The Japanese Community in Canada

View the most recent version.

The majority are native-born
Most live in three provinces
Age distribution
More women than men
Almost all can converse in an official language
Religion
Family status
Education
Employment
Unemployment
Incomes
Over one in five with low incomes
Most feel a sense of belonging to Canada

A growing community

Canadians of Japanese origin¹ make up the ninth largest non-European ethnic group in the country, after Chinese, East Indian, Filipino, Jamaican, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Korean, and Iranian. In 2001, just over 85,000 people of Japanese origin lived in Canada, representing 0.3% of the Canadian population.

The Japanese community in Canada is growing considerably faster than the overall population. Between 1996 and 2001, for example, the number of people who reported they had Japanese origins rose by 11%, while the overall population grew by only 4% in the same period.

The majority of people in Canada of Japanese origin say they only have Japanese ethnic roots. In 2001, 62% of all those who reported Japanese origins said they had only Japanese roots, while 38% said they also had other ethnic origins. This was about the same figure as in the overall Canadian population, 40% of whom said they had multiple ethnic roots.

The majority are native-born

The majority Canadians of Japanese origin were born in Canada.  In 2001, 77% of the Japanese community was born in Canada, while 23% was born outside the country.

Among foreign-born Canadians of Japanese origin, the largest group arrived relatively recently. In 2001, 44% of ethnic Japanese immigrants had arrived between 1991 and 2001. Another 37% had arrived in the 1970s or 1980s, while 19% had arrived before 1971.

Most live in three provinces

The Japanese community in Canada is concentrated largely in British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta. In fact, in 2001, 92% of people who reported Japanese origins lived in one of these three provinces. That year, 44% of all Japanese Canadians lived in British Columbia, while another 34% lived in Ontario and 14% lived in Alberta. At the same time, smaller percentages lived in Quebec (4%), Manitoba (2%), Saskatchewan (1%) and Nova Scotia (1%).

People of Japanese origin make up the largest share of the population in British Columbia. In 2001, Canadians of Japanese origin accounted for about 1% of the total population of British Columbia, whereas in all other provinces and territories they represented well under 1% of the total population.

The majority of Canadians of Japanese origin live in either Vancouver or Toronto. In 2001, 56% of the Japanese community lived in either the Vancouver or Toronto census metropolitan areas. That year, 27,000 people of Japanese origin, 32% of the total, lived in Vancouver, while another 20,000, or 24%, lived in Toronto. Overall, people of Japanese origin made up 1.3% of the total population of the Vancouver census metropolitan area in 2001, while they represented less than a half a per cent of residents of all other major urban areas in Canada.

Age distribution

A relatively large proportion of the Japanese community in Canada is under the age of 24. In 2001, 22% of all Canadians with Japanese origins were children under the age of 15, compared with 19% of the overall population. At the same time, 15% of the Japanese community, versus 13% of those in the overall population, was aged 15 to 24.

In contrast, people of Japanese origin living in Canada are somewhat less likely to be older adults aged 45 to 64. In 2001, people between the ages of 45 and 64 made up 20% of the Japanese community, but 24% of the overall population. At the same time, seniors aged 65 and over made up 12% of the Japanese community, about the same proportion as in the total Canadian population.

More women than men

As with the overall population there are somewhat more women of Japanese origin than men living in Canada. In 2001, 54% of the Japanese community, compared with 51% of all Canadians, were female. Similarly, like their counterparts in the overall population, women over the age of 65 make up a substantial majority of Japanese seniors. That year, 54% of people aged 65 and over of Japanese origin were women, while in the overall population, women made up 56% of seniors.

Almost all can converse in an official language

Virtually all Canadians of Japanese origin can converse in one of Canada’s official languages². Indeed, in 2001, 97% of Canadians of Japanese origin reported they could carry on a conversation in at least one official language. That year, 89% could converse in English and 8% were bilingual, while about a half a per cent could converse in French only. At the same time, only 3% of the Japanese community in Canada could not converse in either English or French.

In addition, English is the mother tongue³ of the majority of the Japanese community living in Canada. In 2001, 55% of Canadians of Japanese origin said that English was their mother tongue, while 43%, said that their mother tongue was a non-official language, in almost all cases Japanese.

The majority of Canadians of Japanese origin also speaks English primarily at home. In 2001, 76% of people who reported Japanese origins said that they most often spoke English in their home, while 23% spoke a non-official language most often at home.

At the same time, though, about one in 10 Canadians of Japanese origin who are employed speaks a language other than English or French on the job. In 2001, 8% of all Canadians of Japanese origin with jobs spoke a language other than English or French most often at work, while another 3% regularly used a non-official language in combination with English or French on the job.

