Chinese Canadians are Canadians of full or partial Chinese ancestry, which includes both naturalized Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese. They comprise a subgroup of East Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of Asian Canadians. Demographic research tends to include immigrants from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as overseas Chinese who have immigrated from Southeast Asia and South America into the broadly defined Chinese Canadian category.
Chinese populations in Canada numbered 1.7 million people in 2021 and made up 4.7% of the total population of Canada. They were the second-largest racialized group in Canada after the South Asian populations. The size of the Chinese populations more than doubled from 1996 to 2021. In 2021, about half of Chinese populations in Canada were born in China and about half were born in other places. Chinese immigrants began settling in Canada in the 1780s. The major periods of Chinese immigration took place from 1858 to 1923, and indefinitely from 1947, reflecting changes in the Canada's immigration policy.
In 2021, over 6 in 10 individuals aged 25 to 54 years (61.8%) who reported being Chinese had a bachelor's degree or higher. In 2021, more than 8 in 10 individuals (84.5%) in Canada who reported being Chinese lived in a household that owned their home. Most Canadians of Chinese descent are concentrated within the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. (British Columbian politicians had wanted a settlement-immigration plan for workers from the British Isles, but Canadian politicians and investors said it would be too expensive).
Chinese communities in Canada in the 19th and well into the 20th centuries were organized around the traditional kinship systems linking people belonging to the same clans together.
As not everyone in the Chinese communities necessarily belonged to the same clans, "voluntary" associations that functioned in many ways like guilds that provided social welfare, community events and a forum for politics became very important in Chinese-Canadian communities. The name Gum San, which concerned a supposed gigantic mountain made of pure gold located somewhere in the Rockies, was not taken literally, but instead was a metaphor for the hopes of Chinese immigrants for greater wealth in Canada. Unable to marry white women, many Chinese men in Canada married First Nations women as the Indian peoples were more willing to accept them.
From the passage of the Chinese Immigration Act in 1885, under pressure "to stop the flow of immigrants" the Canadian government began to charge a $50 head tax ($800 CAD in 1999) for each Chinese person immigrating to Canada. The Chinese were the only ethnic group that had to pay such a tax. With this act, the Chinese received similar legal treatment to blacks before them who Canada also had specifically excluded from immigration on the basis of race. (This was formalised in 1911 by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier who in Sub-section (c) of Section 38 of the Immigration Act called blacks "unsuitable" for Canada.) During the next 25 years, more and more laws against the Chinese were passed. Most jobs were closed to Chinese men and women. Many Chinese opened their own restaurants and laundry businesses. In British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario, Chinese employers were not allowed to hire white females. Ernest Chewant Mark, an immigrant who arrived in Canada in 1908, emerged as one of the leading critics of the 1923 Exclusion Act, and worked closely with Senator William Proudfoot, a Presbyterian minister, into seeking to pressure the government to repeal the act.
thumb|A Chinese man picking watercress in Toronto's High Park, 1920|left
Some of those Chinese-Canadian workers settled in Canada after the railway was constructed. Most could not bring the rest of their families, including immediate relatives, due to government restrictions and enormous processing fees. They established Chinatowns and societies in undesirable sections of the cities, such as Dupont Street (now East Pender) in Vancouver, which had been the focus of the early city's red-light district until Chinese merchants took over the area from the 1890s onwards. During the Great Depression, life was even tougher for the Chinese than it was for other Canadians. In Alberta, for example, Chinese Canadians received relief payments of less than half the amount paid to other Canadians. And because the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited any additional immigration from China, the Chinese men who had arrived earlier had to face these hardships alone, without the companionship of their wives and children. Census data from 1931 shows that there were 1,240 men to every 100 women in Chinese Canadian communities. To protest the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese Canadians closed their businesses and boycotted Dominion Day celebrations every July 1, which became known as "Humiliation Day" by the Chinese Canadians. The film-maker Melinda Friedman stated about her interviews with Chinese Canadian veterans of World War II: "The thing that was the most shocking to me was hearing from the veterans ... describe what life was like in Vancouver as late as 1940, with the Ku Klux Klan living in Vancouver who were targeting, quite often, the Chinese community."
