Pakistani Canadian refers to the community in Canada of Pakistani heritage or descent. It can also refer to people who hold dual Pakistani and Canadian citizenship. Categorically, Pakistani Canadians comprise a subgroup of South Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of Asian Canadians.
Terminology
There is no official classification of Pakistani Canadians. However, they are usually defined by Asian or South Asian.
History
Punjabi people from the Punjab region that would later become Pakistan were among the pioneers who migrated from British India to British Columbia at the turn of the century. By 1905, as many as 200 participated in the building of that first community from modern-day Pakistan, which for a time had a small makeshift mosque in Vancouver. But most of these immigrants were sojourners rather than settlers, and they either returned to Pakistan in 1947 or moved on to the United States. Subsequently, Canada imposed a ban on South Asian immigration that remained in place until after World War II.
Pakistanis began migrating to Canada in small numbers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Immigration regulations gave preference to those with advanced education and professional skills, and the Pakistanis who came during this period, and throughout the 1960s, generally had excellent credentials. Many of them considered themselves to be sojourners, who had come to earn but not to settle or were students who intended to return home when their degree programs were completed. While some went back, others remained to become the founding members of the Pakistani-Canadian community.
Pakistani nationals were registered in undergraduate and graduate programs at McGill University in Montreal as early as 1949, and at the University of Toronto from 1958 on. By the mid-1950s, there were five or six Pakistani families living in Montreal in addition to the students. This was probably the then largest concentration of Pakistanis in the country. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s most who arrived were young men pursuing graduate or professional studies.
Pakistanis have integrated well into Canadian society, partly due to the Canadian Government's policies and assistance given to all immigrants settling in the country.
Demography
Religion
Most Pakistani Canadians are Muslims. Religion figures prominently in the lives of Pakistani Canadian families. The majority of Pakistanis belong to the Sunni sect of Islam; Pakistani Canadians also participate in and contribute to the larger Islamic community, which includes Arab Canadians, Iranian Canadians, Turkish Canadians, and Asian Canadians.
Islamic Pakistani Canadians have played important roles in many organizations, including: Anjuman Burhani – Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community Canadian Islamic Congress Canadian Shia Muslim Organization Islamic Society of North America Muslim Association of Canada Muslim Canadian Congress Muslim Student Association of Canada
Language
Most Pakistani Canadians speak English or French. However, many also speak a second or third language, as they often tend to keep hold of their native tongues, which includes Urdu, Punjabi.
Geographical distribution
Provinces
Figures from the 2021 Canadian Census from StatsCan indicate that there are 303,260 Canadians who claim Pakistani ancestry.
Metropolitan Areas
Local municipalities
There were 162,710 Pakistani-Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area per the 2021 Census, making it home to one of the largest Pakistani diaspora communities in North America. Per the 2021 Census, there were 41,705 Pakistani-Canadians residing within the actual city of Toronto; the majority of the community is concentrated throughout the suburbs of the GTA.
There are 41,025 Pakistani-Canadians residing in Mississauga per the 2021 Census, comprising 5.76% of the City's population. This is up from 27,345 recorded in the 2011 Census. Urdu is the 2nd most common reported mother tongue after English, and there are 55,765 Urdu speakers in Mississauga.
Pakistani-Canadians made up 3.81% of the population of Milton in 2011, per the 2021 census this number has tripled to 12.88%, making it one of the fastest growing Pakistani communities in the nation. Urdu is the 2nd most commonly spoken language, with 19,830 speakers per the 2021 Census.
There are 10,825 Pakistani Canadians living in Metro Vancouver per the 2016 Census. Most Pakistanis who live in Metro Vancouver reside in areas such as Surrey, which has 5,565 Pakistani Canadian residents per the 2016 Census.