Arab Canadians

By Ian Skoggard

Lebanese Canadian, Syrian Canadian, Egyptian Canadian, Iraqi Canadian.

Arab Canadians are first-generation Christian or Muslim Arabic-speaking immigrants and their descendants who originally came from the Arab world and have roots in the 1400-year-old Arabic culture. The Arab world includes all members of the League of Arab States: Algeria, Bahrain, Democratic Yemen, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Republic, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. There is no one common feature to distinguish and identify Arab Canadians. They have different national origins, religions, and even languages, since second- and third-generation Arab Canadians may not speak Arabic at all. However Arab-Canadians do share similar myths, folklore, music, art forms, food, customs, and ethos. Arab Canadians can be found throughout Canada, although the largest communities are found in major cities, such as Montreal and Toronto. For historical, religious, and political reasons, some immigrants may identify themselves according to their country of origin, i.e., Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, or Iraqi Canadians. However in this summary to avoid confusion the general term 'Arab Canadian' is used to refer to all Canadians of Arab origin.

According to the 1996 census there are 188,430 people of Arab origin living in Canada. In 1901 approximately 2,000 people from Greater Syria had made Canada their home. By 1911 the Arab-Canadian population had grown to 7,000 people. However, between 1921 and 1931 only 74 persons from the Arab world were allowed to immigrate. In 1951 the Arab Canadian population had only grown to 12,201. With subsequent changes in Canada's immigration policies, the Arab Canadian population increased by more than half to 19,374 in 1961. By 1975 there was an estimated total of 70-80,000 people of Arab origin living in Canada.

Arab Canadians speak the various Arabic dialects of their home countries and regions. In Canada they have had to learn one of the country's official languages, either French or English. Second- and third-generation Arab Canadians may not speak Arabic at all, but only English or French.

Arab immigration to Canada is marked by two waves of migration: an early wave beginning in the 1880s of largely Lebanese and Syrian Christians, and a second wave in the 1960s and 1970s from all over the Arab world, including Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, and Iraq. In the late nineteenth century, the Ottoman empire was in decline and numerous religious and civil wars forced some people to seek safer haven abroad. Also, a general economic decline forced individuals to seek a better life elsewhere. Halifax, Nova Scotia was the first stop on ship routes to North America and a point of departure for many immigrants. Familiarity with Western culture through Christian Missionaries and missionary schools in Lebanon and Syria influenced Arab emigrants' choice to come to Canada. Quebec attracted the French-speaking Syrian and Lebanese. The Canadian government's land grant program was another reason for immigrants to come there.

The first Arab immigrant settled in Montreal in 1882. Others followed, directly or indirectly, arriving via Africa, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. These immigrants were mostly young men who found work as laborers, shopkeepers, and peddlers. Venturesome peddlers traveled to remote parts of northern Ontario and Quebec: Three Rivers, Sault St. Marie, North Bay, Cobalt, Cochrane, and Elk Lake, wherever their goods were in demand. Their success prompted relatives to join them. New brides were brought back from the homeland and the itinerant peddler began to settle down. In the first decade of the twentieth century communities were established in the Western and Maritime provinces. Arab immigration to Canada was greatest in the years between 1900 and 1914. After 1920, immigration was restricted and the growth in the Arab-Canadian population up to 1951 was due mainly to natural increase. The 1950s saw a series of changes in Canada's immigration laws and regulations, which once again opened the door to Arab i mmigrants. In 1967 quotas based on country of origin were dropped entirely from the immigration code. The largest number of new immigrants came from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Jordan, and Tunisia. Other Arab countries represented were Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Somalia, Mauritania, Yemen, and Oman. These newer immigrants tend to be Muslim, professional, and educated; quite different from Canada's first-wave Arab immigrants. Whereas descendants of the latter have assimilated into Canadian society and tend to identify themselves as Canadian, newer Arab immigrants remain involved with family and politics of their home country which is facilitated by the ease of communication between Canada and the Arab world and geopolitical significance of that part of the world in today's global political economy.

Although people of Arab origin can be found in towns and cities throughout Canada, major cities, such as Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax and Edmonton, hold the largest and oldest communities. Ninety percent of Arab-Canadians live in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, followed by Alberta and Nova Scotia. Although Arab Canadians may not live in close physical proximity, they do keep in close association with each other through their churches, mosques, and secular institutions.