In 1937, when Japan attacked China, the government of Chiang Kai-shek asked for the overseas Chinese communities to support the homeland. From 1937 onward, the Chinese Canadian community regularly organized fund-raising events to raise money for China. By 1945, the Chinese Canadians had contributed $5 million Canadian dollars to China. Starting in 1937, a boycott was organized of Japanese goods, and Canadian businesses that sold war materials to Japan were subject of demonstrations. One of the main slogans used at the demonstrations was "Don't Kill Babies", a reference to the Imperial Japanese Army's habit of using Chinese infants for "bayonet practice".
Second World War
thumb|right|World War II veteran George ChowThe Second World War became the turning point in history of Chinese Canadians. To show support for the war, fund-raising events were held from September 1939 to raise money for the Canadian war effort, and by 1945, Chinese Canadians had purchased some $10 million worth of Victory Bonds. The Chinese community of Victoria was praised in a parliamentary resolution for being especially active in holding events to encourage people to buy Victory Bonds.
thumb|Chinese-language poster encouraging the purchase of [[Canada Savings Bond|Canada Victory Bonds]]
The African American newspaper The Pittsburgh Courier called for the "double victory" or "Double V campaign" in a 1942 editorial, urging black Americans to work for victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. Though originally intended for black Americans, the slogan of "double victory" was taken up by Asian-American groups as well. The same slogan of "double victory" came to be embraced by Chinese Canadians. Despite not being allowed to vote or hold office, about 600 Chinese Canadians enlisted as "active" members to fight overseas (until late 1944 all Canadians serving abroad were volunteers). Unlike in the First World War, where about 300 Chinese Canadians had served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, this time Chinese Canadians serving in the Canadian military were given officers' commissions.
In 1943, William Lore was commissioned as a lieutenant commander in the Royal Canadian Navy, becoming the first person of Chinese descent to be given an officer's commission in any of the Commonwealth navies. Lore was the first Allied officer to land in Hong Kong on August 30, 1945, and it he who announced to the surviving Canadian POWs, who had been held in barbaric conditions by the Japanese since surrendering on Christmas Day in 1941, being reduced down to "human skeletons", that they were now free men. Sam first served with as a liaison with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to organize landings of arms to the resistance from Britain.
Frank Wong of Vancouver who served with the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Northwestern Europe in 1944–1945 recalled that his service with the Army was the first time he had been treated as an equal, stating: "They treated me just like an equal. You have your uniform, you're in it together; you eat together and you sleep together.". The Canadian historian Henry Yu stated about the efforts of Chinese-Canadian veterans: "They had to accept that they had fought this war—a good war in everyone's estimation—and they were still coming back to places built around white supremacy. So for some of them, they began vocally to argue: Why can't we vote still?" The contributions of Chinese Canadians toward the eventual allied victory did not spell an end to discrimination for them in Canada, although these attitudes did eventually start to dissipate. Friedman stated about Chinese-Canadian enfranchisement: "Canada has this great spot on the world stage—as just, fair and level-headed country—but the reason it is that way is because Chinese residents forced that issue and made it more just." Data from the 2006 census reveals that approximately 70% of Chinese Canadians reside in the Greater Vancouver or Greater Toronto areas.
On June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a message of redress in the House of Commons, offering an apology in Cantonese and compensation for the head tax once paid by Chinese immigrants. Survivors or their spouses will be paid approximately $20,000 CAD in compensation.
thumb|Canadian Children Immigration|leftIn December 2008, the Philippines passed China as Canada's leading source of immigrants. In 2010, when Mainland China became the second largest economy in the world after the United States, its economic growth sparked even greater immigration opportunities to mainland Chinese. A 2011 survey shown that 60% of Chinese millionaires plan to immigrate, where 37% of the respondents wanted to immigrate to Canada. Many foreign countries such as Canada hold very large attraction for rich Chinese, because of their better social welfare system, higher quality of education and a greater opportunity for investment. The main reasons Chinese businesspeople want to move abroad was for some educational opportunities for their children, advanced medical treatment, worsening pollution back home (especially urban air quality) and food safety concerns. The Canadian Federal Investor Immigrant Program (FIIP) as a cash-for-visa scheme allows many powerful Chinese to seek for a Canadian citizenship, and recent reports show that 697 of the 700 (99.6%) of the applicants to this visa in 2011 were mainland Chinese. However, Canada—along with other English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia—has increased its immigration requirements, forcing Chinese millionaires to seek permanent residency elsewhere.
