Arab Canadians

Arab Canadians
Arabo-Canadiens

كنديون عرب
Arab Canadians as percent of population by census division (2021)
Total population
690,000 1.9% of the total Canadian population (2021) (2021 Census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Laval, Mississauga, Windsor, London, Edmonton
Languages
Arabic (including various dialects) Canadian English Canadian French
Religion
Islam (44%) Catholicism (28%) Eastern Orthodoxy (11%) Irreligion (6%) Mainline Protestantism (5%) other (6%) [2007][2] Druze (≤ 0.02%; total count: 5,455) [2021][3]
Related ethnic groups
Iraqi diaspora Egyptian diaspora Lebanese diaspora Palestinian diaspora Moroccan diaspora Syrian diaspora Somali diaspora

Arab Canadians (French: Arabo-Canadiens) come from all of the countries of the Arab world. According to the 2021 Census, there were 690,000 Canadians, or 1.9%, who claimed Arab ancestry.^[4] According to the 2011 census there were 380,620 Canadians who claimed full or partial ancestry from an Arabic-speaking country.^[5][verify] The large majority of the Canadians of Arab origin population live in either Ontario or Quebec.^[6]

Demographics

The distribution of the Arab population of Canada according to the 2001, 2011, and 2016 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[7]	1.2%	523,235[7]	1.5%	694,015[7]	1.9%

By Arabic-speaking country

Country[8]	2016[5]
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’´[9]

Religion

The 2011 Canadian census shows that 55% from Arab Canadians reported belonging to a Muslim faith and 34% reported belonging to a Christian faith. 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 practiced the Muslim faith with 44% and those who practiced the Christian faith 44%, (where 28% as Catholic, 11% as Eastern Orthodox Church and 5% as Other Christian). In 2011, about 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.^[10]

The percentage of Arab Canadians were not affiliated with any religions only marginally increased from 6% in 2001 to 8% in 2011.^[10]

The greatest percentage of Arab Christians in Canada come from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Iraq, where the highest rates of Muslims come from Algeria and Morocco.^[10]

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.^[11] 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".^[12] 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.^[13]

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.^[14][15] 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.^[16]

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.^[17] 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.^[18]

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.^[19][20]

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.^[21]

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.^[22]

Notable individuals

Business

• Feras Antoon - co-founder and CEO of MindGeek (of Syrian descent)
• Wafic Saïd - billionaire businessman (Syrian)
• Kevin O'Leary - entrepreneur and reality television personality (Dragons' Den, Shark Tank) (of Lebanese and Irish descent)
• Ablan Leon - founder of Leon's furniture company in 1901 in Welland, Ontario (born in Lebanon)
• Dov Charney - founder of American Apparel and Los Angeles Apparel (of Syrian descent from his mother’s side)
• Ayah Bdeir – founder of LittleBits (of Syrian descent)

Politicians

• Omar Alghabra - current Liberal MP in the federal riding of Mississauga Centre in Ontario, Canada (of Syrian descent, born in Saudi Arabia)
• Pierre de Bané - former Liberal MP (1968–1984), Cabinet Minister and former Senator (of Palestinian descent)
• Sam Hamad - he held various cabinet posts during his 14 years in the National Assembly of Quebec (of Syrian descent)
• Michael Basha - former member of the Senate of Canada (of Lebanese descent)
• Tarik Brahmi - former NDP member of House of Commons for Saint-Jean (of Algerian descent)
• Ramez Ayoub - former Member of Parliament for Thérèse-De Blainville, former mayor of Lorraine (of Syrian descent)
• Fonse Faour - former NDP MP and leader of Newfoundland NDP (of Lebanese descent)
• Eddie Francis - Mayor of Windsor, Ontario (of Lebanese descent)
• Joe Ghiz - former Premier of Prince Edward Island (of Lebanese descent)
• Tony Clement - served as an Ontario cabinet minister, including as Minister of Health and Industry (of Syrian descent from his mother's side)
• Robert Ghiz - Premier of Prince Edward Island (of Lebanese descent)
• Sadia Groguhé - former NDP member of House of Commons for Saint-Lambert (of Algerian descent)
• Mac Harb - Senator, former Liberal MP (1988–2004) and former Ottawa City Councilor (of Lebanese descent)
• Sana Hassainia - former NDP member of House of Commons for Verchères—Les Patriotes riding (of Tunisian descent)
• Lorraine Michael - former Nun, leader of New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador (of Lebanese descent)
• Maria Mourani - former Bloc Québécois (2006–2013) and independent MP (2013–2015) in federal riding of Ahuntsic in Quebec, Canada (of Lebanese descent)
• Khalil Ramal - Ontario MPP (of Lebanese descent)
• Djaouida Sellah - former NDP member of House of Commons for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert (of Algerian descent)
• Paul Zed - lawyer, professor, former Member of Parliament (of Lebanese descent)
• Sam Elkas - former representative of the electoral district of Robert-Baldwin in the National Assembly of Quebec. (of Syrian descent)

Political activists

• Maher Arar - human rights activist; deportation and tortured victim in Syrian jail (of Syrian descent)
• Monia Mazigh - human rights activist and New Democratic Party candidate (of Tunisian descent)
• Samah Sabawi - Palestinian rights activist and playwright
• Rahaf Mohammed - Refugee and activist from Saudi Arabia

