Armenian Canadians (Western Armenian: գանատահայեր, Eastern Armenian: կանադահայեր, kanadahayer; ) are citizens and permanent residents of Canada who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. According to the 2021 Canadian Census they number almost 69,000, while independent estimates claim around 80,000 Canadians of Armenian origin, with the highest estimates reaching 100,000. Though significantly smaller than the Armenian American community, the formation of both underwent similar stages beginning in the late 19th century and gradually expanding in the latter 20th century and beyond. Most Armenian Canadians are descendants of Armenian genocide survivors from the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Egypt), with less than 7% of all Canadian Armenians having been born in Armenia. Today most Armenian Canadians live in Greater Montreal and Greater Toronto, where they have established churches, schools and community centers.
History
The first Armenians migrated to Canada in the 1880s. The first recorded Armenian to settle in Canada was a man named Garabed Nergarian, who came to Port Hope, Ontario in 1887. Some 37 Armenians settled in Canada in 1892 and 100 in 1895. Most early Armenian migrants to Canada were men who were seeking employment. After the Hamidian massacres of mid-1890s Armenian families from the Ottoman Empire began settling in Canada. Before the Armenian genocide of 1915 some 1,800 Armenians already lived in Canada. They were overwhelmingly from the Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire and usually lived in industrial urban areas. The influx of Armenians to Canada was limited in the post-World War I era because Armenians were classified as Asians. Nevertheless, some 1,500 genocide survivors—mostly women and children—came to Canada as refugees. In 1923–24 some 100 Armenians orphans aged 8–12, later known as The Georgetown Boys, were brought to Canada from Corfu, Greece by the Armenian Canadian Relief Fund to Georgetown, Ontario. Dubbed "The Noble Experiment", it was Canada's first humanitarian act on an international scale. The Georgetown Farmhouse (now the Cedarvale Community Centre) was designated historic and protected municipal site in 2010.
Overall, between 1900 and 1930 some 3,100 Armenians entered Canada, with 75% settling in Ontario and 20% in Quebec. Some later moved to the United States; 1,577 Armenians entered the U.S. from Canada between 1899 and 1917. Between 1931 and 1949 only 74 Armenians migrated to Canada. By the 1940s the community was still no larger than 4,000. The two early centers of the Armenian community was in Brantford and St. Catharines, Ontario, with each having 500 Armenians in the 1920s. The first Armenian church was established in St. Catharines in 1930, becoming the hub of Armenians in Canada.
Immigration laws were loosened in the post-World War II era. Through the efforts of the Canadian Armenian Congress thousands of Armenians were allowed in. In the 1960s some 5,000 Armenians settled in Canada and by the 1970s Canada already boasted an Armenian population of 30,000. Most Armenians came from the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey) and Greece. Migrants from Soviet Armenia were also increasingly moving to Canada. The Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia entry on Armenians (1980) by Suren Eremian estimated some 50,000 Armenians in Canada. The same number was given by Hrag Vartanian, writing for the AGBU Magazine in 2000.
In the 2010s thousands of Syrian Armenian families fleeing the war there settled in Canada. By December 2015 the Armenian Community Centre, a government-sanctioned sponsorship agency, and individual Canadian Armenians co-sponsored around 2,500 Syrian Armenians. The Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada sponsored some 1,000 Syrian Armenian refugees by 2016.
Demography Population
+ Armenian ancestry in Canada Year Total responses Single responses Multiple responses 1996 37,500 25,805 11,690 2001 40,505 27,175 13,330 2006 50,500 32,530 17,970 2011 55,740 31,075 24,675 2016 63,810 34,560 29,250 2021 68,855 38,010 30,835
According to 2016 Canadian Census, 63,810 people of Armenian ancestry reside in Canada, of which 34,560 claimed only Armenian ancestry, while 29,250 people indicated Armenian as one of their multiple ancestries. The number of Canadian Armenians stood at 37,500 in 1996, when the number of Armenians were first reported in Canadian censuses. In two decades, from 1996 to 2016, the number of Canadian Armenians grew 1.7 times.
According to the 2006 census, most Canadian Armenians were Canadian citizens (45,960 vs 4,535 not Canadian citizens). Of 50,500 Armenians in Canada at the time, 19,910 were classified as non-immigrants, while 30,055 were immigrants, mostly from West Central Asia and the Middle East (22,300), Northern Africa (3,755) and Eastern Europe (1,460). In 2006 Armenia-born Canadians numbered 2,195. It grew to 4,165 by 2016, 72% of whom had migrated to Canada between 2001 and 2016.
Unofficial estimates put the number of Canadian Armenians significantly higher than census results. The 2003 Encyclopedia of the Armenian Diaspora estimated 60,000–65,000 Armenians in Canada, while the 2001 census had found 40,505 Canadians of Armenian ancestry. The Embassy of Armenia to Canada reported some 81,500 Armenians in Canada in 2009. Estimates in the 2010s usually ranged from 80,000 to 100,000.
Language + Armenian speakers in Canada Year "Language spoken mostoften at home" "Mother tongue" 1991 20,515 30,630 200126,215 — 200621,480 — 201119,145 31,680 201621,510 35,790
The 2016 census enumerated 35,790 Canadians who consider Armenian their mother tongue, but only 21,510 Canadians claimed Armenian to be the "language spoken most often at home". In the 2006 census 21,480 Canadians had indicated Armenian as the "language spoken most often at home", of whom 4,915 had non-immigrant status, while 16,320 were immigrants.
