From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Iraqis/Muhammad A. Shuraydi
Iraqi immigration to Canada is a recent phenomenon that has been inspired mainly by the political and economic situation in Iraq. The Iraq-Iran War (1980–88) devastated the Iraqi economy, as have the economic sanctions against Iraq that have followed the Gulf War of 1990–91. As well, even though Iraqi society has been more pluralistic, especially since the secular, pan-Arab Al-Baath party came to power in 1968, there has been terrible oppression, even genocide, committed against some groups, and Saddam Hussein has ruthlessly crushed opposition.
From 1945 until 1975 fewer than 200 Iraqis arrived in Canada. Substantial emigration began in 1979, the year Saddam Hussein became president, and, between 1975 and 1992, 6,472 Iraqis arrived – about 3.5 percent of all Arab immigrants in Canada. About 65 percent of Iraqis have settled in Ontario, particularly in Toronto, and most of the remainder in Montreal. There are virtually equal numbers of males and females.
The ongoing violation of human rights and political instability in Iraq over the last three decades have affected, in particular, three groups of immigrants: Christians, persecuted because of their leftist political beliefs; Kurds, brutalized as a result of their demands for sovereignty or autonomy; and Shiite Muslims, oppressed, particularly during the Iraq-Iran War, because of their perceived affiliation with neighbouring Shiite Iran. Several factors account for voluntary emigration – religious, economic, and, principally, political. As one Iraqi Canadian has stated, “The structure of the Iraqi community in Canada in reality reflects the structure of Iraqi society at the national, sectarian, and religious levels. The primary reason for emigration is related to the question of human rights in Iraq.”
The 1991 Canadian census recorded 4,790 Iraqis: 3,525 of wholly Iraqi ancestry, and 1,265 of partial Iraqi ancestry. However, community sources in the mid1990s estimate the population at over 25,000. Three factors may explain this discrepancy. First, a significant wave, particularly Shiites, have arrived since the 1991 census as a consequence of the Gulf War and subsequent oppression. Second, insecurity, and fear of retaliation by agents of the Iraqi regime, may prompt many Iraqis in Canada to conceal their true national identity. Third, many Iraqis identify themselves with other groups – for example, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Kurds. Iraqi immigrants for the period 1981–92 settled principally in a few cities in Ontario: Toronto (2,205), Ottawa (268), Mississauga (203), Windsor (176), and Hamilton (152).