The COVID-19 pandemic beginning in March 2020 led to a sharp increase in anti-Chinese sentiment worldwide, with Chinese people wrongly blamed for the virus. This resulted in widespread prejudice, evidenced by derogatory terms and hashtags in various countries. This rise in racism has also increased mental health concerns in the community. In response, Chinese Canadian groups have been actively working to track and combat this discrimination, providing ongoing support as the community navigates these challenges. This alarming trend, largely fueled by misplaced blame on the Asian community for the COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the urgent need for systemic change. In response to this challenging environment, the federal public service saw the formation of the Network of Asian Federal Employees (NAFE), an initiative aimed at addressing these issues and promote inclusivity.
Demography
Population
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; float:right;"
|+ Chinese population by year
! Year !! % of Canadian<br />Population
|-
|1871 || 0.0
|-
|1881 || 0.0
|-
|1891 || 0.2
|-
|1901 || 0.3
|-
|1911 || 0.4
|-
|1921 || 0.4
|-
|1931 || 0.4
|-
|1941 || 0.3
|-
|1951 || 0.2
|-
|1961 || 0.3
|-
|1971 || 0.6
|-
|1981 || 1.2
|-
|1991 || 2.3
|-
|2001 || 3.5
|-
|2006 || 4.3
|-
|2011 || 4.5
|-
|2016 || 5.1
|-
|2021
|4.6
|}
At the turn of the 20th century, the Chinese population in Canada was 17,312. From the years 1988 to 1993, 166,487 Hong Kong immigrants had settled in Canada.
During the same year, the Chinese population stood at 1,094,700 accounted for 3.5% of Canada's total population. By 2006 the population stood at 1,346,510 comprising 4.3% of the Canadian population.
During the 2011 census in Canada, it was estimated that 1,324,700 individuals of pure Chinese origin resided in Canada. This number increased to 1,487,000 individuals, when including those of both pure Chinese origin and people of partial Chinese ancestry (meaning, individuals with both Chinese and some other racial and ethnic origin) during the 2011 census in Canada.
The province of Saskatchewan has a growing Chinese community, at over one percent as of 2006, mainly in the city of Saskatoon (2.1%), the province's largest city, and to a lesser extent, Regina (1.9%), the capital of the province. The Riversdale neighbourhood of Saskatoon has a historical Chinese settlement dating back to the early 1900s, where Chinese immigrants were employed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and established businesses within this district. Riversdale is currently home to many Chinese restaurants and stores. Chinese are the largest visible minority group in Saskatchewan.
According to the 2011 census by Statistics Canada, the Chinese Canadian population was approximately 1.4 million. In the 2016 census, individuals identifying as of Chinese ethnic origin comprised approximately 4.6% of the Canadian population, totaling to around 1.57 million people. By the 2021 Canadian census, the Chinese Canadian community increased to 1.71 million.
Religion
thumb|right|Cham Shan Temple is a Chinese temple located in [[Markham, Ontario|Markham, north of Toronto.]]
thumb|right|Ten Thousand Buddhas Sarira Stupa in [[Niagara Falls, Ontario.]]
thumb|[[Dougong joinery at Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden, Cavan Monaghan, Ontario.]]
Generational differences are also evident regarding religious practice and affiliation within this population group.
Among Toronto's early Chinese immigrants especially, the church body was an important structure serving as a meeting place, hall and leisure club. Even today, over 30 churches in Toronto continue to hold Chinese congregations.
Christianity reached its peak of popularity in the early 1960s, with the 1961 census still reporting that 60% of the Chinese declared themselves Christians.
In 2001, 56% of Chinese Canadians aged 15 and over said that they did not have any religious affiliation, compared with the national average of 17%. As a result, Chinese Canadians make up 13% of all Canadians who did not report a religious affiliation despite making up 4% of the population. Among Chinese Canadians, 14% were Buddhist, 14% were Catholic and 9% belonged to a Protestant denomination.