Latin American Canadians (french: Canadiens d'Amérique latine; pt, Canadenses da América Latina; es, Canadienses de América Latina) are Canadians who are descendants of people from countries of Latin America. The majority of Latin American Canadians are multilingualism, multilingual, primarily speaking Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, French language, French and English language, English. Most are fluent in one or both of Canada's two official languages, English language, English and French language, French. Spanish and Portuguese are Romance languages and share similarities in Morphology (linguistics), morphology and syntax. Latin American Canadians have made distinguished contributions to Canada in all major fields, including Politics of Canada, politics, the Military of Canada, military, Music of Canada, music, Canadian philosophy, philosophy, Sports in Canada, sports, business and Economy of Canada, economy, and Science in Canada, science. The largest Latin American immigrant groups in Canada are Mexican Canadians, Colombian Canadians, and Salvadoran Canadians.

History

The majority of Latin American Canadians are recent immigrants who arrived in the late 20th century from Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Peru with smaller communities from Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, and elsewhere, with nearly all Latin American countries represented. Reasons for immigrating include Canada's better economic opportunities and politics or civil war and political repression in their native countries, as in the case of Cubans fleeing from the Fidel Castro revolution, Chileans escaping from Augusto Pinochet's rule, Salvadorans fleeing from the Salvadoran Civil War, Peruvians escaping from the Internal conflict in Peru, People of the Dominican Republic, Dominicans opposed to the regimes of Rafael Trujillo and Joaquin Balaguer, Mexicans escaping from the Mexican Drug War, Colombians from the violence in their country and Venezuelans opposed to the rule of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Socialist Unity Party.

Demographics

As of the Canada 2016 Census, 2016 Canadian Census, the largest Latin American Canadian communities are in the census metropolitan areas of Toronto (132,945), Montreal (110,200), Vancouver (34,800), Calgary (27,710), Edmonton (18,755), Ottawa (15,635), and Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton (10,910). The fastest growing are in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia.

Latin American population of Canada by census year

Latin American Canadian population in Canada by province or territory according to the Census

Immigration

List of Canadian census subdivisions with Latin American populations higher than the national average

Source: Canada 2016 Census
National average: 1.3%

Alberta

*Brooks, Alberta, Brooks () *Calgary () *Edmonton () *Red Deer, Alberta, Red Deer () *Lethbridge, Alberta, Lethbridge ()

British Columbia

*Greater Vancouver Electoral Area A, British Columbia, Greater Vancouver A () *Burnaby () *New Westminster () *Vancouver () *Port Moody () *Coquitlam ()

Manitoba

*Brandon, Manitoba, Brandon ()

Ontario

*Bradford, Ontario, Bradford () *Leamington, Ontario, Leamington () *Toronto () *Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener () *Brampton () *London, Ontario, London () *Milton, Ontario, Milton () *Vaughan () *Mississauga () *Oakville, Ontario, Oakville () *St. Catharines () *Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton (city) ()

Quebec

*Brossard () *Montreal () *Dorval () *Longueuil () *Laval, Quebec, Laval () *Saint-Lambert, Quebec, Saint-Lambert () *L'Ile-Perrot, Quebec, L'Ile-Perrot () *Châteauguay () *Candiac, Quebec, Candiac () *Dollard-des-Ormeaux () *Sherbrooke () *Terrebonne, Quebec, Terrebonne ()

List of notable Latin American Canadians

Music

*Eva Avila, pop music, pop singer and 2006 ''Canadian Idol'' winner *Boogat, rapper *Fito Blanko, tropical/urban singer-songwriter, born in Panama *Patricia Cano, singer *Marco Castillo, singer-songwriter *José Miguel Contreras, rock music, rock musician and lead vocalist of By Divine Right *Criollo (band), Criollo, hip hop music, hip-hop group *Beto Cuevas, rock musician and former lead vocalist of La Ley (band), La Ley *Eliana Cuevas, singer-songwriter *Lhasa de Sela, folk musician *Carlos del Junco, harmonica player, member of the Cuban del Junco family *Quique Escamilla, Mexican-born musician *Carole Facal, rock musician *Alberto Guerrero, music composer and pianist, born in Chile *Rascalz, DJ Kemo, producer and DJ for hip-hop group Rascalz *Tom Landa, Mexican-born folk-rock musician *Oscar Lopez (guitarist), Oscar Lopez, flamenco musician, born in Chile *Lindi Ortega, singer-songwriter *John Paul Ospina, singer *Adonis Puentes, singer-songwriter *Alex Cuba, Alexis Puentes, musician known by the stage name Alex Cuba *Quilla (musician), Quilla, singer-songwriter *Jessie Reyez, singer-songwriter *Alejandra Ribera, singer-songwriter

Writers

*Rodrigo Bascuñán, author and journalist, born in Chile *Gloria Escomel, writer and journalist born in Uruguay *Gabriela Etcheverry, poet and novelist, born in Chile *José Latour, novelist, born in Cuba.

