History of The Jews in Canada

History Of The Jews In Canada

Canadian Jews or also known as Jewish Canadians are Canadian citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. Jewish Canadians are a part of the greater Jewish diaspora and is one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. Canada is home to the fourth largest Jewish community, exceeded by the overseas Jewish communities in Israel, the United States, and France. Overall demographic research tends to include Ashkenazi Jews who immigrated from Europe into the broadly defined Canadian Jewish category as StatsCan refers Israeli-Canadians as a distinct group of origin separate from Canadian Jews. Canadians of Jewish origin number 315,120 and make up about one percent of the total Canadian population as of 2006.

The Jewish community in Canada is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews and their descendants. Other Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented, including Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and a number of converts. The Canadian Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, as well as encompassing the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance. Though a small minority, Canadian Jews have had an open presence in the country since the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants after the British took possession of nearly all of New France after the 1763 Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years' War.