In the 2006 census, of the 50,500 Canadian Armenians, 10,250 indicated English as their mother tongue, while 3,995 indicated French. Majority (34,345) indicated a non-official language as their mother tongue. Most Canadian Armenians claimed to speak either both official languages (English and French: 23,785) or English only (21,965), while a minority speaks only French (2,700). Some 2,045 Canadian Armenians speak neither English nor French.
Most Armenian-speakers in Canada speak Western Armenian, while a minority speaks Eastern Armenian.
Religion
Most Armenian Canadians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Its parishes are affiliated with either the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (under the Armenian Diocese of Canada) or the Holy See of Cilicia (Armenian Prelacy of Canada). The Armenian Diocese of Canada was established in 1983 during the reign of Catholios Vazgen I. It broke off from the New York City-based Eastern Diocese of America. The Armenian Prelacy of Canada was founded in 2002, breaking off from the Armenian Prelacy of Eastern America, which in turn had split from the Armenian Prelacy of America, originally established in 1958, during the height of the Etchmiadzin-Cilicia tensions. The Armenian Diocese and Prelacy have 20 churches in total. Ontario contains half (10), followed by Quebec (4), British Columbia (2), Alberta (2), Manitoba (1) and Northwest Territories (1). The Etchmiadzin-affiliated Armenian Diocese of Canada has 12 churches, while the Cilicia-affiliated Prelacy has 8. The cathedrals of both are located in Montreal.
A minority of Armenian Canadians are Protestant and Catholic. The Armenian Catholic Church has two churches: Notre Dame de Nareg in Saint-Laurent (Montreal, 1983) and St. Gregory the Illuminator in Toronto (1993). The two churches operate under the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in the United States of America and Canada. Up to 10,000 Catholic Armenians reside in Canada, with the largest community in Montreal.
There are four Armenian Protestant churches in Canada, two in Montreal and one in Toronto and Cambridge. One in Montreal and the church in Toronto are affiliated with the Armenian Evangelical Church, while the other two are affiliated with the United Church of Canada, but are "autonomous and have services in the Armenian vernacular language."
+ Armenian Canadian demography by religionReligious group20212001 Christianity 56,290 37,675 Islam 710 220 Irreligion 11,145 2,405 Judaism 430 100 Buddhism 65 35 Hinduism 20 45 Indigenous spirituality 25 130 Sikhism 0 0 Other 185 20 Total Armenian Canadian population 68,850 40,500
+ Armenian Canadian demography by Christian sectsReligious group20212001 Catholic 11,975 7710 Orthodox 22,075 20,260 Protestant 4,900 3,745 Other Christian 17,340 5,960 Total Armenian canadian christian population 56,290 37,675
Geographic distribution According to the 2016 census, almost 90% of Canadian Armenians reside in Canada's two largest provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Smaller number of Armenians live in British Columbia and Alberta. Armenian communities in other provinces and territories number less than 1,000. According to the 2016 census, the number of Canadian Armenians by provinces, territories and census divisions was as follows:
Province Armenians Census divisions with largest Armenian populations 29,675 Toronto: 12,270; York: 5,820; Peel: 2,120; Ottawa: 1,470; Waterloo: 1,270; Halton: 1,085; Durham: 1,055 27,380 Montreal: 13,185; Laval: 10,370; Longueuil: 1,025 3,720 Greater Vancouver: 2,845 1,780 Division No. 6 (Calgary): 1,020 Rest of Canada 1,255
Other provinces and territories had significantly less Armenians: Manitoba (500), Nova Scotia (270), Saskatchewan (240), New Brunswick (110), Newfoundland and Labrador (55), Northwest Territories (30), Prince Edward Island (30), Yukon (25), Nunavut (0).
According to the 2016 census, the largest number of Armenians reside in the following census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations: Montreal (26,100), Toronto (21,710), Vancouver (2,845), Ottawa–Gatineau (1,735), Hamilton (1,360), Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo (1,270), Calgary (1,010), St. Catharines – Niagara (920), Edmonton (620), Windsor (570).
The highest concentration of Armenian Canadians of any major settlement is in Laval (part of Greater Montreal), where Armenians are the 9th largest ethnicity and comprise around 2.5% of the total population.
Organizations A number of Armenian organizations have branches in Canada, including the non-partisan and secular Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), which has two chapters in Montreal (founded in 1957) and Toronto. Other Armenian organizations with established presence in Canada are the Armenian Relief Society with ten chapters, the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society (two chapters, 5 units), and Homenetmen (six chapters and units). Armenia Fund also has two branches (in Montreal and Toronto).
The Zoryan Institute of Canada, a center for contemporary Armenian research and documentation, was established in 1984.
The three traditional parties of the Armenian diaspora are present in Canada. The nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutiun) is by far the largest and most influential with nine chapters. Its active circles include the young wing (Armenian Youth Federation, AYF) and the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC), established in 1965 with the mission to advance the "concerns of the Armenian Canadian community on a broad range of issues", including fostering "public awareness in support of a free, united and independent Armenia." The current spokesperson of the ARF Bureau, Hagop Der-Khatchatourian, is from Montreal. The conservative Ramgavar and social democratic Hunchak parties have branches in Montreal and Toronto.
Armenian schools