Which region of Canada has the longest history of ethnic, cultural, racial diversity?

[Capsicum]

I think a case could be made for the region of western Canada as a whole. British Columbia from the start included ethnic diversity since the time of the gold rushes. Besides the native people, many others came to work there in the 19th and 20th century, not only Canadians from back east, Americans, including Black Americans (for instance on Salt spring island), British, Europeans directly from Europe, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians and Sikh Indians were present early on in its history. Speaking of western Canada more broadly, block settlements on the prairies of various ethnic groups (German, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, other continental Europeans, even Black Americans) also made that a part of Canada a "cultural mosaic" before the catchphrase came to big cities. Also, as I found out from reading on some of the other threads, it appears that western Canada has some of the oldest non-Christian places of worship -- the oldest Canadian synagogue in Victoria, the oldest mosque in Edmonton, the oldest Sikh temple in Abbotsford.

Toronto is seen by some (and often brags) to be the most diverse in Canada, and it's true that Toronto was kind of diverse early on in the 20th century. But you could also make the case for Montreal having lots of ethnic diversity before Toronto did, for example, a lot of the "Ellis Island" groups of immigrants to the US like Italians, Jews, etc. had a history there, so it was probably more "NYC-like" than Toronto was for much of the 20th century, even African Americans with areas like Little Burgundy etc. Though it was Anglo dominated then, but then when later switched, as in contemporary times, it continued to get diversity from Francophone immigrants worldwide and even Anglophone immigrants who continue to assimilate to French (there was that report saying Montreal was the most trilingual city in Canada).

Or could you make the case for Atlantic Canada? The actual Irish language survived in Newfoundland to the 20th century and Canadian Gaelic is still spoken in Nova Scotia, albeit by few people hanging on with keeping the language alive there. There were Basque whalers early on too. Nova Scotia is also the only place in Canada with a black community with majority ancestry that goes back to the time of the American revolution (with the Black Loyalists). If we're talking about really old cultural diversity that goes back centuries, not just the 20th or even 19th century, perhaps then Atlantic Canada could take the title.

[kwoldtimer]

Would it not be Quebec (1759 to present)? I can't see any other part of the country having experience of diversity longer than that.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Or could you make the case for Atlantic Canada?

Thought underappreciated today, I think it is a "no contest" for the Maritimes. Starting in 1713, Nova Scotia was a mixed colony with mostly French inhabitants that was administered by Britain (what Quebec was 50 years later). The settlers that came in the mid-1700's came from the British Isles, continental Europe (Germany, Switzerland; Lunenburg was 1753), the American colonies, and the Caribbean. During this period, Quebec was still French controlled and there was little European settlement farther west.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by someone123

Thought underappreciated today, I think it is a "no contest" for the Maritimes. Starting in 1713, Nova Scotia was a mixed colony with mostly French inhabitants that was administered by Britain (what Quebec was 50 years later). The settlers that came in the mid-1700's came from the British Isles, continental Europe (Germany, Switzerland), the American colonies, and the Caribbean. During this period, Quebec was still French controlled and there was little European settlement farther west.

Yes, and much more diverse than New England to the south, which was about 95% English origin at the time of the American Revolution.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

Yes, and much more diverse than New England to the south, which was about 95% English origin at the time of the American Revolution.

Was the US that much more diverse than Canada as a whole during the time of American Revolution?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogr...lation_in_1790

The US still mostly people from the British Isles and African slaves, with very few continental Europeans, Canada would have been still mostly French (and native) but with some diversity in European settlement in the Maritimes.

[Capsicum]

In terms of ethnic diversity trends --

18th century -- Maritimes, Nova Scotia in particular?
19 the century -- ?
later 19th century -- maybe western Canada because of the block settlements, and BC?
20th century -- Montreal during its peak immigration time? With GTA towards late 20th century?

[Capsicum]

How about religious diversity? Probably goes to western Canada. It was previously mentioned that there was a history of Jews in Winnipeg, and the presence of Orthodox Christians among the homesteaders of the prairies probably also adds to the non-Catholic, non-Protestant proportion of the religious composition of Canadians then.

I still find it curious that the region of western Canada had the oldest synagogue (1863), oldest mosque (1938, interestingly the oldest mosques in the US were also in the western/midwestern US). The surviving oldest Sikh temple (1908) is also in western Canada and predates the US counterpart.

No googling gets me hits for any really old Buddhist or Hindu temples (mostly info about post 1960s stuff), but BC likely had the oldest history of people who were believers of those faiths.

[Capsicum]

Racial diversity -- besides European and Aboriginal, very little of other races until recently. It either goes to BC for Asian immigration (plus early on even small numbers of Pacific Islanders and African Americans) or Nova Scotia during the time of the Black Loyalist and Caribbean settlement (not sure which place would have had higher Black proportions at their peak settlement -- Ontario during the time of the Underground Railroad or Nova Scotia).

