Assyrians in Canada

Canada's Assyrian community has a history in Canada dating back to 1902. However most Assyrian Canadians arrived in Canada due to war and ethnic and religious discrimination in their homeland where their Assyrian ethnicity and Christian faith contrasted with a Muslim majority of various ethnicities.

Assyrian-Canadians are attempting to maintain their distinct identity in Canadian society by propagating their cultural, religious, and linguistic traditions to the younger generation.

The challenges facing Assyrians in Canada are unique, in that most Canadians have not heard of Assyrians. Contact with other Canadians is allowing awareness of Assyrian identity to become more and more mainstream. Trying to find their place in Canadian society is a continuing struggle for Canada's small but vibrant Assyrian community.

This article strives to describe the Assyrian Community in Canada and its various outlets. Furthermore, it serves to introduce the reader to the Assyrian community in Canada.

Language

Assyrian Canadians feel the Assyrian language is an important part of their distinct identity. Although the language is the mother-tongue of few Assyrian Canadians, the language is taught in most Assyrian churches across Canada. Special efforts are invested in teaching the language to the willing younger generations, in an effort to propagate the survival of the Assyrian identity in Canada. Most young Assyrian Canadians speak English as a first language. Most Assyrian Iranian-Canadians speak Persian as a main language.

Religion

Assyrian Canadians, like their counterparts in their homeland are traditionally Christian. They belong to one of three churches: the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church.

History

The history of Assyrians' migration to Canada may be broken up into a number of distinct periods: early settlement and the subsequent waves of migration sparked by the genocide, war, and ethnic cleansing they faced as an indigenous minority in their homeland of Mesopotamia (Iraq).

Early Settlement Period

One of the earliest Assyrian-Canadian settlements was in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. In 1902,

First Migration

The first period of known mass-migration of Assyrians into Canada came just after the Assyrian Genocide in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.

Second Migration

The Assyrians' second and perhaps largest wave of migration into Canada came during the Iran-Iraq War. Under the shadow of war, Saddam Hussein's al-Anfal Campaign constituted a major force for migration for Iraq's Assyrian population. Assyrians were attracted to Canada because of economic prosperity, democratic government, and its multicultural identity. Those Assyrians who came to Canada usually settled in major urban centres; primarily Toronto (including the Greater Toronto Area) but also other large cities such as Montreal, Vancouver, and Edmonton.o

Third Migration

The 1991 Gulf War and the ensuing Iraqi embargo constituted yet another force for migration for Assyrians into Canada. Many of the Assyrians arriving in Canada during this period were reuniting with friends and family who had already left their homelands due to the second migratory period outlined earlier.

Issues Facing the Assyrian Canadian Community

The social issues facing Assyrians in Canada are not atypical of other ethnic minorities who are trying to integrate in Canadian society.

Assimilation

Identity

Lack of Cultural Heritage Programs

Population Estimates

The Assyrian-Canadian community, according to the 2001 Canadian Census, is estimated at 6,910 people.