Jamaican Canadians

The first Jamaicans who moved to Canada were West Indian slaves imported into New France and Nova Scotia individually and in small numbers. In 1796, the Maroons of Jamaica entered Halifax and were the first large group to enter British North America (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2000). The name Maroons was used to describe slaves who ran away from their owners and created free communities away from the European settlements in Jamaica. A war between the Maroons and the British broke out on the island of Jamaica in 1795. The war ended when the British, realizing that they could not win, tricked the Maroons into laying down their arms and then carried them into exile in Nova Scotia (James & Walker, 1984).

Governor John Wentworth settled the Maroons who numbered over 500 on the outskirts of Halifax and offered the men jobs to fortify the Citadel. Standing proud and still holding on to the memory of being betrayed by the British, the Maroons mounted a strong resistance and refused to be compliant Nova Scotian settlers. After numerous appeals to London, the Maroons were allowed to return to Sierra Leone in West Africa in 1800. The "Maroon Bastion" stands on Citadel Hill as an example of their legacy and the sense of pride they contributed (James & Walker, 1984).

Between 1800 and 1920, small numbers of West Indians were brought from Jamaica as laborers for the Cape Breton mines and from Barbados to work in coal mines in Sydney and Nova Scotia. Migration from the West Indies almost virtually stopped after 1920. As a result, the West Indian population in 1941 was smaller than it was 20 years earlier. Even though pressure for migration in the West Indies mounted, the Canadian government refused to allow any more non-whites into the country (James & Walker, 1984) (James & Walker, 1984).

In 1908, Robert Borden, the leader of the Conservative Party, stated "The Conservative Party stands for a white Canada". Not to lose face with voters, the Liberal government passed immigration that excluded non-whites, except when they were needed for cheap labour (James & Walker, 1984).

Agnes Macdonald, the second wife of the first Prime Minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald, was born in Jamaica. Her brother, Hewitt Bernard, was the recording secretary at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864. After Confederation, Bernard served as the private secretary to the Prime Minister between 1867 and 1873.

Michael Manley, the future Prime Minister of Jamaica, served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.

After World War II, a great demand for unskilled workers resulted in the National Act of 1948. This Act was designed to attract cheap labourers from British colonies. This resulted in many West Indians, (including Jamaicans) coming to Canada. The Jamaicans who entered Canada after World War II did so because they still believed it was an opportunity to escape poverty and seek a new start in a world where personal advancement and success seemed to be encouraged. Wanting to stop the in-flow of black West Indians, the Walter Act of 1952 was passed to impose a "severely restricted quota" on black West Indians entering the country (James & Walker, 1984).

In 1955, Canada introduced the West Indian Domestic Scheme (Anderson, 1993). This Scheme allowed eligible black women who were between the age of 18 to 35, in good health, no family ties and a minimum of a grade eight education from mainly Jamaica and Barbados to enter Canada (James & Walker, 1984). After one year as a domestic servant, these women were given a landed immigrant status and were able to apply for citizenship after five years. Even though the Scheme originally allowed only 100 women per year, 2,690 women entered Canada from Jamaica and Barbados by 1965. In 1962, racial discrimination was taken out of the Canadian Immigration Act and the number of Jamaicans who moved to Canada dramatically increased (Lazar & Dauglas, 1992).

Because changes in the Immigration Act allowed non-whites to enter Canada without restrictions, many Jamaicans took advantage of the opportunity and entered Canada with the hopes of achieving their goals for a better life. After the purging of many racist immigration policies, a large number of Jamaicans started to enter Canada as tourists and many would later apply independently for landed immigrant status (Anderson, 1993). In the late 1960s, the Canadian government instituted the Family Reunification clause into its immigration policy, which made it even easier for Jamaicans and other groups to bring their loved ones to join them in Canada. (Anderson, 1993). Thus, during the 1970s and '80s, many Jamaicans who entered Canada were children and husbands of the Jamaican women who moved to Canada between 1955 and 1965. According to Anderson (1993), Caribbean immigrants to Canada were more likely to settle in large cities and their provinces of choice were Ontario and Quebec. The largest concentration of Jamaican immigrants can be found in the following areas of Greater Toronto: Scarborough, Old Toronto, North York, York, Ajax, Pickering, Mississauga and Brampton. Other cities include Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Kitchener, Waterloo, Windsor and Halifax (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2000).

In 1989, 86.7% of Jamaican immigrants settled in Ontario, 7.4% settled in Quebec, 2.6% settled in Alberta, 1.7% settled in Manitoba, 1.1% settled in British Columbia and 0.6% settled in the rest of Canada. Jamaicans made up 27.5% of the total number of West Indian immigrants for that year (Anderson, 1993). Because of language concerns, most of the West Indian immigrants settle in Ontario as opposed to Quebec.

According to the 2006 Census, 231,110 Canadians identified themselves as Jamaican Canadian.[2] The actual number of Jamaican Canadians should be larger, given that many people identified themselves as "Black" "West Indian", or "Caribbean".[2] In the 2011 Census, 256,915 Jamaican Canadians were counted, comprising an 11.2% increase since the previous census.[5] A total population of 309,485 was tallied in the 2016 Census, an increase of 20.5%.[1]