Canadians in the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Canadians in the United Kingdom
Total population
Canadian-born residents
72,518 (2001 Census)
82,000 (2009 ONS estimate)
Regions with significant populations
London · Scotland · South West England
Languages
Canadian English · Canadian French · British English
Religion
Catholicism · Anglicanism · Methodism
Judaism · Islam • Protestantism

Canadians in the United Kingdom, or Canadian Britons, are people from Canada living in the United Kingdom and their descendants. In 2001 some 72,518 people born in Canada were living in the UK according to the UK census.[1] Of the ten census tracts with the highest Canadian-born populations, nine were in London, with the other being Cambridge West.[2] The Office for National Statistics estimates that, in 2009, 82,000 Canadian-born people were living in the UK.[3] In 2011 this was the third largest community in the Canadian diaspora after Canadians in the United States and Canadians in Hong Kong.[4]

History[]

Britain, and especially London, for a long time served as the metropole to Canadians of British ancestry — as it did to other English-speaking people across the Commonwealth —the centre of their cultural and economic world where the ambitious would go to advance their careers on the biggest stage. This was still true, to some extent, in 1956 when Trinidadian Canadian theatre critic Ronald Bryden arrived in London for the first time looking to find "pure Anglitude" or the true spirit of Englishness, and remarked that the most imperial-looking buildings were the Commonwealth high commissions and those owned by the Canadian banks, the most Anglocentric newspaper was owned by a Canadian, and the best theatre productions starred Canadian actors (in American productions).[5][6]

Politics[]

Hamar Greenwood was a Canadian-born politician who served as a cabinet minister in the Lloyd George ministry.

Andrew Bonar Law was a Canadian-born politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and additionally held many other government offices including Secretary of State for the Colonies, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Privy Seal.

Lord Beaverbrook was a Canadian-born businessman and politician who served as a cabinet minister in the Churchill ministry during the Second World War.

Notable people[]

Further information: Category:British people of Canadian descent

References[]

  1. ^ "Country-of-birth database". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Archived from the original (XLS) on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
  2. ^ "Born abroad: Countries of birth: Canada". bbc.co.uk. 7 September 2005. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Estimated population resident in the United Kingdom, by foreign country of birth (Table 1.3)". Office for National Statistics. September 2009. Archived from the original (ZIP) on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  4. ^ "Canadians Abroad: Canada's Global Asset" (PDF). Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. 2011. p. 12. Retrieved 23 September 2013. See also Canadian diaspora
  5. ^ Eayrs, James (1976). "The Roots of Irritation". In Peter Lyon (ed.). Britain and Canada: Survey of a Changing Relationship. Psychology Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-7146-3052-6. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  6. ^ Billington, Michael (6 December 2004). "Ronald Bryden". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2 April 2011.
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