History of the Jews in Canada

Canadian Jews
Juifs canadiens (French)
יהודים קנדים‎ (Hebrew)
Population distribution of Jewish Canadians by census division, 2021 census
Total population
Canada 404,015 (as of 2021)[1]
1.4% of the Canadian population[2][3][4]
Regions with significant populations
 Ontario272,400
 Quebec125,300
 British Columbia62,120
 Alberta20,000
 Manitoba18,000
Languages
English · French (among Québécois) · Hebrew (as liturgical language, some as mother tongue) · Yiddish (by some as mother tongue and as part of a language revival· and other languages like Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Polish, German, Moroccan Arabic
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Anglo-Israelis and Israeli Canadians

The history of the Jews in Canada goes back to the 1700s. Canadian Jews, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion, form the fourth largest Jewish community in the world, exceeded only by those in Israel, the United States and France.[1][5][6] In the 2021 census, 335,295 people reported their religion as Jewish, accounting for 0.9% of the Canadian population.[7] Some estimates have placed the enlarged number of Jews, such as those who may be culturally or ethnically Jewish, though not necessarily religiously, at around 400,000 people. This total would account for approximately 1.4% of the Canadian population.

The Jewish community in Canada is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews. Other Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented and include Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and Bene Israel. A number of converts to Judaism make up the Jewish-Canadian community, which manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions and the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance. Though they are a small minority, they have had an open presence in the country since the first Jewish immigrants arrived with Governor Edward Cornwallis to establish Halifax, Nova Scotia (1749).[8] The 1760s saw the first Jewish settlers in New France who arrived in Montreal after the British conquest of the city, among them was Aaron Hart who is considered the father of Canadian Jewry.[9] His son Ezekiel Hart experience one of the first well documented cases of antisemitism in Canada.[10] Hart was consistently prevented from taking his seat as at the Quebec legislature when members stated that as a Jew, he could not take the oath of office, which included the phrase "on the true faith of a Christian".[11] By the 1970s and 1980s, most legal barriers were removed, and Jews began to hold significant positions in Canadian society.[12] However, antisemitism persists, evident in hate crimes and extremist groups.[13]

  1. ^ DellaPergola, Sergio (2013). Dashefsky, Arnold; Sheskin, Ira (eds.). "World Jewish Population, 2013". Current Jewish Population Reports. Storrs, Connecticut: North American Jewish Data Bank. Archived from [. https://thecjn.ca/podcasts/canadian-jewish-population/ the original] on October 26, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. ^ Shahar, Charles (2011). "The Jewish Population of Canada – 2016 National Household Survey". Berman Jewish Databank. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  3. ^ "Basic Demographics of the Canadian Jewish Community". The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. 2011. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  4. ^ "Jewish Population of the World". Jewish Virtual Library. 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  5. ^ "JEWISH POPULATION IN THE WORLD AND IN ISRAEL" (PDF). CBS. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2011. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ "The Canadian Jewish Experience". Jcpa.org. October 16, 1975. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
  7. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (February 9, 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population – Canada [Country]". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  8. ^ Sheldon Godfrey and Judy Godfrey. Search Out the Land" The Jews and the Growth of Equality in British Colonial America, 1740–1867. McGill Queen's University Press. 1997. pp. 76–77;Bell, Winthrop Pickard. The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia:The History of a piece of arrested British Colonial Policy in the Eighteenth Century. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1961
  9. ^ "Hart, Aaron". Exposition Shalom Québec. Archived from the original on July 27, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
  10. ^ "Ezekiel Hart". The Canadian Encyclopedia. April 20, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
  11. ^ "The Oath or Solemn Affirmation of Allegiance". House of Commons of Canada. October 4, 2004. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
  12. ^ Weinfeld, Morton; Schnoor, Randal F.; Koffman, David S. (2012). "Overview of Canadian Jewry". The American Jewish Year Book. 109/112. [American Jewish Committee, Springer]: 55–90. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-5204-7_2. ISBN 978-94-007-5203-0. ISSN 0065-8987. JSTOR 45373711. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
  13. ^ Stein, Matthew; Perry, Barbara; Levit, Irina (2024). "Punishing "Privilege": Antisemitic Hate Crime in Canada". Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 39 (17–18): 3876–3903. doi:10.1177/08862605241259996. ISSN 0886-2605. PMID 39119653.

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