Entertainment

*David Alvarez (actor), David Alvarez, actor. *Joana Ceddia, YouTube Personality (of Brazilians, Brazilian descent) *Juan Chioran, stage actor, born in Argentina *Nick Cordero, stage actor, Costa Rican descent *Tasya Teles, actress *Carlos Díaz (actor), Carlos Díaz, television and film actor, born in Chile *Ona Grauer, television and film actress, born in Mexico *Flora Martínez, actress, part-Colombian descent *Emma Rabbe, television and film actress *Klea Scott, television and film actress, born in Panama *Michael Mando, film and television actor (of Mexican people, Mexican descent). *Emilia McCarthy, actress (of Mexican descent). *Nicola Correia-Damude, actress (of Guyanese people, Guyanese descent).

Photography

*Bruce Chun, cinematographer, born in Mexico *Federico Hidalgo, filmmaker and film professor.

Politics

*Pierre Alarie, Ambassador (of Mexican Descent) *Paulina Ayala, former Member of Parliament, MP for Honoré-Mercier (electoral district), Honoré-Mercier (New Democratic Party of Canada, New Democratic Party), born in Chile *Estefania Cortes-Vargas, Canadian politician, elected in the Alberta general election, 2015 to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Strathcona-Sherwood Park, born in Colombia *Joseph Facal, former minister in Quebec (Parti Québécois), born in Uruguay *Miguel Figueroa, leader and President of the Communist Party of Canada *Andrés Fontecilla, leader of Québec solidaire, born in Chile *Rosa Galvez, Senator, born in Peru *Rod Loyola, Canadian politician, elected in the Alberta general election, 2015 to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Edmonton-Ellerslie, born in Chile *Sergio Marchi (politician), Sergio Marchi, former Member of Parliament, MP (Liberal Party of Canada), born in Argentina *Ricardo Miranda, Canadian politician, elected in the Alberta general election, 2015 to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Calgary-Cross, born in Nicaragua *Osvaldo Nunez, former Member of Parliament, MP (Bloc Québécois), born in Chile *Cesar Palacio, first Latino person elected to the Toronto City Council, born in Ecuador *Saul Polo, MNA in Quebec, born in Colombia *Pablo Rodríguez (Canadian politician), Pablo Rodríguez, Member of Parliament, MP for Honoré-Mercier (electoral district), Honoré-Mercier (Liberal Party of Canada), born in Argentina

Science and technology

*Ivar Mendez, MD surgeon, Professor and Chairman of Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan, born in Bolivia *Manuel Buchwald, geneticist and academic, born in Peru *Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, electronic artist, born in Mexico.

Sport

*Eurico Rosa Da Silva, Ice jockey from Brazil *Tony Menezes, Brazilian soccer player *Michel Acosta, professional soccer player, born in Uruguay *Oscar Albuquerque, former professional soccer player, born in Peru *Keven Aleman, professional soccer player, born in Costa Rica *Manny Aparicio, professional soccer player, born in Argentina *Mauro Biello, former professional soccer player, current assistant coach of the Canada men's national soccer team *Marco Bustos, professional soccer player *Sergio Camargo, professional soccer player, born in Colombia *Miguel Cañizalez, professional soccer player, born in El Salvador *Lucas Cavallini, professional soccer player *Carly Colón, professional wrestler, born in Puerto Rico via Canadian mother *Oscar Cordon, professional soccer player *Marco Dominguez, professional soccer player *Chris Duarte (basketball), Chris Duarte, professional basketball player *Leylah Fernandez, professional tennis player *Marcelo Flores, professional soccer player *Andres Fresenga, professional soccer player *Kianz Froese, professional soccer player, born in Cuba *Manny Gomez, professional soccer player, born in Argentina *Vladimir Guerrero Jr., professional baseball player *Cristián Gutiérrez (soccer, born 1997), Cristián Gutiérrez, professional soccer player *Otto Lopez, professional baseball player, born in the Dominican Republic *Juan Cruz Mascia, professional soccer player *Rosa Mendes, WWE Diva and professional wrestler *Juan Mendez (basketball), Juan Mendez, professional basketball player *Ivan Menjivar, mixed martial artist *Arturo Miranda, professional Diving (sport), diver, born in Cuba *David Monsalve, professional soccer player *Cristian Nuñez (soccer, born 1988), Cristian Nuñez, professional soccer player *Jonathan Osorio, professional soccer player *Carlos Patino (footballer), Carlos Patino, professional soccer player, born in Colombia *Willi Plett, professional hockey player, National Hockey League, NHL *Robyn Regehr, professional hockey player, NHL *Bryce Salvador, professional hockey player, NHL *Davis Sanchez, professional football player, Canadian Football League, CFL and National Football League, NFL *Isidro Sánchez Macip, professional soccer player, born in Mexico *O. J. Santiago, professional football player, NFL and CFL *Eduardo Sebrango, former professional soccer player, born in Cuba *Oscar Taveras, late professional baseball player in Major League Baseball, MLB, born in the Dominican Republic *Raffi Torres, professional hockey player, NHL.

Cultural adjustment

In 2002, 82% of those who reported Latin American origin said they had a strong sense of belonging to Canada. At the same time, 57% said that they had a strong sense of belonging to their ethnic or cultural group. People with Latin American origins are also active in Canadian society. For example, 66% of Canadians of Latin American origin who were eligible to vote did so in the 2000 federal election.

References

{{Latin American diaspora Canadian people of Latin American descent, + Latin American Canadian, Ethnic groups in Canada