Religion

The Japanese community in Canada is significantly different from the rest of the population when it comes to religion, in that the majority of the Japanese population reports that they have no religious affiliation. In 2001, 46% of Canadians of Japanese origin said they had no religious affiliation, compared with 17% of the overall population. Among Canadians of Japanese origin with a religious affiliation, 24% belonged to a Protestant denomination of Christianity, 16% were Buddhist and 9% were Catholic.

Family status

Canadians of Japanese origin are about as likely as other Canadians to be married. In 2001, 48% of adults of Japanese origin aged 15 and over were married, while the figure was 50% for the overall adult population. At the same time, people of Japanese origin are less likely than other Canadians to live in a common-law relationship. That year, 6% of adults of Japanese origin were living with a common-law partner, compared with 10% of all Canadian adults.

People of Japanese origin are also somewhat less likely than the rest of the population to be lone parents. In 2001, 4% of Canadians of Japanese origin aged 15 and over were lone parents, compared to 6% of the total population.

As in the overall population, though, the large majority of lone parents of Japanese origin are women. In 2001, women represented 85% of all lone parents of Japanese origin, while for the overall population the figure was 81%.

Canadians of Japanese origin are about as likely as other Canadians to live alone. In 2001, 14% of the Japanese community aged 15 and over lived alone, compared to 13% of all adult Canadians.

Seniors of Japanese origin, though, are less likely than other Canadian seniors to live alone. In 2001, 22% of Canadians of Japanese origin aged 65 and over lived alone, compared with 29% of all seniors. In contrast, seniors of Japanese origin are slightly more likely than other seniors to live with members of their extended family. In 2001, 7% of seniors of Japanese origin lived with relatives, such as the family of a son or daughter, whereas this was the case for 5% of all Canadian seniors.

Education

Canadians of Japanese origin are almost twice as likely as the rest of the population to have a university degree. In 2001, 28% of Canadians of Japanese origin aged 15 and over had either a bachelor’s or post-graduate degree, compared with 15% of the overall adult population.

People of Japanese origin make up a relatively large proportion of Canadians with university qualifications in highly technical fields. In 2001, 12% of all Canadians of Japanese origin with post-secondary training had degrees in mathematics, physical or applied science, computer science, or engineering, compared with 8% of their counterparts in the overall population.

As in the overall population, men of Japanese origin are somewhat more likely than their female counterparts to have a university degree. In 2001, 30% of men of Japanese origin had a university degree, compared to 27% of Japanese women. Both men and women of Japanese origin, though, are almost twice as likely as their respective counterparts in the overall population to have a university degree.

Young people of Japanese origin are also more likely than other young Canadians to be attending school. In 2001, 66% of the Japanese community aged 15 to 24 was enrolled in a full-time educational program, compared to 57% of all Canadians in this age group. Among young people of Japanese origin, males are slightly more likely than females to be attending school full-time. This contrasts with the overall population, in which young women aged 15 to 24 were considerably more likely than young men to be in school in 2001.

Employment

Canadians of Japanese origin are slightly less likely to be employed than the rest of the population. In 2001, 58% of Japanese Canadians aged 15 and over were part of the paid work force, compared with 62% of all Canadian adults.

There is a particularly wide gap in the employment rates of Canadians of Japanese origin and the overall population among young adults. Among those aged 25 to 44 in 2001, for example, 73% of Canadians of Japanese origin were employed, compared with 80% of all Canadians in this age range. In contrast, among those aged 45 to 64, Canadians of Japanese origin are slightly more likely than other Canadians to be employed. That year, 72% of Canadians of Japanese origin between the ages of 45 and 64 were employed, compared with 68% of their counterparts in the overall population.

As in the overall population, men of Japanese origin are more likely than their female counterparts to be employed outside the home. In 2001, 64% of men of Japanese origin aged 15 and over were part of the paid workforce, compared with 53% of Japanese women. However, both men and women of Japanese origin were slightly less likely to be employed than men and women in the overall population.

In general, the occupational distribution of employed Canadians of Japanese origin is roughly similar to that of the overall Canadian work force. However, workers of Japanese origin are slightly more likely than others to work in scientific occupations, as well as in management positions and in professional occupations in education, government service and the social sciences. On the other hand, relatively few people of Japanese origin work in the manufacturing sector.

Canadians of Japanese origin are also about as likely as the rest of the workforce to be self-employed. In 2001, 13% of all employed Canadians of Japanese origin were self-employed, while the figure was 12% for the total Canadian workforce.

Unemployment

Labour force participants⁴ of Japanese origin are generally less likely to be unemployed than their counterparts in the national work force. In 2001, 6.3% of labour force participants of Japanese origin were unemployed, compared with 7.4% of all Canadian labour force participants.

As in the overall population, young men of Japanese origin have a particularly high unemployment rate. In 2001, 17% of male Japanese labour force participants aged 15 to 24 were unemployed, compared with 14% of all young Canadian males in this age range. On the other hand, 11% of young female Japanese labour force participants were unemployed that year, about two percentage points less than their counterparts in the overall population.

