The Canadian Jewish Congress today released data establishing that the majority of the Jewish population in Canada is Canadian-born. The report points out that, although 25,619 Jewish immigrants entered Canada in the period 1941-51, increasing the Jewish population by 15 percent, the percentage of the Canadian-born of the Jewish population of Canada continued to increase. By 1951, the Canadian-born among the Jewish population in Canada formed 57 percent.
Nova Scotia, with comparatively few Jewish immigrants since 1921, had the largest proportion of Canadian-born among its Jewish population in each of the census years 1931, 1941 and 1951. In 1931, it was the only province in which more than half of the Jewish population was Canadian-born, and by 1951 the percentage of Canadian-born among its Jewish population had reached 66.6 percent.
By 1941, the majority of the Jewish population in every one of the Canadian provinces, with the exception of British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, was Canadian-born. By 1951, the majority of the Jewish population in every one of the provinces from New Foundland to British Columbia was Canadian-born.
In general, the proportion of the Canadian-born among the Jewish population is usually higher in the smaller communities than in the larger centers, and still higher in the villages and rural areas. Jewish communities in 32 out of 34 Canadian cities, with total population exceeding 30,000, had a majority of Canadian-born in 1951. The only two cities in Canada with population exceeding 30,000 in which less than one-half of the Jewish population was Canadian-born in 1951 were Toronto and Windsor.
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