Historic census data
Since there's seems to be some interest, I've been compiling some historic Census data and I thought I'd share here, rather than "corrupt" other threads.
I start with the 1931 census. I like this one because 1) they start having some good cross-classification data and 2) it's at the tail end after the major 20th century immigration (and there's little immigration for 20 years). Feel free to pose any questions/requests and I'll do my best to find some data! |
Here is the percentage of the population is at least 3rd generation Canadian. Big east-west difference and very evident in "Canadian" responses today.
Both parents Canadian-born PEI 88.5% Nova Scotia 79.7% New Brunswick 83.4% Quebec 82.6% Ontario 48.5% Manitoba 26.1% Saskatchewan 23.1% Alberta 19.2% BC 18.9% Canada total 53.4% |
Interesting to see the multilingual nature of some immigration sources. Mother tongue for selected countries of birth.
Born in Poland Ukrainian 67,226 39.3% Polish 61,056 35.7% Yiddish 24,080 14.1% German 13,517 7.9% Born in Romania Ukrainian 12,809 31.8% Romanian 8,496 21.1% German 8,046 20% Yiddish 7,444 18.5% Magyar 1,584 3.9% Born in Russia German 44,836 39.1% Yiddish 39,237 34.3% Russian 22,240 19.4% Born in United States English 230,779 67% French 47,267 13.7% German 23,675 6.9% Norwegian 14,432 4.2% |
I love these sorts of things.
Going through the 1891 Newfoundland census... Population of St. John's, City only: 29,007 Population of St. John's District, smaller than current CMA: 36,027 Born in Newfoundland: 34,075 The only other countries we recorded were England, Ireland, Scotland, British Colonies (which includes fellow Dominions such as Canada), and Foreign Countries (literally the rest of the world :haha:). Beyond that, trying to compare to the Canadian Census of 1931, the closest we have is the Newfoundland Census of 1935. At that time... Population of the City of St. John's: 39,886 Population of Newfoundland and her Dependencies (Labrador): 289,516 Born in Newfoundland and her Dependencies: 285,407 Born in England: 571 Born in Scotland: 317 Born in Ireland: 135 Born in Wales: 17 Born in Lesser British Isles: 4 Born in British Possessions: 1,447 (For some reason this is where Canada is counted, which is 1,420 of that total). And the most delightful one of all: Born at Sea: 17 Foreign Born: 1,601 And within that category: United States: 1,032 (anecdotally, much of this would've been families from the Boston area with existing connections to Newfoundland; there was a lot of back and forth between the two at that time) China: 136 Syria: 81 (again, anecdotally, but today they'd consider their heritage Lebanese and are one of the most well-known, established, "foundational" non-British groups. Even our provincial NDP leader is Lebanese in origin) France: 61 Poland: 56 St-Pierre et Miquelon (France): 55 Russia: 42 Germany: 32 Others: 106 It's interesting how low the numbers can be compared to their influence. I suppose it has to do with the huge families back then? So you have St. John's as a city of about 40K and 81 people born in Syria/Lebanon. We had huge families then - both my parents have 13 siblings, my maternal grandfather had 22. 5-6 kids would've been a small family so that 81 actually born overseas probably represents several hundred people born in Newfoundland who consciously identify with their Syrian/Lebanese heritage. And even that seems low given their influence - especially commercially. |
While I haven't seen Newfoundland stats, the 1931 census showed about 2,000 people of "other Asiatic" origin (basically Syrian-Lebanese) in the Maritimes. That's larger than the East Indian population in BC then.
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Other Asiatic origin, 1931:
Sydney 277 1.2% Halifax 269 0.5% Saint John 121 0.3% Charlottetown 107 0.8% (virtually all Syrian-Lebanese, but not available at municipal level. 98% of "other Asiatics" with a non-official language as MT in the Maritimes are of "Syrian and Arabic MT"). |
The St. John's 1891 data is fascinating.
