Lebanese Canadians
{{Short description|Canadians of Lebanese origin}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Lebanese Canadians
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| flag =
| image = Lebanese Distribution in Canada, 2021 Census.jpg
| caption = Population distribution of Lebanese Canadians by census division, 2021 census
| pop = 210,605 (by ancestry, 2021 census)[https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&DGUIDList=2021A000011124&GENDERList=1,2,3&STATISTICList=1&HEADERList=0&SearchText=Canada Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population]
|popplace =
|region1 = {{flag|Ontario}}
|pop1 = 80,345
|region2 = {{flag|Quebec}}
|pop2 = 78,210
|region3 = {{flag|Alberta}}
|pop3 = 28,480
|region4 = {{flag|British Columbia}}
|pop4 = 8,440
| langs = Canadian English, Canadian French, Lebanese Arabic, Lebanese French, Armenian
| rels = {{hlist|Catholicism (42%)|Islam (30%)|Eastern Orthodoxy (11%)|Protestantism (3%)| Irreligion (5%)|other (1%) [2007]{{cite web |title=The Lebanese Community in Canada |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-621-x/89-621-x2007015-eng.htm#7 |website=Statistics Canada |date=28 August 2007}} |Druze (8%){{citation|last1=Statistics Canada |title=Religion by visible minority and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts |date=October 26, 2022 |publisher=Government of Canada |doi=10.25318/9810034201-eng |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810034201 |access-date=10 May 2023 |id=Table: 98-10-0342-01}}}}
| related = Arab Canadians, other Asian Canadians including West Asian Canadians
}}
{{Lebanese people}}
Lebanese Canadians are Canadians of Lebanese origin. According to the 2016 census there were 219,555 Canadians who claimed Lebanese ancestry, showing an increase compared to the 2006 census,{{cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1118296&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0 |title=2011 National Household Survey: Data tables |author=Statistics Canada |date=8 May 2013 |author-link=Statistics Canada |access-date=11 February 2014}} making them by far the largest group of people with Arabic-speaking roots. As of the 2016 census, they are also one of the largest communities of Asian origin in the country.{{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=2022-08-31 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}
History
Lebanese immigration began in 1882. The first Lebanese immigrant to Canada was Abraham Bounadere (Ibrahim Abu Nadir) from Zahlé in Lebanon who settled in Montreal.{{Cite web|title=History of Recent Arab Immigration to Canada|url=http://www.canadianarabcommunity.com/historyofrecentarabimmigrationtocanada.php|access-date=2021-05-18|website=www.canadianarabcommunity.com|archive-date=July 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725042116/http://www.canadianarabcommunity.com/historyofrecentarabimmigrationtocanada.php|url-status=dead}} Because of situations within Lebanon and restrictive Canadian laws these immigrants were 90 percent Christian. These immigrants were mostly economic migrants seeking greater prosperity in the New World as well as escaping Ottoman persecution.
In more recent years this pattern has changed, and large numbers of Lebanese Muslims and Druze have come to Canada.{{cite news|last=Bessonov |first=Ania |date=18 November 2018 |title=Dating Druze: The struggle to find love in a dwindling diaspora|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/druze-dating-diaspora-toronto-exclusion-1.4904888|work=CBC News|access-date=1 May 2019}} Immigration laws were liberalized after the Second World War, and immigration steadily increased in the 1950s and 1960s.
The greatest influx of Lebanese was during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), and this period saw a number of Lebanon's wealthiest and best educated move to Canada to flee the violence in their homeland. Canada and Australia were the only Western countries to set up special programs to enable Lebanese to more easily emigrate. Canada set up an office in Cyprus to process Lebanese refugees.
The media has reported that as many as 50,000 of Lebanese-Canadians were in Lebanon during the summer of 2006, with about half of them permanently residing there.[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast-crisis/canada-lebanon.html Canada and Lebanon, a special tie] from CBC 1 August 2006 During 2006 Lebanon War the large number of Canadians caught in the crossfire led to a major effort to evacuate them from the war zone. It also led some to accuse some of those holding Canadian citizenship of being Canadians of convenience.
