History
With the outbreak of riots and eventual civil war in Sri Lanka in 1983, Tamil migration to Canada increased significantly. In 2000, Sri Lanka was the sixth largest source country of immigrants to Canada, sending 5,841 people or 2.57% of Canada's immigrant total. Between 1991 and 2001, Sri Lanka was the fifth largest source country of immigrants to Canada, after China, India, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.
Between 2001 and 2010 Sri Lanka's rank dropped to 17 in the list of immigrant source countries to Canada. Well behind the major source countries China (327,317), India (277,819) and Philippines (191,121). In 2010 immigrants from Sri Lanka consisted of only 1.4% of Canada's immigrant total of 280,681.
Most permanent residents from Sri Lanka came as either independent immigrants or family class sponsored immigrants.
Refugee claimants are an independent category of Tamils from Sri Lanka who arrived in Canada and are claiming protection under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. After 2001 there have been no Government of Canada or private sponsored Tamil refugees to Canada. There are 141,074 UNHCR recognized Tamil refugees in non-signatory countries. There are a total of 589,639 refugees from Sri Lanka in 2011 who have registered with the UNHCR in non-signatory countries.
| Year | Permanent Residents | Refugee Claimants | Government/Private Sponsored Refugees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 4,728 | 2,802 | 3 |
| 2000 | 5,849 | 2,898 | 7 |
| 2001 | 5,520 | 2,824 | 0 |
| 2002 | 4,968 | 1,589 | 0 |
| 2003 | 4,448 | 1,239 | 0 |
| 2004 | 4,135 | 1,134 | 0 |
| 2005 | 4,690 | 854 | 0 |
| 2006 | 4,490 | 862 | 0 |
| 2007 | 3,934 | 779 | 0 |
| 2008 | 4,509 | 1,013 | 0 |
| 2009 | 4,269 | 2,758 | 0 |
| 2010 | 4,181 | 2,778 | 0 |
Read more about this topic: Tamil Canadian
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