About 98 percent of Taiwanese immigrants to Canada identify as “Taiwanese,” the country’s most recent census data showed.
Statistics Canada on Wednesday published census data for last year, which showed that 8.3 million Canadians were born outside the country.
Among those, 65,365 people reported their place of birth as Taiwan, 64,202 of whom answered “Taiwanese” in the “ethnic of cultural origin” category of the census.
Photo: CNA
Canada conducts a census every five years.
Before 2016, the census questionnaire did not have the option “Taiwanese” as ethnic or cultural identity.
In Taipei, the Overseas Community Affairs Council said many Taiwanese immigrants to Canada reported that they had previously reluctantly ticked “Chinese” as ethnic or cultural identity, or that they ticked “other” and wrote in “Taiwanese” themselves.
The council and members of Canada’s Taiwanese community fought for several years to have the option of “Taiwanese” added.
“However, the decision to add the option was done close to census time, and many people were unaware it was added, so they overlooked it when completing the census,” the council said.
Prior to last year’s census, the council notified members of the Taiwanese community through public events and social media, urging them to mark “Taiwanese” if that is how they identified themselves, it said.
Jenny Wang, who migrated to Canada 30 years ago, said she is “very proud of being Taiwanese.”
“I traveled back to Taiwan 20 years ago when my child was being born, so that they could be born in Taiwan. The first passport they got was a Taiwanese passport,” she said.
Wang said she has long worked with the Taiwanese community in Canada, and she speaks on behalf of Taiwan whenever the opportunity arises.
“Identity is very important. It’s not only about the emotional connection we have to our country of origin, it’s also about ensuring our community gets the right allocation of resources from the Canadian government,” she said.
This year’s census also included the option of “Hong Konger” as an ethnicity.
Members of Canada’s Hong Kong community launched an information campaign about the option through social media using the hashtag #IAmHongKonger.
Canadian government data showed that 213,855 Canadians were born in Hong Kong, and 81,680 people identified as “Hong Konger” in last year’s census.
One member of Canada’s Hong Kong community told the Central News Agency that they regretted that only 38 percent of Canadians born in Hong Kong identified as “Hong Kongers.”
“It seems like the Taiwanese community is more united and proud than we are,” they said.
Asian-Canadian Special Events Association managing director Charlie Wu (吳權益) promoted Hong Konger identity at the 2016 Taiwan Cultural Festival in Toronto, through an event titled “Dancing With Hong Kong.”
“Hong Kong people are beginning to break free from the framework and seek greater freedom,” Wu said at the time. “Today’s Canadians from Hong Kong are like Canadians from Taiwan 20 years ago, hoping to label themselves more accurately.”
Commenting on last year’s census results, Wu said that he expects that Hong Kongers who had migrated to Canada would increasingly identify as “Hong Kongers” on future censuses.
“Although the percentage of people who choose ‘Hong Kong’ is not high in this questionnaire, it is only a matter of time, and in five years, more people will agree, he said.
Census data showed that Canada’s total population has reached 38.25 million, of which about 23 percent were born elsewhere, the largest proportion since Canada was established as a federation, and the highest in the G7.
Most of the early Canadian immigrants came from Europe, but over the past 50 years, the proportion of newcomers from Europe has declined, while those from Asia (including the Middle East) has risen, becoming the largest source of immigrants to the country.
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