely to explicitly embrace an Arab-Canadian self-identification, due to the fact Copts were some of the earliest Arabic immigrants to Canada since the 1960s.[14][15]

Geographical distribution

The distribution of the Arab population of Canada according to the 2001, 2011, and 2016 Canadian censuses was as follows:[verify]

More information Province or territory, Arabs 2001 ...
Province or territory Arabs 2001 % 2001 Arabs 2011 % 2011 Arabs 2016 % 2016 Arabs 2021 % 2021
Québec 73,345 1.0% 166,260 2.2% 213,740 2.7% 280,075 3.3%
Ontario 88,545 0.8% 151,645 1.2% 210,435 1.6% 284,215 2.0%
Alberta 19,320 0.7% 34,920 1.0% 56,700 1.4% 69,505 1.6%
British Columbia 6,605 0.2% 14,090 0.3% 19,840 0.4% 28,010 0.6%
Nova Scotia 3,610 0.4% 6,285 0.7% 8,110 0.9% 10,610 1.1%
Manitoba 1,230 0.1% 3,240 0.3% 5,030 0.4% 7,820 0.6%
Saskatchewan 900 0.1% 2,095 0.2% 4,300 0.4% 5,575 0.5%
New Brunswick 580 0.1% 1,380 0.2% 2,960 0.4% 5,060 0.7%
Newfoundland and Labrador 270 0.1% 370 0.1% 1,375 0.3% 1,740 0.3%
Prince Edward Island 175 0.0% 200 0.1% 585 0.4% 1,125 0.7%
Northwest Territories 80 0.2% 110 0.3% 100 0.2% 225 0.6%
Nunavut 10 0.0% 15 0.0% 40 0.1% 35 0.1%
Yukon 10 0.0% 0 0.0% 10 0.0% 20 0.1%
Canada 194,685 0.7% 380,620[16] 1.2% 523,235[16] 1.5% 694,015[16] 1.9%
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Demography

National origins

More information Country ...
Country[17] 2016[4]
Lebanon 219,555’´*
Algeria 104,395´’
Morocco 103,945’´*
Saudi Arabia 86,810’´*
Syria 77,045’’
Egypt 73,250’´*
Palestine 50,245´*
Kuwait 2,235´’
Tunisia 25,645´’
Iraq 68,490´’
UAE 25,530´’
Sudan 19,960’´
Jordan 25,250’´
Mauritania 9,325’´
Libya 7,740’´
Yemen 6,645’´
Canada total 756,455’´[18]
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Religion

According to the 2021 Canadian census, 26.17% of Arab Canadians are Christian, 59.27% are Muslim, and 11.36% are irreligious. These number differ measurably from the numbers reported in the 2001 Canadian census, which showed an even split in the Arab Canadian community between those who practised the Muslim faith with 46% and those who practised the Christian faith 49%, (where 58% were Catholic, 23% were Eastern Orthodox and 20% were Other Christian). In 2011, less than 3% of Arab Canadians are Jewish. The largest Arab Jewish communities in Canada are Moroccan and Iraqi. Other Arabs Jews are of Egyptian, Syrian, Algerian, and Lebanese descent.[19]

The percentage of Arab Canadians were not affiliated with any religions only marginally increased from 6% in 2001 to 8% in 2011.[19]

The highest rates of Arab Christians in Canada come from Israel, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq, while the highest rates of Arab Muslims in Canada come from Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.[20]

More information Religious group, Pop. ...
Arab Canadian demography by religion
Religious group 2001[21][a] 2021[20][b]
Pop. % Pop. %
Christianity 169,840 48.6% 272,565 26.17%
Islam 159,560 45.66% 617,320 59.27%
Irreligion 20,570 5.89% 118,375 11.36%
Judaism 8,385 2.4% 22,835 2.19%
Other 1,115 0.32% 10,485 1.01%
Total Arab Canadian population 349,470 100% 1,041,580 100%
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More information Religious group, Pop. ...
Arab Canadian demography by Christian sects
Religious group 2001[21][a] 2021[20][b]
Pop. % Pop. %
Catholic 100,045 58.91% 128,125 47.01%
Orthodox 39,385 23.19% 62,845 23.1%
Protestant 16,020 9.43% 14,770 5.42%
Other Christian 14,380 8.47% 67,125 24.63%
Total Arab Canadian christian population 169,840 100% 272,565 100%
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Identity

Arab Canadian identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as an Arab Canadian and as relating to being Arab Canadian. The expression of the identity has been widely analyzed and observed by academics as a culturally challenging self-identification in the context of elements of Western culture in the 21st-century.

