The Canadian Jewish Congress, in analyzing the 1951 population census in Canada which listed 204,836 Jews as Jewish by religion and 181,670 by ethnic origin, today declared:
“There can be no doubt that the census figure of 204,836 Jews by religion is more accurate than the figure of 181,670 Jews who were recoreded as Jews by ethnic origin, since it is extremely unlikely that 23,166 persons of non-Jewish origin have accepted the Jewish religion and have been added to Canada’s population during the decade from 1941 to 1951. The discrepancy between the number of Jews by ethnic origin and Jews by religion is doubtless due to those who have mistaken the country of their origin for their ethnic origin in answering the question.”
The Canadian Jewish Congress made a study in regard to Jewish communities in Canada with less than 1,000 Jewish population. The study establishes that 9.5 per cent of Canadian Jews in 1951 lived in communities with less than 1,000 Jews. In the United States, it is estimated that 4 per cent of the Jewish population lives in communities with less than 1,000 Jews. In 1901, 30.65 per cent of the Jewish population of Canada lived in communities with less than 1,000 Jews. In 1921, it was 17 per cent. During the period 1931-1941, it was 12.5 per cent and during the decade 1941-1951 a drop occurred to 9.5 per cent.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
