Canadians in the United Kingdom, or Canadian Britons, are people from

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 tota ...

living in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and their descendants. In 2001 some 72,518 people born in Canada were living in the UK according to the

UK census Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 (during the Second World War), Ireland in 1921/Northern Ireland in 1931,https://www.nisra.gov. ...

. Of the ten

census tract A census tract, census area, census district or meshblock is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Sometimes these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exi ...

s with the highest Canadian-born populations, nine were in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, with the other being

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

West. The

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

estimates that, in 2009, 82,000 Canadian-born people were living in the UK. In 2011 this was the third largest community in the

Canadian diaspora The Canadian diaspora is the group of Canadians living outside the borders of Canada. As of a 2010 report by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and The Canadian Expat Association, there were 2.8 million Canadian citizens abroad (plus an unkno ...

after

Canadians in the United States Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship. The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadian ...

and

Canadians in Hong Kong Like their American counterparts, a significant number of Canadians live and work in Hong Kong. In February 2011 research from the Asia Pacific Foundation, conducted with Hong Kong Baptist University, suggests there are at least 295,000 Cana ...

History

Britain, and especially London, for a long time served as the

metropole A metropole (from the Greek ''metropolis'' for "mother city") is the homeland, central territory or the state exercising power over a colonial empire. From the 19th century, the English term ''metropole'' was mainly used in the scope of ...

to Canadians of British ancestry — as it did to other English-speaking people across the Commonwealth —the centre of their cultural and economic world where the ambitious would go to advance their careers on the biggest stage. This was still true, to some extent, in 1956 when Trinidadian Canadian theatre critic Ronald Bryden arrived in London for the first time looking to find "pure Anglitude" or the true spirit of Englishness, and remarked that the most imperial-looking buildings were the Commonwealth high commissions and those owned by the Canadian banks, the most Anglocentric newspaper was owned by a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, and the best theatre productions starred Canadian actors (in American productions).

Politics

Hamar Greenwood Thomas Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, PC, KC (7 February 1870 – 10 September 1948), known as Sir Hamar Greenwood, Bt, between 1915 and 1929, was a Canadian-born British lawyer and politician. He served as the last Chief Secretar ...

was a Canadian-born politician who served as a cabinet minister in the

Lloyd George ministry Liberal David Lloyd George formed a coalition government in the United Kingdom in December 1916, and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V. It replaced the earlier wartime coalition under H. H. Asquith, which ha ...

. Bonar Law was a Canadian-born politician who served as

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...

, and additionally held many other government offices including

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies. History The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasi ...

, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Privy Seal.

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...

was a Canadian-born businessman and politician who served as a cabinet minister in the Churchill ministry during the Second World War.

Notable people

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadians In The United Kingdom

+ Immigration to the United Kingdom by country of origin