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

I still find it curious that the region of western Canada had the oldest synagogue (1863), oldest mosque (1938, interestingly the oldest mosques in the US were also in the western/midwestern US). The surviving oldest Sikh temple (1908) is also in western Canada and predates the US counterpart.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanis...ue_of_Montreal

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

I still find it curious that the region of western Canada had the oldest synagogue (1863)

Interesting discussion. Nonetheless, the first canadian synagogue was established in 1768 in Montréal, north of the mountain, by the spanish and portugese jewish community of Shearith Israel.

[Capsicum]

Linguistic diversity -- no idea. The English-French binary or the two solitudes dominated Canada obviously with Ontario (Franco-Ontarians), Quebec, and the former Acadia probably having lots of bilinguals at various times, but linguistic diversity must also have been high among the homesteaders on the prairies (Ukrainian, German etc.), and in the Maritimes with Gaelic, Irish etc. Plus language diversity must have been high among native groups prior to the forced assimilation from residential schools and other systematic attempts at forcing their loss.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanis...ue_of_Montreal

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

Interesting discussion. Nonetheless, the first canadian synagogue was established in 1768 in Montréal, north of the mountain, by the spanish and portugese jewish community of Shearith Israel.

Okay, that makes much more sense. The one in Victoria is the oldest surviving but just reflects the building itself surviving to the present, rather than the oldest community.

[Laceoflight]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Linguistic diversity -- no idea. The English-French binary or the two solitudes dominated Canada obviously with Ontario (Franco-Ontarians), Quebec, and the former Acadia probably having lots of bilinguals at various times, but linguistic diversity must have been high among the homesteaders on the prairies (Ukrainian, German etc.), and in the Maritimes with Gaelic, Irish etc.

And what about all the French and French canadian missionaries who learned native languages such as Abenaki, Micmac, Huron-Wendat, Cree, Ojibway ? The missionaries prefered to learn the languages and become interprets rather than teaching French, as it was easier to get the natives to switch to catholicism... Lots of the canadian native languages were conserved because of the Jésuites relations, amongst others...

And what about the Grande Paix de Montréal, the Métis, the numerous French-Native weddings ?

And all that was before the Europeans ?

Juste quelques pistes de réflexion supplémentaires...

[mistercorporate]

This one's easy, none other than the ancient Latin settlement of Okotoksium.

[Capsicum]

Here is a published paper on the linguistic diversity history of the US that argues that the current rise in diversity is likely a return to a polyglot condition that existed in the country early on.

"Contrary to what some Americans seem to believe, the United States historically has been a polyglot nation containing a diverse array of languages. At the time of independence, non-English European immigrants made up one quarter of the population and in Pennsylvania two-fifths of the population spoke German.1 In addition, an unknown but presumably significant share of the new nation's inhabitants spoke an American Indian or African language, suggesting that perhaps a third or more of all Americans spoke a language other than English. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (which doubled the size of the country), the Treaty of 1818 with Britain (which added the Oregon Country), the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 with Spain (which gave Florida to the U.S.), and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 (which acquired nearly half of Mexico), tens of thousands of French and Spanish speakers along with many more slaves and the diverse indigenous peoples of those vast territories were added to the linguistic mix.2 Alaska and Hawaii would follow before the end of the 19th century."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4092008/

It'd be interesting if anything similar could be said for Canada.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

Okay, that makes much more sense. The one in Victoria is the oldest surviving but just reflects the building itself surviving to the present, rather than the oldest community.

Interestingly, Victoria was 3-4% Jewish in the mid-19th century:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=W0T...itudes&f=false

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

Interestingly, Victoria was 3-4% Jewish in the mid-19th century:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=W0T...itudes&f=false

Vancouver Island really has an underappreciated diverse history.

[Docere]

And today it's arguably the most "British" place in Canada.

[Docere]

Vancouver "founding father" and second mayor David Oppenheimer was a Jewish immigrant from Bavaria who initially settled in Victoria:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Oppenheimer

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by Docere

And today it's arguably the most "British" place in Canada.

I hear the "more British than the British" saying a lot for Victoria.
Then again, modern day Britain (like London) does have a lot of people of Black and Asian descent.

Vancouver Island has all this history of ethnic diversity (Black, Asian -- both Chinese and Indian, European, Jewish, British Isles, American etc.) but today it is rarely acknowledged because all the assumptions are that Vancouver, the city itself on the Lower Mainland, had the diversity history, when it comes to being in BC.

These old photos, on Salt spring island, and Paldi, BC respectively, of schoolkids could almost fit in a contemporary classroom in Toronto or Vancouver but were from decades before multiculturalism was ever a household word in most of Canada.



Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...lack-1.3433086



Source: http://www.desitoday.ca/paldi-town-s...-sikh-history/