Iranian Canadians

Iranian Canadians or Persian Canadians are Canadians of Iranian origin. From the 2016 Canadian census, the main communities can be found in Southern Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. The vast majority, however, live in northern suburbs of Toronto such as Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Markham, and Thornhill, and in certain municipalities of Vancouver, including North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, and Coquitlam. As of 2016 a total of 97,110 Iranians reside in the Greater Toronto Area, 46,255 in the Greater Vancouver Area, and 23,410 in the Greater Montreal Area, with the remainder spread out in the other major cities of Canada, based on the 2016 Canadian Census. These numbers represent the people who stated "Iranian" as their single or joint ethnic origin in the census survey.

Terminology

Iranian-Canadian is used interchangeably with Persian-Canadian, partly due to the fact that, in the Western world, Iran was known as "Persia". On the Nowruz of 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the endonym of the country used since the Sasanian Empire, in formal correspondence. Since then the use of the word "Iran" has become more common in the Western countries. This also changed the usage of the terms for Iranian nationality, and the common adjective for citizens of Iran changed from "Persian" to "Iranian". In 1959, the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Reza Shah Pahlavi's son, announced that both "Persia" and "Iran" could officially be used interchangeably. However the issue is still debated today.

While the majority of Iranian-Canadians come from Persian backgrounds, there is a significant number of non-Persian Iranians such as Azeris and Kurds within the Iranian-Canadian community, leading some scholars to believe that the label "Iranian" is more inclusive, since the label "Persian" excludes non-Persian minorities. The Collins English Dictionary uses a variety of similar and overlapping definitions for the terms "Persian" and "Iranian".

Demographics

In 2021, there were 213,160 individuals in Canada who had been born in Iran, of which 70,395 had immigrated to Canada since 2011. Among all Iranian-Canadians, 103,560 (49%) identified as Muslim. Among immigrants since 2011, about 39,860 (57%) identified as Muslim while most of the rest did not identify with any religion.

Islamic republic politicians/sympathizers

Canada in 2022 banned ten thousand IRGC seniors and officers from entry. Iranian celebrities and government former ministers and officials are often mentioned in the news residing or traveling in Canada as well.

Notable Canadians of Iranian descent

Academia

• Payam Akhavan, pioneer in international criminal law and leading human rights advocate; McGill University
• Kaveh Farrokh, historian
• Ramin Jahanbegloo, philosopher and university professor
• Ali Khademhosseini, Associate Professor of Medicine; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
• Shahrzad Mojab, Professor of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education; University of Toronto
• Reza Zadeh, computer scientist; Stanford University

Art and literature

• Hossein Amanat, architect, urban designer
• Reza Baraheni, novelist, poet, critic, and political activist
• Jian Ghomeshi, member of Moxy Früvous; former host of CBC's play; former host of Q on CBC Radio 1
• Siamak Hariri, architect
• Nazanine Hozar, writer
• Ramin Karimloo, West End performer, playing the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the sequel Love Never Dies
• Navid Khonsari, video game, film and graphic novel creator, writer, director and producer
• Fariborz Lachini, music composer
• Nima Mazhari, painter, photographer and husband of ex-Olympic biathlete Myriam Bédard, convicted and sentenced in June 2007 for stealing paintings from the late painter Ghitta Caiserman
• Sanaz Mazinani, photographer and curator
• Kaveh Nabatian, musician and filmmaker
• Marina Nemat, author
• Ghazal Omid, nonfiction political writer, nonfiction children's book writer, speaker, NGO executive
• Fariborz Sahba, architect
• Bardia Sinaee, poet
• Parviz Tanavoli, sculptor and painter
• Mostafa Keshvari, Director and writer
• Anahita Akhavan, painter

Beauty pageants

• Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Miss Canada 2003, first runner-up of Miss World 2003, actress, singer-songwriter, human rights activist; wife of former Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay
• Ramona Amiri, Miss World Canada 2005, semifinalist of Miss World 2005
• Samantha Tajik, Miss Universe Canada 2008

Business

• Ghermezian family, billionaire shopping mall developers
• Hassan Khosrowshahi, founder of Future Shop
• Karim Hakimi, founder of Hakim Optical
• Michael Latifi, founder of Sofina Foods Ltd and owner of Nidala (BVI) Limited which holds a share in the McLaren Group.
• Shahrzad Rafati, founder of BroadbandTV Corp
• Sam Mizrahi, real estate developer
• Shahin Assayesh, publisher

Crime

• Omid Tahvili, kingpin and international fugitive

Entertainment

• Mehdi Sadaghdar, YouTube personality, electrical engineer

Journalism

Various Persian-language media (including TV and newspapers) are active in Canada, including Shahrvand and Salam Toronto, which cover local events as well.

• Maziar Bahari, journalist
• Farid Haerinejad, CBC former producer, documentary maker, and editor-in-chief of Radio Zamaneh
• Shaya Goldoust, journalist, podcaster, radio host
• Zahra Kazemi, photojournalist
• Nikahang Kowsar, cartoonist
• Touka Neyestani, cartoonist

Politicians

• Ali Ehsassi, Federal Liberal MP for Willowdale, lawyer
• Majid Jowhari, Federal Liberal MP for Richmond Hill, engineer
• Amir Khadir, Québec solidaire Former MNA for Mercier, microbiologist
• Reza Moridi, Ontario Liberal Former MPP for Richmond Hill, physicist, engineer

Sport

• Nicholas Latifi, Formula One driver for Williams Grand Prix Engineering
• Khashayar Farzam, Powerlifter and Physician

Technology

• Behdad Esfahbod, programmer and creator of the HarfBuzz text shaping engine

Iranian districts in Canada

British Columbia

• North Vancouver (District)
• North Vancouver (City)
• West Vancouver
• Burnaby
• Coquitlam

Ontario

• Richmond Hill
• Vaughan
• Markham
• Thornhill

See also

• Azerbaijani Canadians
• Armenian Canadians
• Canadian Society of Iranian Engineers and Architects-Ottawa
• Iranian diaspora
• Kurds in Canada
• Middle Eastern Canadians
• West Asian Canadians

References

External links

• PM meets with representatives of the Persian-Canadian community
• Iranians of Toronto website