The Monsoon Journal and the Tamil Mirror are English language newspapers created and targeted at Tamils. Ten alternative weekly Tamil language newspapers are distributed primarily in Toronto and Montreal. A community magazine, Thamizhar Mathiyil (Amidst Tamils), has been published since 1990 and has grown to several hundred pages in length. Much of the Tamil language media in Canada is based in Toronto, while some centres operate in Montreal. There are a total of 589,639 refugees from Sri Lanka in 2011 who have registered with the UNHCR in non-signatory countries. There are 141,074 UNHCR recognized Tamil refugees in non-signatory countries. After 2001 there have been no Government of Canada or private sponsored Tamil refugees to Canada. Refugee claimants are an independent category of Tamils from Sri Lanka who arrived in Canada and are claiming protection under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Most permanent residents from Sri Lanka came as either independent immigrants, refugees, or family class sponsored immigrants. In 2010 immigrants from Sri Lanka consisted of only 1.4% of Canada's immigrant total of 280,681. Well behind the major source countries China (327,317), India (277,819) and Philippines (191,121). īetween 20 Sri Lanka's rank dropped to 17 in the list of immigrant source countries to Canada. Between 19, Sri Lanka was the fifth largest source country of immigrants to Canada, after China, India, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.
In 2000, Sri Lanka was the sixth largest source country of immigrants to Canada, sending 5,841 people or 2.57% of Canada's immigrant total. With the outbreak of riots and eventual civil war in Sri Lanka in 1983, Tamil migration to Canada increased significantly. Tamil is the third-most spoken South Asian language in Canada as of 2016. Other Tamil diaspora communities are found in the metropolitan areas of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa. In the 1991 census, Tamils were the fastest-growing ethnic group in the city.Ĭanada's Tamil population is among the largest in the Western world, with Toronto being home to one of the largest Tamil-speaking populations outside of Asia, and Montreal recording Tamil as the most spoken South Asian language in the 2016 Census, ahead of Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu. From a population of fewer than 150 Tamils in 1983, it has become one of the largest visible minority population groups within the Greater Toronto Area. Much of Canada's Tamil diaspora from India and Sri Lanka then majority consist of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who sought to flee the ethnic tensions during the Sri Lankan Civil War between the 1970s and 2000s, while economic Tamil migrants also originate from India, Singapore and other parts of South Asia. Tamil Canadians, or Canadian Tamils, are Canadians of Tamil ethnic origin.