In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Ibrahim Hayani 18 Arabs in Canada: Assimilation or Integration? The Arab community in Canada is one of the least studied ethnic groups, despite the fact that over the past three decades Arabs have been immigrating to Canada in ever greater numbers. For the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, respectively, 27,042,36,506, and 61,893 immigrants from different countries in the Arab world came to Canada. In the first eight years of the 1990S alone, the number of these immigrants almost exceeded the total for the whole previous two decades. There are now about 375,000 Canadians of Arab origin, accounting for 1.3 percent of Canada's total population. With the exception of the work of Baha Abu-Laban,l hardly any research has been done on Arab Canadians. This omission may be explained in part by the relatively small size of this population in Canada. There is also the distinct possibility that Arabs have been ignored because they are perceived to be "too different," "too problematic," or just plain "alien." Canadians tend to associate Arabs with images they derive from the media, and these have been largely negative. In the minds of many, "Arab" and "Muslim " have become associated with violence, brutality, terrorism, and fanaticism.2 Where these images have prevailed-in schools, government services, the media, the work place, and the political sphere-Arab Canadians have paid dearly.3 This chapter attempts to fill some of the gaps in knowledge about Arab Canadians. It looks at group processes associated with Arab immigration to Canada and at individual factors surrounding assimilation and integration into Canadian society. Part I: Arab Immigration to Canada Arab immigration to Canada began in 1882, with the arrival to Montreal of reportedly the first Arab, Abraham Bounadere, a native of Zahleh in present-day Lebanon.4 At that time, only the very adventurous few, mostly Lebanese and Syrian Christians, left home and kin to seek their fortune in distant lands. Most went to the United States, but a few made it to Canada. At the turn of the twentieth century, the number of Arab ARABS IN CANADA 285 immigrants in Canada had reached 2,000. By 1951, Arab Canadians numbered slightly more than 12,000. The immigration patterns of these early years illustrate the factors that determine the rate at which immigrants, Arabs and others, came to Canada. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the salient view among most English Canadians was that the values and way of life of the white race were superior to all others, especially as these manifested themselves in British institutions. Preference was therefore given to British and American immigrants, followed by immigrants from western and northern Europe and then by those from the rest of Europe. Asians and blacks were the least preferred of all immigrants and were allowed in only when there was a demonstrated need for their labor,s Concerns about "ethnic purity" and the need to protect Canadians from the "grave consequences" of having more Orientals come to Canada had a serious effect on immigration from the Arab world. In 1919, the Reverend James S. Woodworth stated that "The Oriental [Chinese, Japanese, and East Indians (Hindus)] cannot be assimilated."6 He also asserted that the "Levantine Races [Syrians, Lebanese, Armenians, Greeks, Turks, and Persians-probably Assyrian Christians] ... constitute one of the least desirable classes of our immigrants."7 During the first half of the twentieth century, restrictive immigration legislative measures , the economic depression of the 1930S, and the two world wars took their toll on immigration from the Arab world. An inspection of Table 18-1 shows that 5,597 Arab immigrants (largely Syrian and Lebanese) entered Canada in the first decade of the twentieth century, but throughout all the next forty years, no more than 3,085 Arab immigrants came to Canada. The growth of the Arabic-speaking population in Canada between 1914 and the end of World War II was for the most part because of natural growth, not immigration. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that discriminatory restrictions on immigration began to ease. World War II and Canada's entry into the United Nations in 1945 forced Canadians to reexamine their view of immigrants. After that, it was only a matter of time before artificial barriers to immigration came downalthough old attitudes and beliefs persisted and have occasionally resurfaced since then. Canada's Immigration Act of 1953 repealed many of the previous discriminatory measures. Prospective immigrants...

Share