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Dutch Canadians

{{short description|Ethnic group}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}

{{Refimprove|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Dutch Canadians

| native_name = {{native name|nl|Nederlandse Canadezen}}
{{native name|fr|Canadiens néerlandais}}

| image = Dutch Canadians by census division.svg

| image_caption =

{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=1999-07-29 |title=Historical statistics of Canada, section A: Population and migration - ARCHIVED |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/11-516-X |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{rp|17}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2013-04-03 |title=1961 Census of Canada : population : vol. I - part 2 = 1961 Recensement du Canada : population : vol. I - partie 2. Ethnic groups. |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.831160/publication.html |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2013-04-03 |title=1971 Census of Canada : population : vol. I - part 3 = Recensement du Canada 1971 : population : vol. I - partie 3. Ethnic groups. |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.834326/publication.html |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2013-04-03 |title=1981 Census of Canada : volume 1 - national series : population = Recensement du Canada de 1981 : volume 1 - série nationale : population. Ethnic origin. |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.837638/publication.html |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2013-04-03 |title=Census Canada 1986 Profile of ethnic groups |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.676331/publication.html |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2013-04-03 |title= 1986 Census of Canada: Ethnic Diversity In Canada. |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.576036/publication.html |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2013-04-03 |title= 1991 Census: The nation. Ethnic origin. |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.676069/publication.html |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2019-06-04 |title= Data tables, 1996 Census Population by Ethnic Origin (188) and Sex (3), Showing Single and Multiple Responses (3), for Canada, Provinces, Territories and Census Metropolitan Areas, 1996 Census (20% Sample Data) |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/English/census96/data/tables/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=1&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=1&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=5216&PRID=0&PTYPE=89103&S=0&SHOWALL=No&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=9&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2013-12-23

|title= Ethnic Origin (232), Sex (3) and Single and Multiple Responses (3) for Population, for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2001 Census - 20% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/English/census01/products/standard/themes/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=1&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=1&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=62911&PRID=0&PTYPE=55440&S=0&SHOWALL=No&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=44&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2020-05-01

|title= Ethnic Origin (247), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=1&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=1&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=92333&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971&S=0&SHOWALL=No&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=80&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2019-01-23

|title= Ethnic Origin (264), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age Groups (10) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2011 National Household Survey |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2019-06-17

|title= Ethnic Origin (279), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age (12) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110528&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2017&THEME=120&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}
{{smaller|Note: 1981 Canadian census did not include multiple ethnic origin responses, thus population is an undercount.}}

|1871|29662

|1881|30412

|1901|33845

|1911|55961

|1921|117505

|1931|148962

|1941|212863

|1951|264267

|1961|429679

|1971|425945

|1981|408235

|1986|881935

|1991|961595

|1996|916215

|2001|923310

|2006|1035965

|2011|1067245

|2016|1111655

}}

The first Dutch people to come to Canada were Dutch Americans among the United Empire Loyalists. The largest wave was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when large numbers of Dutch helped settle the Canadian west. During this period significant numbers also settled in major cities like Toronto. While interrupted by the First World War this migration returned in the 1920s, but again halted during the Great Depression and Second World War.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

After World War II, a large number of Dutch immigrants moved to Canada, including a number of war brides of the Canadian soldiers who liberated the Netherlands. There were officially 1,886 Dutch war brides to Canada, ranking second after British war brides.{{cite book|last=Ganzevoort|first=Herman|title=Dutch immigration to North America|year=1983|publisher=Multicultural History Society of Ontario|location=Toronto|isbn=0-919045-15-4|page=192|url=http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=3765239|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130708191805/http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=3765239|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 July 2013}} During the war, Canada had sheltered Crown Princess Juliana and her family. The annual Canadian Tulip Festival held in May commemorates her with a generous number of tulips coming from The Netherlands. Due to these close links Canada became a popular destination for Dutch immigrants. The Canadian government encouraged this, recruiting skilled workers. This post-war wave went mainly to urban centres such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver. With the economic recovery of the Netherlands in the post-war years immigration to Canada slowed.