A survey conducted in Edmonton, Alberta in the pre-2000, showed females 3 in 10, and 1 in 10 males, "tried to hide their Arab-Canadian identity". The research also significantly contrasted along lines of faith, with 44 percent of Arab Christians and 13 percent Arab Muslims also suppressing the identity.[22]

Research by academics Caitlin McDonald and Barbara Sellers-Young has also suggested that anti-Arabism and prejudice in North America can create a hostile environment for the expression of Arab Canadian identity.[23]

Notable individuals

Business

Politicians

Political activists

Filmmakers and writers

  • Rawi Hage (Author: De Niro's Game, Beirut Hellfire Society, Cockroach; Lebanese)
  • Ruba Nadda - film director who won the Best Canadian Feature Film award in 2009 (of Syrian and Palestinian descent)
  • Anisa Mehdi - Emmy Award-winning film director, journalist and director of Inside Mecca (of Iraqi descent)
  • Wajdi Mouawad (Writer: Incendies, Lebanese)
  • Trish Salah - Lambda Award-winning poet and writer, author of Wanting in Arabic and Lyric Sexology, Vol. 1
  • Habeeb Salloum (1924-2019) - prominent author and freelance writer
  • Donald Shebib - documentary filmmaker (of Lebanese descent)
  • Ameer Idreis - writer, playwright, and urbanist (of Palestinian descent)

Singers

  • Ali Gatie - singer (of Iraqi descent)
  • Paul Anka - singer (of Syrian-Lebanese descent)
  • Belly - rap/hip hop artist (of Palestinian descent)
  • Andy Kim - pop singer/songwriter (of Lebanese descent)
  • K.Maro - rapper (of Lebanese descent)
  • Kristina Maria - singer/songwriter (of Lebanese descent)
  • Massari - pop and hip-hop singer (of Lebanese descent)
  • Narcy - rapper (of Iraqi descent)
  • Nasri - reggae and pop singer (of Palestinian descent)
  • Raffi - children musician and composer (of Egyptian descent), famous for Baby Beluga
  • Vaï - rapper, hip hop singer (of Moroccan descent)
  • Karl Wolf - singer (of Lebanese descent)
  • Zaho - singer (of Algerian descent)
  • Nemah Hasan (Nemahsis) - singer-songwriter (of Palestinian descent)

Athletes

Others

  • Reema Abdo - former backstroke swimmer (of Yemeni descent)
  • René Angélil - manager and husband of Céline Dion, (of Syrian descent)[24]
  • Nahlah Ayed - journalist (of Palestinian descent)
  • Rachid Badouri - comedian (of Moroccan descent)
  • Hoda ElMaraghy - first woman to serve as dean of engineering at a Canadian university. Appointed as Canada Research Chair (CRC) in manufacturing systems in 2002. (of Egyptian descent)
  • Mohamed Fahmy - journalist and reporter
  • Ghassan Halazon - entrepreneur (of Jordanian-Palestinian descent)
  • Jade Hassouné - known for his role as Meliorn in the US television series "Shadowhunters" and for that of Prince Ahmed Al Saeed in the Canadian series '"Heartland" (of Lebanese descent)
  • Jesse Hutch - actor, model, director and musician (of Syrian descent)
  • Mena Massoud - an actor best known for starring as Aladdin in the 2019 live-action adaptation (of Egyptian descent)
  • Habeeb Salloum - author, cookbook author, writer, travel writer (of Syrian descent)
  • Inanna Sarkis - internet personality, actress and director (of Syrian descent)
  • Mamdouh Shoukri - former president of York University (of Egyptian descent)
  • Ty Wood - an actor and model. Grand nephew of Miss Universe 1971 Georgina Rizk (of Palestinian-Lebanese Hungarian descent.)

See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    Religious breakdown proportions based on "Arab", "Lebanese", "Algerian", "Moroccan", "Syrian", "Egyptian", "Palestinian" and "Iraqi" ethnic or cultural origin response on the 2001 census.[21]
  2. [b]
    Religious breakdown proportions based on "Lebanese", "Moroccan", "Algerian", "Saudi Arabian", "Syrian", "Egyptian", "Palestinian", "Kuwaiti", "Tunisian", "Iraqi", "Libyan", "Sudanese", "Jordanian", "Mauritanian", "Yemeni" and "Arab n.o.s." ethnic or cultural origin response on the 2021 census.[20]

References

External links

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