Afghan Canadians

For Pashtuns in Canada, see Pashtun diaspora.
Afghan Canadian
Total population
(80,000+[1])
Regions with significant populations
Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, Vancouver
Languages
Canadian English, French, Persian, Pashto, and other Afghan languages
Religion
Predominantly Islam

Afghan Canadians are Canadians with ancestry from Afghanistan. Their ethnic origin may come from any of the ethnic groups of Afghanistan. In the Canada 2001 Census about 25,230 Canadians were from Afghanistan.[2] The former Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Graham has recently said there are about 80,000 people from Afghanistan in Canada.[3] Due to the political borders at earlier times, some of these Afghan immigrants may have been ethnic Pashtuns from British India (present-day Pakistan) or Afghanistan.

They are mostly concentrated in the southwestern region of Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area, with significant communities in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal. Afghan Canadians are from various ethnic groups from Afghanistan and are able to fluently speak Dari, Pashto, and/or Turkmen.

In the Canadian Census, Canadians with descent from Afghanistan are classified as West Asian.[4]

Apart from the modern nationality definition, a significant portion of Pakistani Canadians are Pashtuns or ethnic Afghans, as well as numerous South Asian Muslim communities claim putative ethnic Afghan and/or Pashtun ancestry. However Pakistani Pashtuns have been classified as South Asian and not West Asian, as the phenomena can be explained by the Durand line, thus the category of Pakistani Canadian has become ambiguous. Afghans as a status as a visible minority is ambiguous as with other West Asians and Arabs, with more complexity when taking ethnic Pashtuns of Pakistani origin into account who are of the same racial stock to Caucasoid Afghans.

Notable individuals

See also

References

  1. ↑ "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". 2.statcan.ca. 2011-04-07. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  2. ↑ "Ethno-Cultural Portrait of Canada, Table 1". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  3. ↑ "Afghanistan News September 5, 2003". Afghanistannewscenter.com. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  4. ↑ "The Daily, Tuesday, June 1, 2004. Pilot survey of hate crime". Statcan.ca. 2004-06-01. Retrieved 2011-10-24.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, January 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.