So China is the most common non-anglosphere country of birth - though I wonder if there's a good number of "missionaries in China" in those numbers and how many are ethnic Chinese. Russia and Poland I assume are mostly Jews? |
I assume actually Chinese. Check any daily from that era and there are a dozen or more advertisements for Chinese laundries. And those would be the more proper ones - most were in the Central Slum:
The Russians and Germans are likely our Jewish community, yes. The Poles, though, are likely not - and not even in St. John's. Quite a lot of them settled in Harbour Breton. |
Looks like the Lebanese Newfoundlanders back in the day often passed through Ellis Island before heading to Newfoundland. Interesting, in light of modern day discussions of immigrant retention, that some early immigrants were passing by North America's largest and most immigrant-dense city, to settle in Newfoundland.
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/s...nic-groups.php "Immigrants from Mount Lebanon arrived at Newfoundland and Labrador – and elsewhere in North and South America – during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to escape religious persecution, poverty, and military conscription within the Turkish Empire. Most immigrants first landed at Ellis Island in New York Harbour before proceeding to Nova Scotia and then across the Cabot Strait to Newfoundland. These men and women initially referred to themselves as Syrians, Assyrians, or Maronites, but assumed the designation Lebanese after the Republic of Lebanon formed in 1920." Early Chinese immigrants also docked in Vancouver, then took a long cross-country Canadian route (since they weren't welcome in Canada at the time) to get to Newfoundland. "Most immigrants disembarked at Vancouver, where they could either remain or continue east. Those wishing to enter Newfoundland and Labrador had to travel by rail to Halifax and then board a steamer to the island of Newfoundland. Because the Canadian government imposed a head tax of $50 on Chinese immigrants after 1885 (which it raised to $500 in 1903), mounted police escorted Newfoundland-bound immigrants for much of their journey east to ensure they did not try to covertly settle in Canada." |
Syrian and Arabic MT, 1931:
Canada total 9,226 PEI 83 Nova Scotia 847 New Brunswick 502 Quebec 3,483 Ontario 3,026 Manitoba 320 Saskatchewan 571 Alberta 211 BC 175 Estimated Syrian-Lebanese population, 1931: Canada total 10,928 PEI 135 Nova Scotia 1,178 New Brunswick 639 Quebec 3,859 Ontario 3,590 Manitoba 441 Saskatchewan 708 Alberta 346 BC 186 Syrian origin is usually lumped in with "other Asiatics." I calculated the percentage of the other Asiatic group that was not of English or French MT that had Syrian and Arabic MT and assumed that the percenatage was the same for the entire "other Asiatic" population. In Canada as a whole, 74% of "other Asiatics are of Syrian and Arabic MT, and they're the vast majority of "other Asiatics" outside BC. The Syrian-Lebanese are not only of the most "Eastern" immigrant groups in the early 20th century, but they're probably the only immigrant group whose numbers in the Maritimes exceed those of Western Canada in the 1931 census. |
Asian groups in BC, 1931:
Chinese 27,139 3.9% Japanese 22,205 3.2% East Indian (est.) 1,475 0.2% Virtually all Japanese were in BC but only 58% of Chinese were. Chinese population outside BC, 1931: Ontario 6,919 Alberta 3,875 Saskatchewan 3,501 Quebec 2,750 Manitoba 1,732 Maritimes 602 |
Who exactly were the "Asiatic" or "Asian" groups in Canada that had a sizeable population at this time -- the Chinese, Japanese, East Indians (mostly Sikhs) and Syrian-Lebanese, right? It's pretty much these four or so, I'm guessing?
Other groups from Asia (be they Turks, Persians, Koreans, Filipinos) are pretty much late 20th century, aren't they? |
Also, I'd be curious, how many Spanish speakers, or Spanish-descent people, be they from Spain itself or Latin America itself were present in the early 20th century.
All the sources I've seen claim Latin American Canadians are almost all a post 1960s and 70s immigrant wave, but I've never seen stats. |
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Obviously Japanese Canadians are the most "multi-generational" today since immigration from Japan has been pretty modest. |
Looked up another year - our last census prior to Confederation, 1945.
