Vaughan’s demographics: Italians, Russians are most reported ethnic origins

The 2016 census shows Chinese as fourth-largest group

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 4, 3019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

The Canadian census in 2016 shows Italian, Russian and Canadian as the most reported ethnic origins in Vaughan.

The census shows there are 94,725 people reported as Italian in origin, making up 31 per cent of Vaughan’s more than 300,000 population, with 25,636 Russians, who are the second largest, constituting about 8.4 per cent.

While all citizens of Canada are Canadians, many Canadians also feel it’s a term that represents their ethnicity, where 24,185 people say they are of Canadian origin, making about 7.9 per cent of population in Vaughan.

With a really thinly lower number of Chinese population at 24,130 than the Canadian, the Chinese also make 7.9 per cent in Vaughan. The fifth group is the 20,595 who identify as East Indian, representing 7 per cent of Vaughan’s residents.

These top five groups represent about 62 per cent of Vaughan's population.

But Vaughan’s diversity spans people of other European, Latin, Central and South American, African, Caribbean and Asian origins, where there are more than 100 languages spoken in the city.

Also, newcomers are continuously arriving to Vaughan. For instance, the top places of birth of immigrants coming to Vaughan as per 2016 census are: China, Philippines, Pakistan, Iran and Indian.

For Peter Wixon, head of Vaughan Food Bank, immigrants, refugees and even people with no clear refugee status have risen up to 40 per cent last year as new clients for him.

Asked how new those people are, he said: “Last week, we had nine new arrivals to Canada who were all from Mexico.”

“The thing people think (is that) they come from one area, but they do not. They are coming from all over the world. Like, we have people coming from Israel, some from Germany, some from England, Uruguay, Venezuela, different African countries. “

When asked if there is a big influx coming from a particular place, he replied: “I would say the ones from Ukraine, Turkey and Mexico,” adding it’s usually from countries where there is an upheaval, either political or economical.

Wixon also said that some MPs such as the Conservative Peter Kent of Thornhill have showed interest to know where people are coming by approaching his food bank.

According to the census, the top groups of immigrants and recent immigrants by nonofficial language spoken most often at home from 2011 to 2016 were those who speak Mandarin, who make about 13 per recent of the total newcomers of 10,790; those who speak Russian, who are about 11.6 per cent; and those who speak Urdu, at 7.6 per cent.

While Chinese-Canadians have strongholds in nearby Markham, it makes sense for Russian- and Urdu-speakers to choose Vaughan as they have a high concentration of people similar to their ethnic backgrounds in the municipality.

Rabbi Mendel Zaltzman, who heads the Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario in Vaughan, describes that the overwhelming majority of Russian-speaking people in the municipality are Jewish.

With the first synagogue opened in 1987, after the Russian-Jewish community started fleeing the Communist rule in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s, the Bathurst area became a hub for them.

“There are six synagogues that operate in York Region, five in Vaughan and one in Richmond Hill,” he told York Region Media.

He also said “immigration didn’t stop.” He added: “They are still Jewish families who are coming, many of them from Israel.”

Likewise, it makes sense for an Urdu-speaking individual or a Pakistani to come to Vaughan, which has a high concentration of Pakistanis, especially around Baitul Islam Mosque, which opened its doors to worshippers in 1992.

“That’s where the biggest population of Pakistanis in York Region is,” said Noor Din, CEO of the Vaughan-based Human Endeavour, a nonprofit organization delivering programs for seniors, economic stability for adults and community development for newcomers and refugees.

Noor Din said Human Endeavour has more than 3,000 clients in York Region, where the majority are South Asian in origin, which include India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka for example.

He described the South Asian group as a prominent group despite the census not showing it as a group. According to the 2016 census, South Asians are the biggest group in the racialized category, where they make 10 per cent of the racialized population, which has the total of 107,680; Chinese follow at 6.8 per cent and Black at 2.7 per cent.

People, who are originally Indian, come from various ethnic backgrounds.  Maybe this explains why East Indian pops up in the categorization of Canada Statistics as opposed to Indian especially that the government agency says that people tend to not report "Indian." For example, they report "East Indian from India," "East Indian from Guyana," or indicate the specific ethnic group, such as "Punjabi" or "Tamil.”

What are the changes?

In the 2011 census, the Chinese demographics didn’t make it in the list of the top five groups that make up Vaughan.

Also, the census in 2011 included Jewish, which was the second-largest group after Italians, with 33,745 Jewish people making up 12 per cent of Vaughan’s 288,300 population at the time.

However, StatCan’s website explains that the list of examples of ethnic origins were updated in 2016 to reflect the frequency of single responses reported in the 2011 National Household Survey as a person can identity as Russian in one instance and then Jewish as well.

This explains why Russian in 2011, too, was the fourth-largest group of 19,385 in total, representing 7 per cent right after Canadians who made a 8 per cent at 22,300.

In the 2016 census, Iranian and Mexican were also added to the list.