Latin American Canadians are Canadian citizens of Latin American descent or persons of Latin American descent residing in Canada. Latin American is the term used by Statistics Canada. Other terms used sometimes are "Latino Canadian" and "Latin Canadian". Latin Canadians comprised 1.2% of the population in 2011.
The majority of Latin American Canadians are multilingual, primarily speaking Spanish or Portuguese. Most are fluent in one or both of Canada's two official languages, English and French. Spanish, Portuguese and French are Romance languages and share some similarities in morphology and syntax.
Latin Canadians have made distinguished contributions to Canada in all major fields, including politics, the military, music, philosophy, sports, business and economy, and science.
The largest Latin American immigrant groups in Canada are Mexican Canadians, Colombian Canadians and Salvadoran Canadians.
The majority of Latin American Canadians are recent immigrants who arrived in the late 20th century from El Salvador, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Guatemala, with smaller communities from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and elsewhere, with nearly all Latin American countries represented. Reasons for immigrating include Canada's better economic opportunities and politics or civil war and political repression in their native countries, as in the case of Cubans fleeing from the Fidel Castro revolution, Chileans escaping from Augusto Pinochet's rule, Salvadorans fleeing from the Salvadoran Civil War, Peruvians escaping from the Juan Velasco Alvarado dictatorship, Dominicans opposed to the regimes of Rafael Trujillo and Joaquin Balaguer, Mexicans escaping from the Mexican Drug War, Colombians from the violence in their country and Venezuelans opposed to the rule of the Socialist Unity Party.
The largest Latin American Canadian communities are in the census metropolitan areas of Toronto (99,290), Montreal (75,400), Vancouver (22,695), Calgary (13,415), and Ottawa (10,630), and there are rapidly growing ones in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia.
a The number of Dominican Republic immigrants compared to Dominica immigrants is not specified, due to both countries using the term "Dominican".
Source: Canada 2011 Census
National average: 1.2%
Calgary (7000180000000000000♠1.8%)
Edmonton (7000170000000000000♠1.7%)
Wood Buffalo (7000160000000000000♠1.6%)
Red Deer (7000130000000000000♠1.3%)
New Westminster (7000180000000000000♠1.8%)
Burnaby (7000170000000000000♠1.7%)
Greater Vancouver A (7000170000000000000♠1.7%)
Vancouver (7000160000000000000♠1.6%)
Coquitlam (7000150000000000000♠1.5%)
Brandon (7000440000000000000♠4.4%)
Toronto (7000280000000099999♠2.8%)
London (7000270000000000000♠2.7%)
Leamington (7000270000000000000♠2.7%)
Kitchener (7000270000000000000♠2.7%)
Brampton (7000220000000000000♠2.2%)
Mississauga (7000220000000000000♠2.2%)
Vaughan (7000210000000000000♠2.1%)
Milton (7000200000000000000♠2%)
St. Catharines (7000150000000000000♠1.5%)
Hamilton (city) (7000140000000099999♠1.4%)
Montreal (7000420000000000000♠4.2%)
Dorval (7000320000000000000♠3.2%)
Brossard (7000310000000000000♠3.1%)
Longueuil (7000250000000000000♠2.5%)
Laval (7000250000000000000♠2.5%)
Saint-Lambert (7000230000000099999♠2.3%)
Châteauguay (7000210000000000000♠2.1%)
Westmount (7000180000000000000♠1.8%)
Dollard-des-Ormeaux (7000160000000000000♠1.6%)
Côte Saint-Luc (7000160000000000000♠1.6%)
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue (7000160000000000000♠1.6%)
Sherbrooke (7000140000000099999♠1.4%)
La Prairie (7000140000000099999♠1.4%)
Addictiv, R&B singer
Eva Avila, pop singer and 2006 Canadian Idol winner
Boogat, rapper
Fito Blanko, tropical/urban singer-songwriter, born in Panama
Keshia Chanté, R&B singer and co-host of BET's 106 & Park
José Miguel Contreras, rock musician and lead vocalist of By Divine Right
Criollo, hip-hop group
Beto Cuevas, rock musician and former lead vocalist of La Ley
Lhasa de Sela, folk musician
Carlos del Junco, harmonica player, member of the Cuban del Junco family
Quique Escamilla, Mexican-born musician
Carole Facal, rock musician
Alberto Guerrero, music composer and pianist, born in Chile
DJ Kemo, producer and DJ for hip-hop group Rascalz
Tom Landa, Mexican-born folk-rock musician
Oscar Lopez, flamenco musician, born in Chile
Adonis Puentes, singer-songwriter
Alexis Puentes, musician known by the stage name Alex Cuba
Alejandra Ribera, singer-songwriter
Rodrigo Bascuñán, author and journalist, born in Chile
Gloria Escomel, writer and journalist born in Uruguay
Gabriela Etcheverry, poet and novelist, born in Chile
José Latour, novelist, born in Cuba
Juan Chioran, stage actor, born in Argentina
Carlos Díaz, television and film actor, born in Chile
Ona Grauer, television and film actress, born in Mexico
Flora Martínez, actress
Paola Nunez Valdez, Miss Universe Canada 2015, born in Dominican Republic
Emma Rabbe, television and film actress
Klea Scott, television and film actress, born in Panama
Jorgito Vargas, Jr., actor (of Bolivian and Argentinian descent)
Bruce Chun, cinematographer, born in Mexico
Federico Hidalgo, filmmaker and film professor
Carlos Arturo Castaño, portrait photographer, born in Colombia.
