Generational cohorts from immigration waves

[Docere]

Basically immigration waves since 1900 looks roughly like this:

The early 20th century wave (1900-1930):

Still a lot from the British Isles but also a lot of Ukrainians, Eastern European Jews, Italians, Finns, Japanese etc.

The post-war European wave (1950-1970):

Includes European DPs, Italians, Greeks, Hungarian 56ers etc. as well as continued immigration from Britain.

The global immigration wave (1970-present):

This is when the points system is in place and barriers against non-European immigration have been lifted - so literally you have mass immigration from all over the world. Perhaps this can broken into "earlier" and "later" cohorts (70s/80s and since 1990?)

The generational structure would look roughly like this.

The early 20th century wave:

Second generation born largely between say, 1915 and 1940. So the 2nd generation from that wave has largely died off and the remainder are a very aged group.

Third generation would be those born between roughly 1940 and 1965, so they're (mostly) the Baby Boomers.

Fourth generation would be born between 1965 and 1990.

Fifth generation is just beginning to come of age.

The post-war wave:

Second generation would be born between roughly 1955 and the 1980s.

Third generation born after 1980. I don't think there's much of a fourth generation yet.

The global wave:

Second generation are mostly young adults and children, the vast majority born after 1990. The third generation is still very small, and mostly children. 95%+ of visible minority Canadians (who have overwhelmingly come to Canada since the 1970s) after all are still 1st and 2nd generation.


Obviously this is a simplified picture.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

Includes European DPs, Italians, Greeks, Portuguese etc.

What does DPs in this context stand for?

[Docere]

Japanese Americans and Canadians from the early 20th century wave have specific terms for the generations: Issei (first), Nisei (second), Sansei (third) and Yonsei (fourth).

[Capsicum]

The 1950s-70s is mostly post-war continental European but post-war Brits and even the American draft dodgers were a big component of this time period's immigration.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

Japanese Americans and Canadians from the early 20th century wave have specific terms for the generations: Issei (first), Nisei (second), Sansei (third) and Yonsei (fourth).

Are number of generations typically defined as from the oldest side of one's family?

So, if a third generation Canadian marries a foreign-born Canadian, is their kid typically considered a fourth generation Canadian?

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Are generations typically defined as the oldest side of one's family?

So, if a third generation Canadian marries a foreign-born Canadian, is their kid considered typically a fourth generation Canadian?

Statscan would say 2nd generation. But one can speak of being 4th gen on one side and 2nd gen on the other, I suppose.

[Capsicum]

Apparently, I've heard that even though first generation is typically described as foreign born, there's an alternate scheme of counting first generation starting from the first native-born.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

Statscan would say 2nd generation. But one can speak of being 4th gen on one side and 2nd gen on the other, I suppose.

So, counting from the most recent connection to a non-Canadian, I guess.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Apparently, I've heard that even though first generation is typically described as foreign born, there's an alternate scheme of counting first generation starting from the first native-born.

I never liked that. It kind of implies you're not really "a Canadian" (or American or Australian or whatever) unless you're born here.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

I never liked that. It kind of implies you're not really "a Canadian" (or American or Australian or whatever) unless you're born here.

Governments and censuses typically use first generation as the first generation to get citizenship, though, don't they?

I think the first = first born in the country is less common but occasionally colloquially heard.

[Capsicum]

Also, does return migration "reset" generational status?

For example, if someone immigrates to Canada and gives birth to a second generation Canadian, but then that second generation Canadian then moves abroad to another country to give birth, would the last birth be a third generation Canadian (since they'd get citizenship through parents) or since foreign-born, gets "reset" to be labelled as first generation.

[Docere]

Until you have a Canadian-born majority in a community, I think it's premature to say whether "today's immigrants" are slower to integrate than past immigration waves.

[Docere]

The normal pattern is that the 2nd generation likely grew up speaking or has familiarity with the immigrant language (but is also fluent in English and/or French), but by the 3rd generation the immigrant language is lost. I suspect that's true today, but there's not enough 3rd generation from the global wave yet to confirm this.

[Pinion]

For my area it's more like UK/British commonwealth almost exclusively, with a sprinkling of black Caribbeans, until the late 70s. Then Iranians, then Hong Kongers in the early-mid 90s (most of whom have since left), then Filipinos in the 21st century.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Pinion

For my area it's more like UK/British commonwealth almost exclusively, with a sprinkling of black Carribeans, until the late 70s. Then Iranians, then Hong Kongers in the early-mid 90s (most of whom have since left), then Filipinos in the 21st century.

I wasn't familiar with a Caribbean community in North Vancouver.

But yeah, British immigrants continued well into the 1970s, and they continue to come today though in more modest numbers.

They don't call it British Columbia for nothing.

[Pinion]

We have the largest Caribbean festival this side of Toronto every year, and about four of my condo neighbours are black in an otherwise extremely white building (high percentage for Vancouver). But they're all older residents, no new people of African descent come here. Burnaby seems to be the new place to be.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

The normal pattern is that the 2nd generation likely grew up speaking or has familiarity with the immigrant language (but is also fluent in English and/or French), but by the 3rd generation the immigrant language is lost. I suspect that's true today, but there's not enough 3rd generation from the global wave yet to confirm this.

Another difference is that compared to the past, there's much more homogenization and interchange of mass media and culture than before. An Italian immigrant last century probably did not have much American (or Canadian) popular culture exposure as today, didn't watch much news outside his or her country, listen to as much popular music that was the same across the globe, shopped at malls with the same products in the old country as are found in the new country. An African or Asian immigrant today probably knows so much more about the west before arriving simply because western (or American) culture has already arrived to their country in many forms (ranging from dubbed or subtitled TV shows to chain stores like Starbucks, or Walmart etc.) to begin with.

If anything, this would make the global wave assimilate faster, not slower than past generations.

[Docere]

David Suzuki (born 1936) was one of the earliest Sansei (third generation). He says one of his worst memories in the internment camps was being mistreated by the other Japanese Canadian kids, who were mostly Nisei and could speak Japanese.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Another difference is that compared to the past, there's much more homogenization and interchange of mass media and culture than before. An Italian immigrant last century probably did not have much American (or Canadian) popular culture exposure as today, didn't watch much news outside his or her country, listen to as much popular music that was the same across the globe, shopped at malls with the same products in the old country as are found in the new country. An African or Asian immigrant today probably knows so much more about the west before arriving simply because western (or American) culture has already arrived to their country in many forms (ranging from dubbed or subtitled TV shows to chain stores like Starbucks, or Walmart etc.) to begin with.

Yes, and there were rural bloc settlements then where the language held out longer (i.e. Ukrainians in the Prairies).

But I guess one difference today is it's easier to keep in touch and visit the immigrant country than it was for earlier immigrants.