Swiss Canadians are
Canadian citizens of Swiss ancestry or people who emigrated from
Switzerland and reside in Canada. According to the
2016 Census there were 155,120 Canadians who claimed Swiss ancestry, having an increase compared to those 146,830 in the 2011 Census.
One of the earliest settlers in Canada was Pierre Miville (d. 1669).
Laurenz Ermatinger (1736 to 1789), a fur trader and merchant, arrived in Montreal from Switzerland and together with his son Charles Oakes (1776 to 1833), and Sebastian Freyvogel have explored the large Huron tract.
By 1871 about 3,000 Swiss had settled in Canada and in the time between 1887 and 1938, a reported additional 8,548 Swiss had moved to Canada.
was a Swiss artist who specialized in painting the Western USA and Canada until his death in 1834.
Until
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, most Swiss immigrants were farmers who settled in Canada.
This changed after
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when several Swiss firms opened offices in Canada, leading to immigration of educated Swiss personnel including engineers, professors and merchants.
[ When farmland became unaffordable in Switzerland in the 1970s, a number of Swiss farmers bought farmland in Canada and settled there.]
Swiss Canadians by numbers
See also
* Canada–Switzerland relations
* European Canadians
*Swiss Americans
Swiss Americans are Americans of Swiss descent.
Swiss emigration to America predates the formation of the United States, notably in connection with the persecution of Anabaptism during the Swiss Reformation and the formation of the Amish commun ...
References
European Canadian
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 tot ...
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