While one of the largest minority groups in Canada, Dutch Canadians have tended to rapidly assimilate and there are relatively few Dutch Canadian organizations and media. One important institution is the Christian Reformed Church in North America, with most congregations found throughout Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. The Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, The King's University in Edmonton, and Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario are associated with this Dutch Reformed/Calvinist denomination. Christian Schools International, the Christian Labour Association of Canada, and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario are organizations with strong Dutch-Canadian roots. In his book To All Our Children: The Story of The Postwar Dutch Immigration to Canada, Albert VanderMey explains that in Edmonton, Dutch Canadian immigrants "also set up a credit union, a burial fund, three elementary Christian schools and one Christian high school, and a home for senior citizens."{{Cite book |last=VanderMey |first=Albert |url=https://archive.org/details/to-all-our-children/mode/2up |title=To All Our Children: The Story of The Postwar Dutch Immigration to Canada |publisher=Paideia Press |year=1983 |isbn=9780888151001 |page=311}}{{efn|The high school to which VanderMey refers is Edmonton Christian High School and the credit union is the Christian Credit Union.}}

Dutch Canadians, because of their shared cultural and religious heritage, tend to form tight-knit communities. This has led to an in-joke known as "Dutch bingo",{{cite web|url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=74555|title=Dutch Bingo - Everything2.com|website=everything2.com|access-date=19 August 2017}} where it is said that a Dutch Canadian is able to figure out his/her connection to another Dutch Canadian by asking questions about the other's last name, town of birth, church and the college they attended.

Geographical distribution

Data from this section from Statistics Canada, 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E | title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population | date=9 February 2022 }}

= Provinces & territories =

class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="font-size: 90%;"
Province / TerritoryPercent Dutch

!Total Dutch

{{flag|Alberta}}4.2%

|174,625

{{flag|British Columbia}}3.9%

|189,985

{{flag|Manitoba}}3.3%

|43,390

{{flag|New Brunswick}}1.8%

|13,310

{{flag|Newfoundland and Labrador}}0.4%

|1,830

{{flag|Northwest Territories}}2.3%

|940

{{flag|Nova Scotia}}2.9%

|27,375

{{flag|Nunavut}}0.5%

|185

{{flag|Ontario}}3.4%

|478,860

{{flag|Prince Edward Island}}3.0%

|4,465

{{flag|Quebec}}0.3%

|22,385

{{flag|Saskatchewan}}2.7%

|29,410

{{flag|Yukon}}4.6%

|1,825

{{flag|Canada}} — Total || 2.7% || |988,585

Notable people

{{Refimprove|section|date=April 2025}}

=Academia=

  • Parzival Copes, economist
  • Sidney van den Bergh, astronomer{{cite web|title=Sidney van den Bergh Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science: Canada's most respected astronomer|url=http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=414|publisher=GCS Research Society|date=17 September 2015|access-date=10 September 2017}}
  • Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, physicist

=Arts and entertainment=

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=Business=

=Farming=

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=Sports=

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See also

{{Portal|Canada|Netherlands}}

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{reflist|30em}}

External links

  • [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dutch Canadian Encyclopedia - Dutch]
  • [http://www.dutchinottawa.ca DCA: Dutch Canadian Association - Dutch Canadians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113053132/http://www.dutchinottawa.ca/ |date=13 January 2020 }}
  • [http://www.caans-acaen.ca CAANS: Canadian Association for the Advancement of Netherlandic Studies - Dutch Canadians]
  • [http://www.dutchreadz.com Maandblad de Krant, monthly magazine for Canadians and Americans of Dutch Origin]
  • [http://www.dutchreadz.com DUTCH the magazine, about the Netherlands and its people, at home and abroad]
  • [http://historicus.web-log.nl/mijn_weblog/engelstalig/ Historical articles about postwar Dutch immigration to Canada and the USA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817225046/http://historicus.web-log.nl/mijn_weblog/engelstalig/ |date=17 August 2011 }}

{{People of Canada}}

{{Dutch diaspora}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Portal bar|Canada|Netherlands}}

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