Jamaican Canadian - Demography

Demography

Jamaica by far has been the major source of West Indian immigration to Canada since West Indians were allowed in Canada. Between 1974 and 1989, 35.7% of all West Indian immigration to Canada came from Jamaica. Nevertheless, there was a decline during the early '80s, a recovery during 1986 and a decline again by 1989 (Anderson, 1993). According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, Jamaicans made up 40% of West Indian immigration in the early 1990s.

In a 1996 overview from Immigration Canada, Jamaica was ranked eighth in terms of the number of its citizens immigrating to Canada. Jamaica is preceded by countries such as China, Pakistan, and the Philippines in the number of its citizens that migrate to Canada. The number of Jamaicans immigrating to Canada declined in 1997 and again in 1998. Jamaican immigration to Canada is at an all time low; it was ranked number 10 by Immigration Canada in 2000. In 2006, almost 80,000 Jamaican-Canadians lived in the City of Toronto, and almost 31,000 in the suburb of Brampton.