From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Cambodians/khmer/Janet Mclellan
Most Cambodians in Canada arrived as refugees during the 1980s. The few here before that time resided mainly in Quebec and were Khmer diplomats, business people, and students. When Cambodia became internationally isolated after 1975, these individuals were granted permanent-resident status. Several Cambodians stranded outside their country also came to Canada during this time as UNHCR convention refugees. Both groups were subsequently able to sponsor surviving family members from Thai refugee camps. The majority of Cambodians arrived in Canada as “designated class refugees” after 1979, through federal-government and private-sponsor-ship programs.
The actual number of Cambodians living in Canada is difficult to calculate, especially those who claim Khmer as their mother tongue. Immigration data indicate that individuals who entered Canada between 1980 and 1992 totalled 18,602. This figure, however, includes neither Cambodians who arrived prior to 1980 nor children later born in Canada. Further, it does not account for the few thousand Khmer Kampuchea Krom (individuals who claim Khmer identity but were born in Vietnam and are listed as Vietnamese refugees) or those Khmer who claimed to be Vietnamese when they were in the Thai refugee camps in order to gain a better opportunity for resettlement in Canada in the late 1980s.
Canadian census data of 1991 show 18,615 individuals claiming Khmer ethnicity, of whom only 1,675 indicate multiple-response identity. This shows that most Cambodians continue to identify themselves as ethnic Khmer. The census, however, lists only 12,020 who claim Khmer as their single mother tongue. Among immigrants from Cambodia, approximately 5 percent identify themselves as ethnic Chinese and a few claim Vietnamese ancestry. In Toronto and Montreal, some Cambodian families are identified as Cham Muslims.
The 1991 census figure of 18,615 is almost the same as the number of Cambodians who reportedly arrived in Canada between 1980 and 1992. A more reasonable estimate would place the number of Cambodians in Canada at about 23,000. A reason for the discrepancy may be that language difficulties prevent many Khmer from completing census forms, while other Khmer remain suspicious about divulging personal information or revealing the number of families living in one household.
Canadian immigration data reveal drastic shifts in Khmer arrival rates. In 1980, 3,269 entered Canada but in 1981 the number of arrivals was only 1,302. Numbers grew in 1983 and then fluctuated slightly until 1990, when they dropped to 720. Two years later, only 214 people were resettled in Canada, reflecting the UNHCR’s emphasis on repatriation and the difficulty of sponsoring family members from Cambodia. Overall, 55 percent of Cambodians were sponsored by the Canadian government and 45 percent were privately sponsored, with approximately equal numbers of males and females in these categories. A “Master Agreement” permitted Catholic Immigrant Aid, the Christian Reform Church, and the Mennonite Church to sponsor immigrants. At first these bodies brought in more immigrants than government, but their efforts declined drastically after 1980. Family-based sponsorship increased substantially from 1987 to 1989.
Cambodian resettlement occurred across Canada but was not evenly distributed. Cambodians were resettled in small towns and cities as single individuals or in small groups of two to fifty families. Numerous waves of migration within Canada followed, increasing the numbers of Cambodians in some urban centres. This internal movement reflects the desire to be reunited with family members, friends, and relatives and to get access to employment, support services, and Khmer cultural activities. Cities with notable increases from 1981 to 1991 were Edmonton, Hamilton, London, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Montreal, Ottawa–Hull, and Quebec City reveal significant declines which reflect the fewer job opportunities in Quebec.
According to the 1991 census, over three-quarters of the 18,615 persons claiming Cambodian ethnicity (single and multiple responses combined) lived in two provinces: Quebec (8,720) and Ontario (5,585). The only other significant numbers were living in Alberta (2,200) and British Columbia (1,330). Within these four provinces the vast majority were concentrated in urban areas, led by Montreal (7,225), Edmonton (2,000), Toronto (1,925), Ottawa-Hull (1,280), Vancouver (1,100), Calgary (945), and Hamilton (930). In the smaller cities, Cambodians are dispersed throughout several residential areas. In the larger urban centres, however, they tend to cluster in identifiable areas with low-cost and subsidized housing – usually large apartment blocks. In Hamilton, London, Montreal, and Ottawa, these apartments are located in different parts of the city. In the Greater Toronto area, Khmer have concentrated in several apartments and townhouse complexes in North York.
In Toronto and Montreal, the few refugees from Cambodia who identify themselves culturally and linguistically as Chinese tend to be affiliated with the Chinese sections of the city. Many Chinese Cambodians belong to regional-based associations, such as the Vietnamese, Laos, and Cambodian Association in Toronto, or they form their own groups, such as Montreal’s Union des Chinois du Cambodge au Canada (UCCC). Immediately on arrival in Canada, Chinese Cambodians received community and resettlement services from providers within the Chinese community.
Outside Quebec, however, there were few Khmer translators in 1980 who could interpret or arrange orientation and support for Khmer refugees. Limited and over-taxed government and social-service programs tended to be oriented towards the considerably larger Chinese-Cambodian and ethnic-Vietnamese groups. Cambodians in Canada comprised a very small portion of the Indochinese refugees, and Khmer were frequently assumed to be Vietnamese Boat People. This lack of an intellectual elite meant that there was little advocacy or cultural brokering on their behalf. Neither government nor private sponsors had the experience or the resources to recognize and deal effectively with the background and psychological requirements of the Khmer refugees, especially among highly vulnerable individuals such as widows or orphans. The absence of culturally appropriate services has affected Khmer at both personal and community levels, and the consequences are only now being recognized.
Most Khmer elites and professionals resettled in France. As they had been educated in French, their qualifications were readily accepted. Chinese-Cambodian merchants and business people, former Khmer government officials, and soldiers from several political factions (Khmer Rouge, Khmer Serei, Lon Nol) chose the United States. A military record or previous dealings with Americans made acceptance there easier. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became destinations for Cambodians who had no professional or military backgrounds.
The majority of Cambodians who resettled in Canada were rural Khmer with little education or knowledge of urban life. Approximately 84 percent reported having received only some or no primary education in Cambodia; 3 percent had completed primary school, and 2 percent high school. Less than 3 percent had post-secondary education. Of the 18,602 Cambodians resettled in Canada from 1980 to 1992, 92 percent could not speak either of Canada’s official languages.
Learning English or French remains very difficult. Women and the elderly continue to face enormous communication barriers and still require translators for interviews with government and social-service workers, teachers, and medical personnel. Such difficulty has led to a high drop-out rate from school among older refugee youths. Despite many English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes, most Cambodian adults cannot get past introductory levels and thus are excluded from government retraining, high schools, and post-secondary education. High illiteracy rates, structural differences between Khmer and Western languages (script, verb tenses, phonemes), interrupted education (during the Khmer Rouge regime and in refugee camps), and impaired memory or learning capacity (symptomatic of post-traumatic stress disorder) inhibit language acquisition.
