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كنديون عرب | |
|---|---|
 Arab Canadians as percent of population by census division (2021) | |
| Total population | |
| 795,665 2.2% of the total Canadian population (2021) (2021 Census)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Montreal,Toronto,Ottawa,Calgary,Edmonton,Windsor,London | |
| Ontario | 284,215 (2.0%) |
| Quebec | 280,075 (3.3%) |
| Alberta | 69,505 (1.6%) |
| British Columbia | 28,010 (0.6%) |
| Nova Scotia | 10,610 (1.1%) |
| Languages | |
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| Religion | |
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| Related ethnic groups | |
Arab Canadians (French:Arabo-Canadiens) come from all of the countries of theArab world. According to the 2021 Census, there were 795,665 Canadians, or 2.2%, who claimed Arab ancestry.[3] According to the2011 census there were 380,620 Canadians who claimed full or partial ancestry from an Arabic-speaking country.[4][verify] The large majority of theCanadians of Arab origin population live in eitherOntario orQuebec.[5]
According to the2021 census byStatistics Canada, 795,665 Canadians identified as Arab, constituting 2.2% of the entire Canadian population. The five provinces with the most Arabs in 2021 wereOntario,Quebec,Alberta,British Columbia, andNova Scotia. Over 75% of Arab Canadians lived in eitherMontreal,Toronto,Ottawa,Calgary,Edmonton, orWindsor. 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.
Raja G. Khouri, who has served as President of theCanadian Arab Federation, in 2003 described the interconnected perceptions of a Canadian national identity andArab 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 tosocial integration in the country.[8]
Presented at the 2009 annualAmerican Sociological Association meeting, research from Madona Mokbel detailed the "Dichotomous Perceptions of the Arab Canadian Identity in Canada", particularly since the 20019/11 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 ofMiami University, writing inFood for Our Grandmothers, has detailed the broad and sometimes conflicting elements that constitute theArab world and which, therefore, do not always simply amalgamate into a coherent Arab Canadian identity.[12] The collection of writing byArab-American and Arab-Canadianfeminists, in analysis byAmaney 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 atCommission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, has remarked that Canadians of aCoptic Egyptian background are the most likely to explicitly embrace an Arab-Canadian self-identification, due to the factCopts were some of the earliest Arabic immigrants to Canada since the 1960s.[14][15]
The distribution of the Arab population of Canada according to the2001,2011, and2016 Canadian censuses was as follows:[verify]
| 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% |
| 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] |
According to the2021 Canadian census, 21.1% of Arab Canadians areChristian, 70.1% areMuslim, and 7.4% areirreligious. These number differ measurably from the numbers reported in the2001 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 29% wereCatholic, 11% wereEastern Orthodox and 9% were Other Christian). In 2011, about 3% of Arab Canadians areJewish. The largest Arab Jewish communities in Canada areMoroccan andIraqi. Other Arabs Jews are ofEgyptian,Syrian,Algerian, andLebanese 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 ofArab Christians in Canada come fromIsrael,Egypt,Lebanon andIraq, while the highest rates ofArab Muslims in Canada come fromLibya,Algeria,Morocco andTunisia.[20]
| Religious group | 2001[21][a] | 2021[20][b] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pop. | % | Pop. | % | |
| Christianity | 169,840 | 48.6% | 168,680 | 21.1% |
| Islam | 159,560 | 45.66% | 557,155 | 70.1% |
| Irreligion | 20,570 | 5.89% | 58,790 | 7.4% |
| Judaism | 8,385 | 2.4% | N/A | N/A |
| Other | 1,115 | 0.32% | 11,040 | 1.4% |
| Total Arab Canadian population | 349,470 | 100% | 795,665 | 100% |
| Religious group | 2001[21][a] | 2021[20][b] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pop. | % | Pop. | % | |
| Catholic | 100,045 | 58.91% | 69,325 | 41.1% |
| Orthodox | 39,385 | 23.19% | 46,385 | 27.5% |
| Protestant | 16,020 | 9.43% | 5,400 | 3.2% |
| Other Christian | 14,380 | 8.47% | 47,570 | 28.2% |
| Total Arab Canadian christian population | 169,840 | 100% | 168,680 | 100% |
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 ofWestern culture in the 21st-century.
A survey conducted inEdmonton, 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 ofArab Christians and 13 percentArab Muslims also suppressing the identity.[22]
Research by academics Caitlin McDonald andBarbara Sellers-Young has also suggested thatanti-Arabism and prejudice in North America can create a hostile environment for the expression of Arab Canadian identity.[23]
This dimension refers to the community's cultural affiliation and belonging; what its perceptions of the Canadian identity, the Arab identity and Arab Canadian identity are.
The students' responses demonstrated a sense of double consciousness: they felt perceived as being Canadian, and yet not quite. Both my interviews and surveys reveal a condition of the Arab-Canadian identity as one that must constantly defend or apologize for itself.
For Ibrahim, existing contentedly with a rather balanced image or perception of an Arab-Canadian identity is key to social integration
Recent research shows that even through children of Arab Canadians born in Canada were "Americanized ... theirArab identity has been raised as a result of [the] events" of 11 September 2001.
However, althoughThe Lands within Me was intended to be an exhibit about migration, movement and belonging in its broadest sense, it was through the restrictive framework of the Arab-Canadian identity that the artists were forced to demand the exhibit be displayed as planned.
Given the different ethnic and religious groups and colonial histories within the nineteen countries of the Arab world, the question arises, what constitutes anArab-American or Arab-Canadian identity? What links exist between Arabs and other ethnic and national groups in the region designated the Middle or Near East andNorth Africa?
The introduction places an emphasis on culture and specific cultural production and couples it with an explicit discussion of race positionality of Arabs in North America. This discussion moves the definition [sic?] of Arab American / Arab Canadian identity away from essentializing categories.
The preference of Egyptian-origin respondents for a hyphenated (Arab-Canadian) identity is probably attributable to the fact that this group comprises a majority ofCopts
In his provision of countless sources, epistemological camps, and theories of ethnic identity, Eid deconstrcuts various debates to present his viewpoints on how Arab-Canadian identity is formed.
The extent to which Arab-Canadian ethnicity is perceived to be a liability is reflected by responses to the following question: "Are there times when you try to hide your Arab-Canadian origin?" The results show that more females (three of ten) than males (one of ten) tried to hide their ethnicity, and within the female group, more Christian (44 percent) than Muslim (13 percent) tried to hide their Arab-Canadian identity.
Fluctuating levels of anti—Arab prejudice in North America, linked with national and international politics, mean that claiming an Arab Canadian identity can be socially compromised and compromising
Arab Canadians by state of origin | ||
|---|---|---|
| Africa |  | |
| Asia | ||
| Related topics | ||
Based onstate membership in theArab League. | ||
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