Bulgarian Canadians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
30,485 (by ancestry, 2011 Census)(official data) 150,000(unofficial estimates) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta | |
| Languages | |
| Bulgarian, Canadian English, Canadian French | |
| Religion | |
| mainly Bulgarian Orthodox Christians, but also Roman Catholic, Protestants and Bulgarian Muslims. | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Bulgarian people, Bulgarian Americans, Macedonian Canadians, Bulgarians in South America |
Bulgarian Canadians (Bulgarian: канадски българи, kanadski balgari) refers to Canadian citizens of Bulgarian ancestry who is an immigrant from Bulgaria or a descendant born in Canada. Those can include Bulgarian Canadians living in Canada for one or several generations, dual Bulgarian Canadian citizens, or any other Bulgarian Canadians who consider themselves to be affiliated to both cultures or countries. Some Bulgarian Canadians might be born in Bulgaria, Canada or other countries with an ethnic Bulgarian population. According to the 2011 Census there were 30,485 Canadians who claimed Bulgarian ancestry, an increase compared to the 27,260 in the 2006 Census.
Because some Bulgarians are not Canadian citizens, others are dual citizens, and still others' ancestors have come to Canada several generations ago, some of these people consider themselves to be simply Canadians, Bulgarians, Bulgarians living in Canada or Canadian Bulgarians.
Mass Bulgarian emigration to Canada began in the late 1890s and the early 20th century. Bulgarians primarily settled in Canada's industrial cities, mostly Toronto, Ontario, which was a major centre of Bulgarian migration to North America. Between 1900 and 1944, 19,955 people from Bulgaria settled in Canada; however, this number excludes the mass Bulgarian migration from Ottoman and later Serbian and Greek-ruled Macedonia, Dobruja, southern Thrace, the Western Outlands and Bessarabia, which was indeed the bulk of Bulgarian emigration to Canada. The largest wave of migration from the Kingdom of Bulgaria to Canada was in 1912, when 6,388 people arrived in that country. Other significant waves were those of 1914, consisting of 4,512 people, and 1907–09, which numbered 2,529.
The Canadian Census of 1921 recorded 1,765 people who identified as Bulgarians; of those, 1,378 lived in Ontario. In 1931, self-identified Bulgarians were 3,160 (2,415 in Ontario), while in 1941 they numbered 3,260 (2,553 in Ontario). Other estimates, however, list 10,000 Bulgarians in Canada by 1913, of which 4,000 in Toronto alone, and 20,000 Bulgarians in Canada by 1939. The Bulgarian colony in Toronto mostly consisted of emigrants from Macedonia and the Kostur (Kastoria) region in particular. According to Bulgarian diplomatic and ecclesiastical records of 1936, Bulgarians in Toronto alone numbered 3,500, while other estimates go up to 5,000.
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