From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Indo-caribbeans/Frank Birbalsingh
Indo-Caribbean ties to Canada go back to the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1864 a Canadian Presbyterian missionary named John Morton made a visit to Trinidad for health reasons. His visit had far-reaching consequences for Indo-Caribbean people, for it led to the establishment of a Presbyterian Church mission, later known as the Canadian Mission, which devoted itself to working almost exclusively with Indian indentured labourers, especially in Guyana and Trinidad. The first mission was established in Trinidad in 1868, with others in Grenada in 1884, in St Lucia and Guyana in 1885, and in Jamaica in 1894. While there were other Christian denominations active in the Caribbean, only the Canadian Presbyterians concentrated on indentured Indian immigrants.
The Canadian Mission began its work at a time when British colonial governments in the Caribbean gave little priority to providing indentured Indians with social services. This was the vacuum which the Canadian Mission attempted to fill. Although the main aim of the Canadian Presbyterians was to establish churches and proselytize, they also established schools at the elementary as well as secondary level for both boys and girls, and built teachers’ training colleges and residential centres as well. An important effect of the Canadian Mission was to provide Indian labourers with access to Western education and culture and thus to enhance their capacity for material progress, professional development, and social integration. The fact that the work of the Canadian Mission was more intense in Trinidad than in Guyana is probably the main reason for the faster rate of Westernization and social integration of Indo-Trinidadians.
The Canadian Mission also encouraged Indo-Caribbean students to seek higher education in Canada rather than in England, which had traditionally attracted students from British colonies. Most of these scholars returned home after their training abroad, but those who remained in Canada formed the nucleus of the first Indo-Caribbean communities in Canada. An example is the Indo-Caribbean community in Nova Scotia, many of whose members first came to Canada because Canadian missionaries had referred them to several Canadian universities including Mount Allison University in Nova Scotia. The Carindo Cultural Association, formed in 1978 “to more adequately cater to Nova Scotians from the West Indies who are of East Indian origin,” is one of the earliest Indo-Caribbean organizations in Canada.
Until the 1960s, Canadian immigration policies restricted immigration from the Caribbean to students and professionals such as teachers, technicians, and doctors. Only a few of these immigrants were of Indo-Caribbean background. Following the revision of the Immigration Act in 1967, however, a new system was introduced and an applicant’s education, skills, and other qualifications were considered. The effect was to allow a wider cross-section of people to enter Canada, including extended family members from all racial groups and women who would previously have been denied entry because they lacked professional skills. The increased immigration from the Caribbean included a greater proportion of women and a larger Asian Indian component from Guyana and from Trinidad and Tobago.
It is not possible to document precisely the current Indo-Caribbean population in Canada because the relatively recent classification of “Indo-Caribbean” has not been adopted by Statistics Canada, which continues to use the term “South Asian” as a general descriptor not only for people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal but also for those of Indian descent from the Caribbean, East Africa, and Fiji. Using statistics for all immigrants from the Caribbean territories, however, it is possible to make a rough estimate of the number of Indo-Caribbean immigrants who have entered Canada. If we assume that 80 percent of immigrants from Guyana and 60 percent of immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago are Asian Indian, this means that a total of 91,650 Indo-Caribbeans came to Canada between 1962 and 1992. If another 10,000 are added to account for natural increase and illegal immigrants, the current Indo-Caribbean population of Canada can be estimated at about 100,000. And although small numbers of Indo-Caribbeans may be found in most provinces of Canada, for example, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, the majority have settled in Ontario, and predominantly in the greater Toronto area, where they are particularly noticeable in suburbs such as Scarborough and Mississauga.