Economic opportunity was the lure for many of Canada's early Arab immigrants. Their original objective was to make money and return to their homelands with enough savings to buy land and a house. Destitute upon their arrival, the earliest immigrants found work wherever they could in the unskilled industrial labor market and in trade. Some went to Saskatchewan to farm. Others peddled their wares in Quebec and Ontario's northern mining communities. By the turn of the century, the early immigrants were making a mark in shopkeeping and peddlery. Within a few years of arriving, Arab Canadians were remitting money back home, which had the effect of luring others to the new world to seek their own fortunes. Peddlers became shopkeepers and wholesalers, basing their operations in major cities such as Montreal and Toronto and provisioning traders and small shops throughout the region. The success of their businesses helped to underwrite the second generation's entrance into professional careers. Later-generation Arab Canadians have entered into all spheres of Canada's economic life, including business, industry, real estate, insurance, the professions, the judiciary, politics, teaching, the ministry, government service, entertainment and media, fashion and design, and management. The post-war immigrants have also entered into all levels of the occupational hierarchy. Thirty percent of second-wave immigrants entered Canada with at least post-secondary degrees and intended to pursue professional careers, 36 percent intended to enter lower white collar or service sector occupations, and 29 percent were blue-collar workers. Sixty-nine percent of immigrants were able to secure jobs in the occupations they originally sought.

In the Arab kinship system, patrilineal descent determined membership in kin groups at various levels from the extended family and surname group (BAYT) up to the tribe. However matrilateral ties were also important in forming social ties and networks. In rural Lebanon stem and nuclear families were the basic corporate unit, although members of a common surname group were involved in joint economic activities. The political and economic structure of the Canadian society presented a different milieu for kin groups to form in and operate, and therefore did not guarantee the replication of traditional Arabic kin groups. Chain migration was based on kinship ties and wives were brought from home villages, but kin groups greater than the family never developed in Canada. Instead immigrants took advantage of economic opportunities far and wide resulting in a pattern of dispersed nuclear or stem families. The same is true for Canada's postwar Arab immigrants, especially those with professional careers who bring only their immediate families to Canada. Nevertheless the sentiments of kinship remain strong and continue to form the basis of business networks and political associations. The sentiments of kinship also remain strong among newer less-educated Arab immigrants, in part as protection against their disadvantageous class and racial position in Canadian society (see Sweet 1974, document no. 5).

Arabs and Arab Canadians use Sudanese kinship terminology, which distinguishes each parent's side of the family and also relative age. Even when there is no equivalent English or French term, later-generation Arab Canadians may still distinguish relatives according to the Sudanese system, for example, referring to a father's brother as 'my uncle on my father's side.'

Traditionally, Arab marriages are both arranged and endogamous. The preferred match is one between parallel cousins. First-generation Arab immigrants usually followed traditional marriage customs and in many cases traveled back to their original villages to find an appropriate mate. However, as later-generation Arab Canadians became more assimilated, parents lost control of their children, who attended coed public schools and had more opportunity to meet and socialize with members of the opposite sex. Although later-generation Arab Canadian parents have less control over their children's choice of mate, they continue to exert indirect control in the choice of a spouse, as is the case for any Canadian parent, only a little more so. Although marrying a parallel cousin from the same community is rare—if at all possible, Arab-Canadians still prefer to marry within their ethnic group and religion, however, inter-ethnic and inter-faith marriages are becoming more common, especially among later-generation Ar ab Canadians.

Male-female roles in the traditional farming household were considered complimentary: 'The man brings, the woman builds,' says a Lebanese proverb. Among immigrant families who started out with meager resources, wives worked alongside their husbands in the family business, as well as did domestic chores. Although traditional Arabic society is considered patriarchal, women did hold some power in the household as managers, child rearers, owners of property, and representatives of important affinal and matrilateral ties. As the economic condition of immigrant households improved, so did the opportunity for women to work outside the home, however, Arab-Canadian men were reluctant to let them do so. As later-generation Arab Canadian men joined the professional ranks and became the major breadwinners, women's status and authority in the home suffered. Women who did work outside the home and earned an income did earn the respect of their male family members.

While a great deal of socialization takes place within the family, in Canada, schools, peer groups, and television are additional influences. By Canadian standards, Arab Canadian children are indulged, whereas adolescents are treated more severely. Arab-Canadian parents do not hit their children and relatives are free to reprimand bad behavior. In the public school system children learn a different set of values that emphasize individual rights and achievement, however they continue to show respect to parents and family elders.

