Sri Lankan Canadians

Sri Lankan Canadians refers to people from Sri Lanka who have arrived and settled in Canada. Among these immigrants include members from the Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Malay and Burgher ethnicities. According to 2016 census there are 152,595 Sri Lankans in Canada.[2]

Sri Lankan Canadians
Total population
139,415
(by ancestry, 2011 Census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Religion
Related ethnic groups

Demographics

Sri Lankan Canadians are concentrated in the cities of Toronto (Malvern) and Montreal. According to the 2001 census, there are 62,000 Canadians who claim Sri Lankan ancestry, but only 10,000 claimed to be of Sinhalese ancestry.[3] The number may not be an actual representation because many Tamil Canadians from Sri Lanka classify themselves as Tamil rather than Sri Lankan.

Population settlement

The Sri Lankan Canadian Population according to Statistics Canada in the 2006 census in the 10 Canadian Provinces and 3 territories:[4]

Province Sri Lankans
Ontario 85,935[5]
Quebec 10,750[6]
British Columbia 4,150[7]
Alberta 1,740[8]
Manitoba 445[9]
Saskatchewan 240[10]
Nova Scotia 155[11]
Newfoundland and Labrador 115[12]
New Brunswick 45[13]
Yukon 25[14]
Northwest Territories 10[15]
Nunavut 10[12]
Prince Edward Island 0[16]
Canada 103,625

Dual citizenship

Some Sri Lankan Canadians hold citizenship in both Canada and Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government encourage Sri Lankan expatriates to obtain the citizenship of their country of birth[17] at a fee and to return to Sri Lanka at a future date. There is a drive to attract the educated Sri Lankan immigrants in Canada for new opportunities arising in the government sector of Sri Lanka (such as universities, research institutes etc.),[18][19] which may sometime require the applicants to be Sri Lankan citizens.

Since almost all the Sri Lankans who immigrated to Canada under skilled migration schemes have received their higher education free, there is a moral tendency among them to obtain dual citizenship in addition to the fact that they left behind relatives and accrued wealth.

Community

Ontario

Sri Lankan Organizations and Associations in Canada and their role: There is a considerable number of Sri Lankan associations in Canada. The main objectives of these associations are to help the immigrants, continue their Sri Lankan traditions and to help Sri Lanka. Some of these associations are ethnic based but majority of the cities have associations which cater to all people having a link with Sri Lanka regardless of their ethnic or political orientation (E.g. [Tamil Cultural Association of Waterloo region [community organisation for Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford]).

List of Sri Lankan organizations and associations in Ontario:

News Papers catering Sri Lankan Canadians A number of newspapers are printed in Ontario to cater the Sri Lankan diaspora. They are printed in English, Tamil and Sinhalese languages and distributed free. These news papers mainly tell the stories from Sri Lanka (current and old) and talks about the achievements of Canadian Sri Lankans. Sometimes, they get into small discussions on Sri Lankan politics as well as give some general information and tips necessary to help immigrants survive in Canada. These newspapers can be picked up at some grocery stores where they sell Sri Lankan food, places of religious worship, etc.

List of Sri Lankan news papers available in Ontario.

Manitoba
Organizations

Nova Scotia
Organizations

Saskatchewan
Organizations
  • Saskatoon Sri Lankan Community [24]

Notable Sri Lankan Canadians
Main article: List of Sri Lankan Canadians

Famous Sri Lankan Canadians include Dhalathan Aiyathurai, Michael Ondaatje and his financier brother Christopher Ondaatje; Principal Research scientist at the National Research Council of Canada Chandre Dharma-wardana; Academic Engineer Indira Samarasekera, musician Nirmala Basnayake, formerly of the band controller.controller; news anchor Anne-Marie Mediwake; anchor novelist Shyam Selvadurai; cricketers Sanjayan Thuraisingam, film Actor, producer and multiple Guinness World Record-holder Suresh Joachim; and Pubudu Dassanayake.

See also

References
  1. Statistics Canada. "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  2. "Sinhalese Canadians". 2016 Census. Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  3. "File not found - Fichier non trouvé". 12.statcan.ca. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  4. Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada Highlight Tables (choose desired city in the left column and look under the term "Sri Lankan" in the chart)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-01-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-01-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2009-01-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2009-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2009-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2009-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-07-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. "...:::...Department of Immigration and Emigration...:::..." Immigration.gov.lk. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  18. "::: Welcome to Science & Technology Management Information System @ NSF". Mis.nsf.ac.lk. Archived from the original on 2010-04-07. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  19. "Serving Sri Lanka: Expat Lankan professionals ideal boost for nanotechnology". Servesrilanka.blogspot.com. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  21. "CSMA Ontario – Canada Sri Lanka Muslim Association of Ontario". Csmaontario.org. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  22. Archived 2012-04-06 at the Wayback Machine
  23. "Why Immediately Move to The Cloud: 5 Benefits of Using Cloud Hosting". Slcg-toronto.com. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  24. "SLAS". SLAS. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
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