Haitian Canadians are
Canadian citizens
Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in C ...
of Haitian descent or
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...
-born people who reside in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
. As of 2016, more than 86% of Haitian Canadians reside in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
.
Haitian Migration to Canada
Immigration
1960-1980
Immigration from Haiti to Quebec started in 1963.
Haitian settlement in the Quebec municipality Montreal increased about 40% between the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Immigration data from 1968 shows that Haiti placed fifteenth in overall origin countries outputting migrants to Quebec; in addition, Haiti had 1.6% of the total immigration percentage of Quebec in 1968. In the span of five years, Haiti became the 2nd overall source country for Quebec immigration, possessing 8.4% of the total immigration percentage of Quebec in 1973.
The impact of Nationalism and Political Tension in Haiti on Immigration
The migration of Haitian immigrants between 1969 and 1974 can be understood through the political institutions in place within Haiti at the time. Haiti was governed by way of a dictatorship, led by Francois Duvalier.
Duvalier had been contested by the left-leaning
Unified Party of Haitian Communists The Unified Party of Haitian Communists (french: Parti unifié des communistes haitiens) was a political party in Haiti. PUCH was established in 1968 by the mergers the Popular Entente Party (founded in 1959) and the Party of Union of Haitian Demo ...
, who failed in resisting Duvalier's authoritarian regime.
Duvalier's death and the subsequent succession of his son Jean-Claude Duvalier led to the notion of “patriotic action”, a declaration of nationalism directed towards Haitian Canadian and Haitian American immigrants, as well as a call to action in assisting their Haitian brethren.
Haitian Canadians joined forces with their home country brethren in some cases to assist in the "“resolution of the Haitian crisis” and to attempt to establish greater leftist political power.
The idea of “patriotic action” finalized with the potential deportation faced by around 700 Haitian Canadians from 1972 to 1973.
These Haitian Québécois joined forces under a protest movement in regards to their rights as citizens; these protests were organized by the Christian community of Haitians of Montreal.
Demographics
Haitian Canadians by Canadian province or territory (
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
)
Notable Haitian Canadians
See also
*
Canada–Haiti relations
Canada–Haiti relations are relations between Canada and the Republic of Haiti. They are the only independent French-speaking countries in the Americas. During the unsettled period from 1957 to 1990, Canada received many Haitian refugees, who no ...
*
Haitian Americans
Haitian Americans (french: Haïtiens-Américains; ht, ayisyen ameriken) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida are ...
*
Haitian diaspora
Haiti has a sizeable diaspora, present primarily in the United States, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Canada, France (including its French Caribbean territories), the Bahamas, Brazil and Chile. They also live in other countries like Belgium, Turks a ...
*
Black Canadians in Montreal
Black Canadians, numbering 198,610, make up 11.3% of Montreal's population, as of 2021, and are the largest visible minority group in the city. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean and of continental African immigrants, African origin, ...
*
Roxham Road
Roxham Road, known as Rang Roxham or Chemin Roxham for much of its length, is a rural road from the former Administrative divisions of New York#Hamlet, hamlet of Perry Mills in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Champlain, New ...
, unofficial border crossing used irregularly by many Haitians temporarily in the U.S. to seek asylum in Canada during 2017
References
External links
''The Haitian Community in Canada''Multicultural Canada: HaitiansHaitian Consulate General in MontrealMontreal International Haitian Film FestivalQuebec Government Portal: Relations with Haiti
{{Haitian diaspora
Ethnic groups in Canada
*
Caribbean Canadian
Immigration to Quebec