In Canada, volunteer associations based on religion and ethnicity serve the same role larger kin groups did in the Arab world. These associations organize parties (HAFLI) and festivals (MAHRAJANIN), which are public expressions of a shared culture and identity, as well as, a forum for individuals and families to vie for prestige. Organizations such as the Canadian Lebanon Society in Halifax, Cedars Club in Sydney, Nova Scotia, or the Syrian National Society of Canada in Montreal, were established in the early part of this century. In the 1930s youth and women's organizations were formed, including the Syrian Canadian Society, Syrian Young Men's Club, Syrian Girl's Club, Canadian Young Lebanese Club, and the Syrian Ladies Aid Society. The object of all of these organizations was to promote the welfare of members of the immigrant community. The Canadian Arab Friendship League founded in 1943 sought to counteract the negative publicity the Arab world received in the Canadian media. In 1967, in response to the S ix Day (Arab-Israeli War), an umbrella organization, the Canadian Arab Federation, was founded to promote Palestinian rights and interests, among other issues. More recently Arabic professional and folklore groups have been established. The Arab Community Centre of Toronto provides information for new immigrants as well as promote Arab culture and learning. Other associations include the Arab Canadian Association, Canada Palestine Association, Arab Students Association, Lebanese Students Association, Muslim Students Association, and the St. Joseph Society.

Some of the above social clubs are also centers of political groups that are involved in Canada's political system. Leadership roles in Arab-Canadian associations are proving grounds for the development of Arab-Canadian leaders and in some cases a stepping stone to political office. Politicians cultivate the Arab-Canadian vote by attending association functions and developing relationships with its leaders. Later-generation Arab Canadians have served at various levels of government, municipal, provincial, and federal, in the executive, legislative, and administrative offices. Lebanese Canadians have supported the Liberal Party rather than the Conservatives on account of the former party's more open immigration policies and favorable stance towards Arab countries. Newer immigrants from the post-Nasar Arab world have embraced a pan-Arabic identity which is reflected in their associations' make up and agenda. Regardless of political allegiances, Arab Canadians are eager to become Canadian citizens and enjoy the rights and privileges that such citizenship confers, both in Canada and the world.

Arabs put family above the individual, believing that 'by serving the family one is serving one's own interests, too (Jabbra 1991, 45).' Since family decisions are made by male elders, female and younger male members of the family must accept the authority of the former. This respect for male elders in the family is carried over into the immigrant and even later-generation Arab-Canadian families, whose younger members will still seek their parents' advice regarding major life decisions and will abide by them even if they are not in personal agreement. Because family honor is considered dependent on the sexual modesty of its women members, the control of women in the family is more strict than that of men. Traditionally, women were cloistered in the home and not permitted to leave until they were married. Although Arab Canadian women have considerably more freedom than their fore-mothers, men are still reluctant to let their wives work outside the home or daughters attend post-secondary institutions.

From early on Arab Canadians desire to get ahead in their newly adopted country and their feeling of vulnerability as 'foreigners' influenced a law-abiding behavior, as did their later desire to present a favorable image of their ethnic group. Success in business also helped to produce a conservative law-abiding population.

Conflict between the generations is typical of immigrant families and Arab Canadians are no exception. The emphasis on the family and parental authority is contested by a younger generation who from public education, peers, and the media have adopted the Canadian and Western ethos of individualism. Another area of conflict in the home is the expression of female sexuality. Fathers try to control the dress and public behavior of their daughters so that it does not contravene the codes of sexual modesty. For example, family arguments ensue over the wearing of sleeveless dresses or bathing suits, or going out on unchaperoned dates. Although sons have more leeway than daughters, they too are expected to help their father's in their business and eventually take it over from them. The relatively smaller Arab-Canadian households lack the extrakin who traditionally help adjudicate disputes.

Outside of the family conflicts ensue among the different subethnic groups. Arab Canadians are not a unified ethnic group, but are divided by different religious and political affiliations. Factions fight for control of ethnic associations, such as the Canadian Lebanon Society, or form their own associations. In the past, Lebanese Canadian associations debated whether to include Syrian Canadians or other Arab Canadians in their group. Conflicts in the Middle East can impact on Arab Canadians, as well. For example, following Syria's intervention in the Lebanese civil war, the Lebanese-Canadian students left the Arab Students Association to form their own group, the Lebanese Students Association. Later-generation Arab Canadians may not go along with the political agenda of newer immigrants. The former are more assimilated and therefore not inclined to identify with the Arab world and politics and involve themselves in local associations that attempt to influence public opinion and government policy in Canada.