 

Incomes

Canadians of Japanese origin generally have higher incomes than the rest of the population. In 2000⁵, the average income from all sources for Canadians of Japanese origin aged 15 and over was just over $33,000, over $3,000 per person more than the national figure.

As in the overall population, women of Japanese origin have lower incomes than their male counterparts. In 2000, the average income for Japanese women aged 15 and over was $24,600, while the average for men was $43,600. In fact, the income gap between women and men of Japanese origin is somewhat larger than that in the overall population. That year, the incomes of women of Japanese origin were 56% those of men of Japanese origin, while the figure for all Canadians was 62%. The average incomes of women of Japanese origin, though, were considerably higher than those of all Canadian women.

Canadian seniors of Japanese origin also have relatively high incomes. In 2000, the average income from all sources for Canadians of Japanese origin aged 65 and over was $28,600, more than $4,000 higher than the average for all seniors in Canada.

As with all seniors in Canada, female seniors of Japanese origin have lower incomes than their male counterparts. In 2000, the average income for Japanese women aged 65 or over was about $23,000, compared with over $35,000 for senior men of Japanese origin. However, both figures were well above those of their respective counterparts in the overall population.

Canadians of Japanese origin receive slightly more of their income from earnings⁶ than do people in the overall population. In 2000, Canadians of Japanese origin aged 15 and over said that 79% of their income came from earnings, while the figure for all Canadians was 77%.

In contrast, Canadians of Japanese origin receive a smaller proportion of their total income from government transfer programs than do other Canadians. In 2000, 9% of the income of Canadians of Japanese origin aged 15 and over came from government transfers, while the average for all Canadians was 12%.

Over one in five with low incomes

Canadians of Japanese origin are about as likely as other Canadians to have incomes that fall below Statistics Canada’s Low-income Cut-offs. In 2000, 18% of Japanese people in Canada lived in a low-income situation, while the figure was 16% in the general population.

At the same time, children of Japanese origin living in Canada are somewhat less likely than other Canadian children to live in a low-income family. In 2000, 16% of children of Japanese origin under the age of 15 lived in families with incomes below the Low-income Cut-offs, compared with 19% of all children in Canada.

In contrast, unattached adults of Japanese origin are more likely than their counterparts in the overall population to have low incomes. In 2000, 48% of unattached adults of Japanese origin had low incomes, compared with 38% of those in the overall population.

Seniors of Japanese origin who live alone are also about as likely as their counterparts in the overall population to have low incomes. In 2000, 39% of unattached Japanese Canadians aged 65 and over had incomes below the Low-income Cut-offs, versus 40% of all Canadian seniors living on their own.

As in the overall population, unattached female seniors of Japanese origin are more likely than their male counterparts to have low incomes. In 2000, 43% of unattached women of Japanese origin aged 65 and over had incomes below the official Low-income Cut-offs, compared with 33% of unattached male seniors of Japanese origin. These figures, though, were similar to those for their respective counterparts in the overall population.

Most feel a sense of belonging to Canada

According to the Ethnic Diversity Survey, a majority of Canadians of Japanese origin feel a strong sense of belonging in Canada. In 2002, 68% said they had a strong sense of belonging in Canada. At the same time, 42% said they have a strong sense of belonging to their ethnic or cultural group.

Canadians of Japanese origin are also active in Canadian society. For example, 58% of Canadians of Japanese origin participated in a group or organization, such as a church or a sports team, in the year preceding the Ethnic Diversity Survey. Moreover, 71% of Canadians of Japanese origin said they voted in the 2000 Federal election, while 70% voted in the last provincial election.

At the same time, though, close to four in ten Canadians of Japanese origin said that they had experienced discrimination. In 2002, 38% of people aged 15 and over in the Japanese community in Canada reported they had experienced either discrimination or unfair treatment based on their ethnicity, race, religion, language or accent in the five years preceding the survey or since they arrived in Canada.

Notes:

1. All statistical information in this publication referring to Japanese, the Japanese community, Canadians of Japanese origin or people of Japanese origin denotes people who reported Japanese origins, either alone or in combination with other origins, in response to the question on ethnic origin in the 2001 Census or 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey.



2. English and French are recognized as Canada’s official languages in the Official Languages Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.



3. A mother tongue is the language that a person learns first in childhood and that they still understand.



4. Adults (aged 15 and over) who are employed, or who are unemployed and looking for work.



5. In the Census, people report their income for the previous year.



6. Includes wages and salaries and net income from self-employment.

---

You need to use the free Adobe Reader to view PDF documents. To view (open) these files, simply click on the link. To download (save) them, right-click on the link. Note that if you are using Internet Explorer or AOL, PDF documents sometimes do not open properly. See Troubleshooting PDFs. PDF documents may not be accessible by some devices. For more information, visit the Adobe website or contact us for assistance.