Afghan Canadian

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Afghan, or Afghani, Canadians are Canadians who were born in Afghanistan. In the Canada 2001 Census about 25,230 Canadians were from Afghanistan.[1] The former Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Graham has recently (2003) said there are about 80,000 people from Afghanistan in Canada.[2] The Canada 2006 Census counted 48,090 Afghanistani Canadians.[3]

They are mostly concentrated in the southwestern region of Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area, with significant communities in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal. They form a very tightly knit community. Afghan Canadians are from various ethnic groups from Afghanistan and can speak Persian or Pashto although their accents of the language usually differ slightly from those who grew up in Afghanistan. The accents are also influenced by the region which their ancestors come from.

In the Canadian Census, Canadians with descent from Afghanistan are classified as West Asian.[4]

[edit] Notable individuals

  • Nelofer Pazira - filmmaker and author (Kandahar, Return to Kandahar, A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ethno-Cultural Portrait of Canada, Table 1
  2. ^ Afghanistan News September 5, 2003
  3. ^ Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada.
  4. ^ The Daily, Tuesday, June 1, 2004. Pilot survey of hate crime

[edit] External links

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Canadians of Asian descent
East Asian origin
West Asia origin
South Asian origin
Southeast Asian origin
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