Gloria Margarita Castaño, portrait photographer, exhibitions: born in Colombia.
Paulina Ayala, former MP for Honore-Mercier (New Democratic Party), born in Chile
Estefania Cortes-Vargas, Canadian politician, elected in the Alberta general election, 2015 to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Strathcona-Sherwood Park, born in Colombia
Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas since 2013, of Cuban descent
Joseph Facal, former minister in Quebec (Parti Québécois), born in Uruguay
Miguel Figueroa, leader and President of the Communist Party of Canada
Andrés Fontecilla, leader of Québec solidaire, born in Chile
Rod Loyola, Canadian politician, elected in the Alberta general election, 2015 to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Edmonton-Ellerslie, born in Chile
Sergio Marchi, former MP (Liberal Party of Canada), born in Argentina
Ricardo Miranda, Canadian politician, elected in the Alberta general election, 2015 to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Calgary-Cross, born in Nicaragua
Osvaldo Nunez, former MP (Bloc Québécois), born in Chile
Cesar Palacio, first Hispanic person elected to the Toronto City Council, born in Ecuador
Saul Polo, MNA in Quebec, born in Colombia
Pablo Rodríguez, MP for Honore-Mercier (Liberal Party of Canada), born in Argentina
Vic Toews, Member of Parliament for Provencher (Conservative Party of Canada), born in Paraguay
Science and technology
Ivar Mendez, MD surgeon,Professor and Chairman of Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan, born in Bolivia
Manuel Buchwald, geneticist and academic, born in Peru
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, electronic artist, born in Mexico
Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, Christian preacher, public speaker, and father of Ted Cruz, born in Cuba
Michel Acosta, professional soccer player, born in Uruguay
Oscar Albuquerque, former professional soccer player, born in Peru
Keven Aleman, professional soccer player, born in Costa Rica
Manny Aparicio, professional soccer player, born in Argentina
Mauro Biello, former professional soccer player, current assistant coach of the Montreal Impact
Marco Bustos, professional soccer player
Miguel Cañizalez, professional soccer player, born in El Salvador
Lucas Cavallini, professional soccer player
Oscar Cordon, professional soccer player
Marco Dominguez, professional soccer player
Kianz Froese, professional soccer player, born in Cuba
Manny Gomez, professional soccer player, born in Argentina
Cristián Gutiérrez, professional soccer player
Anthony Jackson-Hamel, professional soccer player
Juan Cruz Mascia, professional soccer player
Rosa Mendes, WWE Diva and professional wrestler
Juan Mendez, professional basketball player
Ivan Menjivar, mixed martial artist
Arturo Miranda, professional diver, born in Cuba
David Monsalve, professional soccer player
Cristian Nuñez, professional soccer player
Jonathan Osorio, professional soccer player
Carlos Patino, professional soccer player, born in Colombia
Willi Plett, professional hockey player, NHL
Robyn Regehr, professional hockey player, NHL
Bryce Salvador, professional hockey player, NHL
Davis Sanchez, professional football player, CFL and NFL
Isidro Sánchez Macip, professional soccer player, born in Mexico
O. J. Santiago, professional football player, NFL and CFL
Eduardo Sebrango, former professional soccer player, born in Cuba
Oscar Taveras, late professional baseball player in MLB, born in the Dominican Republic
Raffi Torres, professional hockey player, NHL
In 2002, 82% of those who reported Latin American origin said they had a strong sense of belonging to Canada. At the same time, 57% said that they had a strong sense of belonging to their ethnic or cultural group.
People with Latin American origins are also active in Canadian society. For example, 66% of Canadians of Latin American origin who were eligible to vote did so in the 2000 federal election.
The Latin American community of Quebec was brought into the spotlight when 18-year-old Honduran immigrant Fredy Alberto Villanueva was shot and killed by police officers of the SPVM on 9 August 2008. The following day, what started out as a peaceful protest against the officers' actions in the borough of Montréal-Nord erupted into a riot in which neighborhood stores were looted, several cars and garbage cans were set on fire, one paramedic and two police officers were wounded and one female police officer was shot.
