Ontario 74,020 Alberta 10,060 | British Columbia 19,855 | |
Croatian Canadians are Canadian citizens who are of Croatian descent. The community exists in major cities including the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Windsor, and Montreal.
Contents
- Demographics
- Religious affiliation
- Businesspeople
- Politicians
- Scientists
- Arts and entertainment
- Athletes
- Political activists
- Other
- References
A popular Croatian Canadian event is the Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament.
Demographics
There are approximately 114,880 Canadians of Croatian ethnic origin as reported in the 2011 National Household Survey compiled by Statistics Canada. Croatian Canadians are present in most major Canadian cities. The ten largest Croatian communities are found in the following cities:
The town with the largest percentage of people of Croatian ethnic origin is Kenaston, Saskatchewan - 17.5% of its 285 inhabitants claim Croatian ethnic origin.
Statistics Canada also designates Census Metropolitan Areas in the collection of its data. The ten Census Metropolitan Areas with the highest concentration of Croatian Canadians are:
Religious affiliation
Most Croatian Canadians are Roman Catholic who follow the Latin Rite of their ancestors in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. A very small minority of Croatians are Byzantine Rite Roman Catholics. There is also a community of Croats who follow Islam, the descendants of those who converted after the 16th century, after the conquest of much of Croatia by the Ottomans. Communities of Protestants have historically been negligible in Croatia.
In Canada, the first ethnic Croatian parish was established in Windsor in 1950. Soon, parishes were established in Toronto (1951), Hamilton (1958), Vancouver (1967). Today there are ethnic Croatian parishes and missions in seventeen cities in Canada. In addition, previously unorganized Croats of the Muslim faith, with the arrival of eminent physician Asaf Durakovic founded the Croatian Islamic Centre on June 23, 1973 in Etobicoke (75 Birmingham Street, Etobicoke, ON M8V 2C3), helped by the Croatian Catholic community. An old Catholic school was bought for 75,000 CAD and readjusted into masjid. There was also a community of Bosnian Muslims of Yugoslav option, but the Croat option of Bosnian Muslims never cooperated with them, since Muslim Croats considered all Yugoslavs and Communists as chetniks and as their worst enemies. Since the old building was in catastrophic condition, a new mosque was built on the site of the old one in 1983. Today, given changing political affiliations and political pressures from 1990's, and influx of non-Croat option of Bosnian Muslims,the center is now known as the Bosnian Islamic Centre. Despite that, today 4 out of 64 Canadian mosques have the attribute "Croatian". In Croatian Islamic Centre the children are taught the Croatian and Arabic languages, but there also Croatian Islamic newspapers, books, brochures, etc. Croatian Islamic Center called on Muslim governments, organisations, and individuals to press the Yugoslav regime, to end the persecution of Islam and to grant genuin equality of Muslims in Yugoslavia. The director of Centre Kerim Reis wanted that Belgrade releases the Muslim prisoners of conscience and to end to restrictions on the building of mosques. During Yugoslavia, this group often spoke accused Tito's Yugoslavia for practising discrimination both Muslim and Catholic Croats. While an overwhelming percentage of Croatians in Canada remain Roman Catholic, there are significant non-Catholic populations, including Protestants (most of whom have been in Canada for more than one generation) and Eastern Orthodox (the majority of whom are of mixed ethnic background).
The leading religious affiliations among Croatian Canadians (2001 data):
Roman Catholic: 77,025 (79.4%) Protestant: 5,870 (6.0%) Eastern Orthodox: 2,745 (2.8%) Christian (not otherwise specified): 1,120 (1.2%) Muslim: 490 (.5%) Other: 330 (.3%) No Religious Affiliation: 9,470 (9.8%).