South Asian Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area form 19% of the region's population, numbering 1.1 million as of 2021. Comprising the largest visible minority group in the region, Toronto is the destination of over half of the immigrants coming from India to Canada, and India is the single largest source of immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area. South Asian Canadians in the region also include significant Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, and Nepalis, all representing several different ethnolinguistic backgrounds.
History
Indo-Canadians began to move to Toronto in the 1960s.
Air India Flight 182 was bombed in 1985. The majority of the passengers resided in the Toronto area. In 2007 a memorial for Air India 182 opened in Toronto.
From 1986 to 1995, over 140,000 persons of South Asian origin moved to the Toronto area. An additional 266,000 arrived from 1996 to 2006.
By 2007 area South Asians had established philanthropic efforts.
Geography
As of 2011 the main areas of Indo-Canadian settlement are Scarborough and Etobicoke in Toronto and the cities of Brampton, Markham, and Mississauga. Brampton has the nicknames "Bramladesh," "Brown Town,", "pind Brampton", and "Singhdale" due to its large South Asian community.
The first persons of South Asian origin settling in Toronto did so in Downtown and other inner-city areas, establishing a Little India (also known as Gerrard India Bazaar) on the eastside in the early 1970s. As the community matured, South Asians began moving to suburban and exurban areas.
Demographics
As of the Statistics Canada 2001 Census there were 504,005 South Asians in the Toronto region. Of them, 345,855 were classified as East Indian, 45,240 were Sri Lankan, 33,145 were Tamil, 32,305 were South Asian n.i.e., 20,480 were Punjabi, 6,435 were Bangladeshi, 3,795 were Bengali, 2,725 were Goan, 1,970 were Sinhalese, 1,830 were Gujarati, 385 were Nepali, and 270 were Kashmiri.
As of circa 1990 there were higher proportions of Gujaratis and Punjabis, while numbers of Maharashtrians were fewer.
Income
Indo-Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area have an average household income of $86,425, which is higher than the Canadian average of $81,709 but lower than the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area's average of $95,326.
Indha Rajagopal, the author of "The Glass Ceiling in the Vertical Mosaic: Indian Immigrants to Canada," analyzed the 1986 Census of Canada. She concluded that in Toronto Indo-Canadians had salaries lower than other people in Toronto, including native-born persons and people who immigrated. Rajagopal stated that credentials obtained from institutions abroad were possibly not being recognized in Canada, so even though Ontario Indo-Canadians had higher likelihoods of completing university studies than the general population, the Indo-Canadians were unable to get higher income levels.
Bangladeshis and Bengalis
Aminur Rahim, author of an article about the Bengalis of Ontario, wrote that around 1973 a distinct Bangladeshi community was established in Toronto.
Indo-Caribbean people and Indo-Guyanese
Indo-Guyanese began moving to Toronto around 1967 due to a relaxation in Canadian immigration restrictions and simultaneously due to increased discrimination in Guyana. In 1990 Bruce Ally, the author of an article about Indo-Guyanese in Toronto, wrote that they were "relative newcomers".
When Indo-Guyanese first arrived, many of them did not find advantageous work, despite having high levels of education and skills, due to a lack of credentials, a need for adaptation to Canadian society, and racism from existing Canadians. Many of them lived in cramped dwellings and this forced elders into retirement houses; in Guyana the housing spaces are larger and accommodate entire extended families. In addition many Indo-Guyanese who first settled Toronto lived in neighbourhoods far away from worship centres, and those centres were often not majority Indo-Guyanese and did sermons in languages not understood by Indo-Guyanese. As of 1990 many Indo-Guyanese were underpaid in relation to their qualifications and skills, and compared with their political situation in their homeland they had not achieved as much political power by 1990. Indo-Guyanese students attended university at rates higher than the Canadian average due to pressure from parents and a cultural commitment to education, although the people had reduced enthusiasm for achieving this education.
Sri Lankans
A wave of Sri Lankans arrived in Toronto from 1970 to 1975.During the civil war period, a considerable amount of Sri Lankans immigrated to Canada using refugee visas. Most of them were Tamils.