November is Lebanese Heritage Month, and was declared as such by the Parliament of Canada in 2023.{{Cite news |last=Keuchkerian |first=Karine |date=2022-04-07 |title=Canadian MP Introduced Bill To Declare November As The Lebanese Heritage Month |url=https://www.the961.com/canada-november-lebanese-heritage-month/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408082753/https://www.the961.com/canada-november-lebanese-heritage-month/ |archive-date=2022-04-08 |access-date=2025-04-19 |work=961}}{{Cite news |last=Hak |first=Joe |date=2023-07-24 |title=Opinion: New Lebanese Heritage Month a chance to celebrate Canada |url=https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-new-lebanese-heritage-month-a-chance-to-celebrate-canada |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724213315/https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-new-lebanese-heritage-month-a-chance-to-celebrate-canada |archive-date=2023-07-24 |access-date=2025-04-19 |work=Edmonton Journal}}
Demography
= Language =
Many Lebanese speak French and prefer to settle in francophone Montreal.
= Religion =
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Lebanese Canadian demography by religion ! rowspan="2" |Religious group ! colspan="2" |2021{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2023-05-10 |title= Religion by ethnic or cultural origins: Canada, provinces and territories and census metropolitan areas with parts |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=9810034101 |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}{{efn|name=Religion2021|Religious breakdown proportions based on "Lebanese" ethnic or cultural origin response on the 2021 census.}} |
| Population
!{{Abbr|%|percentage}} |
|---|
| Christianity
| 104,945 | {{Percentage | 104945 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Islam
| 63,255 | {{Percentage | 63255 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Irreligion
| 36,465 | {{Percentage | 36465 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Judaism
| 785 | {{Percentage | 785 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Buddhism
| 95 | {{Percentage | 95 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Hinduism
| 40 | {{Percentage | 40 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Indigenous spirituality
| 10 | {{Percentage | 10 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Other
| 5,010 | {{Percentage | 5010 | 210605 | 2 }} |
| Total Lebanese Canadian responses
! 210,605 ! {{Percentage | 210605 | 210605 | 2 }} |
Geographical distribution
About half of the Lebanese-Canadian community is located in and around Montreal, and most Lebanese-Canadian organizations, especially religious ones, are based in that city.
Lebanese Canadians account for a larger share of the population of Ottawa than that of any other census metropolitan area across the country, constituting over 2 percent of the total population of the National Capital Region. Canadians of Lebanese origin also made up more than 1 percent of the total populations of both Montreal and Halifax, while the figure was close to 1 percent in both Calgary and Edmonton. In Toronto, people of Lebanese origin made up less than half of one per cent of the total population.{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-621-x/89-621-x2007015-eng.htm|title=The Lebanese Community in Canada|website=www.statcan.gc.ca}} There are also substantial Lebanese populations in Vancouver, Windsor, London, Edmonton, Fredericton, and Charlottetown.
Halifax is in particular known for its strong Lebanese community, which hosts two different festivals.{{Cite web |title=The tiny Lebanese village that changed the face of Halifax {{!}} Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 |url=https://pier21.ca/tiny-lebanese-village-changed-face-halifax |access-date=2023-07-11 |website=pier21.ca}}{{Cite web |last=S |first=Desi |date=2019-06-12 |title=How The Lebanese Community Influenced Halifax Culture |url=https://www.the961.com/lebanese-community-influenced-halifax-culture/ |access-date=2023-07-11 |website=961 |language=en-us}}
Prominent Canadians of Lebanese descent
{{image array|perrow=6|width=80|height=90| border-width = 1
|image1 = Nkadri.jpg| caption1= Nazem Kadri
|image3 = Robert Ghiz.jpg| caption3 = Robert Ghiz
|image4 = Karl singing.jpg| caption4 = Karl Wolf
|image5 = Kevin O'Leary 2012.jpg| caption5 = Kevin O'Leary
|image6 = Kristina Maria LA showcase.jpg| caption6 = Kristina Maria
|image8 = Paul Zed.jpg| caption8 = Paul Zed
|image9 = | caption9 = Joe Ghiz
|image10 = Gad Saad 2010 JMSB Faculty Portrait 7175 web.jpg |caption10 = Gad Saad
|image11 = Eddie Francis 2011.jpg|caption11 = Eddie Francis
|image13 = |caption12 = Fayçal El-Khoury
|image14 = Firas Zahabi.png|caption14 = Firas Zahabi
|image15= René Angelil.jpg|caption15 = René Angélil
}}
{{Main|List of Lebanese people (Canada)}}
See also
{{Portal|Canada|Lebanon}}
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/arabs The Canadian Encyclopedia - Arab Canadians]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071123133907/http://www.canadianhistory.ca/iv/frperspective/perspect3_1.html Lebanese immigration to Montreal history] (in French)
{{People of Canada}}
{{Lebanese diaspora}}
{{Arab diaspora}}
{{Arab Canadians}}
Category:Asian diaspora in Canada
Category:Ethnic groups in Canada