Mexican Canadian

Mexican Canadian

Total population
Mexican Canadians 61,505 to 100,000
Regions with significant populations
British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec
Languages
Canadian English, Canadian French, Spanish.
Religion
predominantly Roman Catholic, large minority of Protestants
Related ethnic groups
Mexican people, Mestizo, Spanish people, Latin.

Mexican Canadians (French: Canadiens mexicains; Spanish: Mexicano Canadienses) are Canadians of Mexican ancestry. Per the latest Statistics Canada population estimate (2006), 61,505 Canadians (0.2% of the country's population) indicated that they were of full or partial Mexican ancestry.^[1] The Mexican ancestry population in Canada is quite small despite Canada's proximity to Mexico and especially when compared to the United States where there are nearly 32,000,000 Mexican Americans comprising over 10% of the population (see Mexican American)

Mexican Canadians trace their ancestry to Mexico, a country located in North America, bounded on the north by the United States; and many different European countries, especially Spain, which was its colonial ruler for over three centuries.

Geographical extent

Most Mexican Canadian settlement concentrations are found in metropolitan areas across Canada, with the highest concentrations in Greater Toronto and Quebec and are also present in other provinces of Canada such as British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.

There are some Canadians with roots in the United States of America of Mexican-Texan ancestry living in Alberta; thus the so-called Mexican ethnic presence dates back to the first oil industry booms in the 1950s.

While approximately 5,000 Mexicans enter Canada each year as temporary students or contract workers for agriculture, these are not counted as immigrants because of their explicitly temporary legal status. Unlike the United States’ Bracero program, the temporary-worker program in Canada has various mechanisms to discourage workers from overstaying their permits.^[2]

See also

• Mexican American
• Chicano
• Mexican British
• Latin American Canadian

References