Arab Canadians belong to different religions and sects. The early immigrants were nearly all Christians, nine out of ten were members of the Antiochian Orthodox, Melkite, or Maronite churches. The Antiochian Orthodox church is part of the Eastern Orthodox Church which has some doctrinal disputes with the Catholic Church over the idea of immaculate conception, the primacy of the pope, and the nature of Jesus Christ. There are four Antiochian Orthodox churches in Canada: two in Montreal, one in Toronto, and one in Ottawa, with a total membership of around 10,000 people. Melkite and Maronite churches are Uniate Churches and part of the Catholic Church, although they have their own rites, liturgies, and patriarchs, who are only beholden to the pope. There are Melkite churches in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. The Montreal church had a membership of 3,000 families of whom 60 percent are of Egyptian origin. The first Coptic Orthodox church was founded in Toronto in 1965. The Coptic Orthodox followers are monophysit es who believe in the complete divinity of Jesus Christ. Some Arab Canadians have become Protestants, Catholics, or Russian Orthodox.

In 1931, only 645 Muslims were living in Canada. This number increased substantially during the second wave of immigration in the postwar period. The first mosque was built in Edmonton in 1938. By the end of the twentieth century, mosques and Islamic organizations can be found in almost all of Canada's ten provinces. Canada's Muslim sects include Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Druses. The Sunnis are the largest sect in the Arab world and also in Canada. The Shi'ites split with the Sunnis over Muhammad's successor and are from mostly Iraq and Lebanon. The Druse religion is based on the cult of al-Hakim, an eleventh-century religious leader, who had declared himself divine. Folk beliefs in vows, evil eye, magic, and omens are found among first-generation Arab Canadians, but are unlikely to persist into the following generations.

Priests carry out the rites in the Christian churches. There is no priestly class in Islam, instead holy men, or IMAN, function as religious authorities and instructors. Syrian priests arrived in Canada as early as 1892 to establish an institutional order in the new land. The Melkite and Maronite have their own patriarchs, who only accept the authority of the pope. The Antiochian Orthodox Church in Canada comes under the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of New York and All North America.

The different Christian sects are distinguished by their different rites and liturgies. The Maronite rites are close to the Latin rite of Catholic Church, although the liturgy is in Syrian. The Antiochian Orthodox rites and liturgy are closest to those of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Melkites are Byzantine Rite Catholics and use Greek language in their liturgy. As Arab Canadians became more assimilated, French or English was introduced into the service, and in some cases replaced the original liturgical language. Recently there has been a return to Arabic-language services to accommodate newer immigrants. English and French are used in mosques, as well, and the Qu'ran is published in English.

Dancing, singing, and poetry are art forms that have survived among the immigrant and later-generation Arab Canadians. Although the lyrics are sung in Arabic, the music has changed reflecting Western influences. Folk dances, including belly-dancing and group dancing called DABKI, are performed by professionals at social gatherings, such as hafli, and taught in Arabic cultural centers. Improvised folk poetry known as ZAJAL is performed at public events by specialists.

Folk cures are used by first-generation Arab Canadians and consist of herbal remedies, poultices, and the Aristotelian belief in the four humors. Such practices are seen as complimentary to Western medicine, which Arab Canadians also use. Most Arab Canadian are integrated into the Canadian health system.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

There are five documents in the Arab Canadian file. The two major works cover the immigrant history, assimilation, and acculturation of Arab Canadians in Canada (Abu-Laban 1980, no. 1) and Lebanese and Syrian Canadians in Nova Scotia (Jabbra 1984, no. 2). Three shorter articles examine the changes in Lebanese-Canadian households and families (Jabbra 1991, no. 4), the persistence of traditional customs in an Edmonton, Alberta Druse community (Sweet 1974, no. 5), and a Lebanese community in Lac La Biche, Alberta (Barclay 1968, no. 3). For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in the file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

The culture summary and synopsis were written by Ian Skoggard in July, 1998.

• Levantine ethic--157, 443, 472

• HAFLI--party--527

• MAHRAJAN--summer festival, picnic--527

• ZAGAL (ZAJAL)--poetry--533, 5310

• CLS (Canadian Lebanon Society)--575

• peddlers--443

Abu-Laban, Baha (1980) An Olive Branch on the Family Tree: The Arabs in Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Steward, Ltd.

Jabbra, Nancy W. (1984) Voyageurs to a Rocky Shore: The Lebanese and Syrians of Nova Scotia. Halifax, N.S.: Institute of Public Affairs, Dalhousie University

Jabbra, Nancy W. (1991) Household and Family Patterns among Lebanese Immigrants in Nova Scotia: Continuity, Change, and Adaptation. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 22(1): 39-56