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

• Jamal Murray - professional NBA player (of Syrian descent from his mother's side)
• Sami Zayn - professional WWE wrestler (of Syrian descent)
• Ramzi Abid - professional hockey player (of Tunisian descent)
• David Azzi - professional player in Canadian Football League (of Lebanese descent)
• John Hanna - professional hockey player (of Lebanese descent)
• Ed Hatoum - professional hockey player (of Lebanese descent)
• Fabian Joseph - former professional hockey player (Canada men's national ice hockey team) (of Lebanese descent)
• Nazem Kadri - professional hockey player (of Lebanese descent)
• Aliyah - professional WWE wrestler (of Syrian-Iraqi descent)
• John Makdessi - professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter (of Lebanese descent)
• Alain Nasreddine - professional hockey player (of Lebanese descent)
• Jean Sayegh - water polo player (of Lebanese descent)
• Yassine Bounou - professional soccer player (Morocco national football team) (of Moroccan descent)

Others

• Reema Abdo - former backstroke swimmer (of Yemeni descent)
• René Angélil - manager and husband of Céline Dion, (of Syrian descent)^[23]
• 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 Ukrainian descent.)

See also

• Middle Eastern Canadians
• West Asian Canadians
• Canadian Arab Federation (CAF)
• National Council on Canada-Arab Relations (NCCAR)
• Arab Christians
• Islam in Canada
• Lebanese diaspora
• Palestinian diaspora
• Syrian diaspora
• Moroccan diaspora
• Iraqi diaspora
• Egyptian diaspora

References

1. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (26 October 2022). "The Daily — The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity". www150.statcan.gc.ca.
2. "The Lebanese Community in Canada". Statistics Canada. 28 August 2007.
3. Statistics Canada (October 26, 2022), Religion by visible minority and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts, doi:10.25318/9810034201-eng, Table: 98-10-0342-01, retrieved 10 May 2023
4. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-02-09). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2016 Census of Population - Canada [Country]". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
5. Statistics Canada (8 May 2013). "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Retrieved 11 February 2014.
6. Mandil, Ghada (August 2019). "Insights into the Arab Population in Canada Based on the 2016 Census Data" (PDF). Square Space. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
7. Statistics Canada. "2016 Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity Highlight Tables: Data tables". Retrieved 11 February 2014.
8. Including ethnic minorities.
9. "Canadian Arab Institute :: 750,925 Canadians Hail from Arab Lands". www.canadianarabinstitute.org. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
10. Dajjani, Ghina. "Religion and Marital Status in the Canadian Arab Community" (PDF).
11. Raja G. Khouri (2003). Arabs in Canada: Post 9/11. G7 Books. p. 19. ISBN 978-1894611367. 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.
12. Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar (8 May 2019). "Arab Muslim Canadian high school students call for globalized curriculum to change stereotypes". The Conversation. 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.
13. Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar (2019). "Implications and Conclusions". Negotiating Diasporic Identity in Arab-Canadian Students: Double Consciousness, Belonging, and Radicalization. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 137. ISBN 978-3030162856. For Ibrahim, existing contentedly with a rather balanced image or perception of an Arab-Canadian identity is key to social integration
14. Madona Mokbel (2009). "Either Arab or Canadian: Dichotomous Perceptions of the Arab Canadian Identity in Canada". American Sociological Association.
15. Vic Satzewich; Lloyd Wong, eds. (2007). "Who's Transnationalism?". Transnational Identities and Practices in Canada. University of British Columbia Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0774812849. Recent research shows that even through children of Arab Canadians born in Canada were "Americanized ... their Arab identity has been raised as a result of [the] events" of 11 September 2001.
16. Elayne Oliphant (2005). "Paradoxes of Displaying Arab-Canadian Lands within the Canadian Museum of Civilization Following 9.11". Institute of Political Economy: Carleton University. pp. 86–87. However, although The 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.
17. Christina Civantos (2017). "The Middle East in North America". In Joanna Kadi (ed.). Food for Our Grandmothers: Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists. South End Press. ISBN 978-0896084902. Given the different ethnic and religious groups and colonial histories within the nineteen countries of the Arab world, the question arises, what constitutes an Arab-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 and North Africa?
18. Amaney Jamal (2008). "Grandmothers, Grape Leaves, and Kahlil Gibran". Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects. Syracuse University Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-0815631774. 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.
19. Paul Eid (2007). Being Arab: Ethnic and Religious Identity Building among Second Generation Youth in Montreal. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0773532229. The preference of Egyptian-origin respondents for a hyphenated (Arab-Canadian) identity is probably attributable to the fact that this group comprises a majority of Copts
20. Kathryn Carriere (2009), "Spring, Volume 1", SYMPOSIA: The Graduate Student Journal of the Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, 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.
21. Baha Abu-Laban; Sharon McIrvin Abu-Laban (1999). "Arab-Canadian Youth in Immigrant Family Life". In Michael Suleiman (ed.). Arabs in America: Building a New Future. Temple University Press. pp. 140–154. ISBN 978-1566397278. 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.
22. Caitlin McDonald; Barbara Sellers-Young (2013). "Arab-Canadian Youth in Immigrant Family Life". Belly Dance Around the World: New Communities, Performance and Identity. McFarland & Company. p. 49. ISBN 978-0786473700. 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
23. "À voir à la télévision le samedi 24 mars". Le Devoir. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

External links

• Canadian Arab Institute (CAI)
• Canadian Arab Federation official website
• National Council on Canada-Arab Relations official website
• Canada Arab Forum
• The Arab Students' Association in Canada