Population Newfoundland and Labrador: 321,819 St. John's and Suburbs: 65,256 City of St. John's: 44,603 Religion Church of Rome: 106,006 Church of England: 100,878 Methodist: 80,094 Salvation Army: 22,571 Pentecostal: 7,558 Other/None: 3,164 Presbyterian: 1,548 Within Other/None, some additional detail is provided: Moravian: 1,164 Non-Christian Religion: 299 Jewish: 208 No Religion: 98 It must've been a big decision to tell a census taker in 1945 that you're atheist. Regarding Moravians, I'm not sure if they have them elsewhere in Canada, but it's a Czech church and they were the main missionaries in Labrador. Today almost all Moravians in the province would be Innu, Inuit, or Metis. They're most known for their star: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...ador-1.4457917 Ethnic Origin These were often decided and recorded by the census taker, not the individual. Some of these terms are outdated/offensive, but it's what was recorded then. Also, there was always pressure here to underestimate the Irish population, so take that one with a grain of salt. Harbour Grace was even forbidden from voting in a national election when census data suggested it had become majority Catholic - imagine Canada's government not letting francophone regions vote. :haha: But can't get upset. We still had it very good compared to some. Joey Smallwood literally said "There are no Indians in Newfoundland" when we joined Canada, and Canada accepted that. All of our Indigenous peoples regard it as a political form of genocide, and have been slowly fighting for their rights ever since - with significant success. English: 248,297 Irish: 56,038 French: 9,083 Scottish: 4,269 Eskimo: 701 Half-Breed: 527 Indian: 451 Welsh: 399 Scandinavian: 368 Syrian: 279 Chinese: 164 German: 152 Jewish: 145 Netherlands: 90 Russian: 70 Polish: 38 Spanish: 38 Armenian: 6 Negro: 5 Ukrainian: 4 Austrian: 2 Half-Breed is most likely children of one European and one Indigenous parent. Combinations where both parents were European, though common, were recorded as English if either parent was. Country of Birth Newfoundland: 316,604 England: 690 Wales: 480 Ireland: 98 Other British Countries: 2,017 Foreign Countries: 1,648 Country of Allegiance This roughly aligns with citizenship as it was based on passports. Newfoundland: 321,024 United States: 502 China: 119 France: 31 Poland: 15 Norway: 13 Spain: 6 Sweden: 6 Germany: 4 Other/Passport issued by a country that no longer exists: 90 |
^ Fascinating.
Yeah it's pretty obvious Irish ancestry was undercounted then. Catholic is a good proxy for Irish origin in Newfoundland. Even today you have about reporting 20-25% Irish origin and 35% Catholic - certainly the majority of that 10-15% would have some Irish ancestry. |
Do you have ethnic, religion and birthplace data for St. John's?
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Religion Church of Rome: 31,612 Church of England: 16,382 Methodist: 15,585 The rest are all approximately 1,000 or much fewer. Ethnic Origin English: 41,929 Irish: 20,735 The rest are all much fewer, most just in the low hundreds. Birthplace is almost entirely Newfoundland - only about 1,000 total for other countries, including United Kingdom, Canada, and United States. |
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And they were probably a majority of Asian Canadians up until the liberalization of immigration policy in the 1960s. In the US, Chinese Americans dropped to 50% or less of Asian Americans in the early 20th century (after which Japanese became the majority of Asian Americans for a while, with the addition of a small Filipino and Korean population, which Canada lacked in any significant number until the 1960s or later), decades pretty soon after the Chinese exclusion act. However, unlike in the US, Canada's way of excluding Chinese immigrants, the head tax, did not stop a rise in Chinese population at the time, until a 1920s ban lowered the Chinese population for a few decades. I still remember that thread in city discussions a while back about whether "Pan-Asian identity" existed in the US or Canada, and how Canada has very little Pan-Asian identity, which makes sense if Asian more or less meant majority Chinese throughout the majority of the country's history. |
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