The different waves of Arab immigration to Canada
An
analysis of the Canadian Arab Institute produced in 2014 argues that
there would be a little more than 750 thousand Canadians of Arab
origin! What is certain, after more than 130 years of Arab
immigration in Canada, is that knowledge about Arab Canadians remains
virtually unknown. At the beginning, the history of immigrants of
Arab origin in Canada resembled in many ways that of those who
immigrated to the United States. They generally escaped poverty or
fled from despotic or corrupt regimes.
The first Arab
immigrants – 1882
The first immigrants from Arab countries
arrived in Canada, more specifically in Montreal, in 1882. They were
from Greater Syria, a region that corresponded to the current
territories of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel as well as the occupied
territories of the West Bank and Loop. It is estimated that there
were about 2,000 Syrian immigrants in Canada in 1901, and almost
7,000 in 1911. But this Arab immigration stopped in the middle of the
two wars and only natural growth was responsible for the increase of
the community. Composed primarily of Christians, the first generation
of this group was economically active in the exploitation of small
businesses.
The second wave of Arabs since 1950
The
second wave began at the end of World War II and continued until
1975. This second wave of Arab immigrants came mainly from Egypt
(37%) and Lebanon (33.6%) but also from Morocco (14.9%), Syria (7.6%)
and other Arab countries (6, 6%) Together, these Arab groups total,
in 1971, 28 550 people in total, according to official figures that
were compiled following the criteria of the mother tongue and not
that of the country of origin.
In 1971, Canada had between
50,000 to 60,000 people of Arab origin, and 70,000 to 80,000 in 1975.
Although immigrants of Egyptian origin make up the largest contingent
of this wave, and that many have settled in Montreal, it should be
noted that a majority of these Egyptians were Christians of
Syrian-Lebanese origin, from a group that immigrated to Egypt at the
end 19th century
The third wave since 1975
From 1975
the sociodemographic profile of newcomers diversified in several
aspects. They did not have the knowledge of the English or French
languages contrary to the Egyptian and Lebanese groups that
arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. These used to be trilingual
(Arabic-French-English) or, at least, bilingual (Arabic and French or
Arabic and English). Many Lebanese who wished to flee the war of the
Lebanese militias, which lasted about fifteen years, were able to
settle in Canada thanks to the easing of immigration procedures,
especially the so-called Lebanese Program.
The
fourth wave (to date)
Between 1997 and 2006, more than 53,000
Algerians and Moroccans arrived in Canada
With 24% of total
Arab immigration in Canada between 1960 and 2011, Lebanon is by far
the largest contributor to Arab immigrants, followed by Egypt (far
behind) at 14%, Morocco 13%, Algeria 11%, and Iraq with 11%. Among
them, these countries represent almost three quarters of Arab
immigration to Canada in this period, which is approximately 52
years. Today
they are helped by the existence of sites such as
https://electronicvisa24.com/.
Unlike
what was happening in the US, the first Arab immigrants from Canada
fought for acceptance, arguing that the existing legislation against
immigration was aimed at people from East Asia and that they were
Caucasian. After the San Remo Conference in 1920, they came to argue
that they were European, since their native countries were at that
time under French or British protectorate. Arab immigrants eventually
managed to convince the legislators of both countries of their
“white” ethnicity, but, at present, the classification of
Arab-Americans as whites is purely official.