| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 9,350 [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Toronto | |
| Languages | |
| Tibetic languages, Canadian English, Canadian French | |
| Religion | |
| Tibetan Buddhism, Bon | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tibetans, Tibetan Americans |
Tibetan Canadians are Canadian citizens of Tibetan ancestry. Although Tibetan Canadians comprise a small portion of Asian Canadians, Canada holds one of the largest concentrations of Tibetans outside of Asia. Tibetans began immigrating to Canada as early as the early 1970s. [2]
In 2021, the Tibetan population in Canada was recorded as being 9,350. [1]
The majority of Tibetan-Canadians live in the Toronto metropolitan area. In 2016, there were 6,035 Tibetan-Canadians living in the Greater Toronto Area. [1] There is a sizable Tibetan community with Tibetan businesses and restaurants, known as Little Tibet, in the Parkdale neighborhood in Toronto, in the area bound by Queen St. W. to the north, the Gardiner Expressway to the west and south, and Atlantic Ave. to the east. There is also a growing Tibetan community in South Etobicoke. [3]
Tibetans that have migrated to Canada and other countries have been subjected to a complex and violent history. In 1959, China occupied Tibet in the Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. Throughout the years, culture and religion took an impact from Chinese control which was expressed through the ruination of religious statues of Tibet and the destruction of buildings that represented the Tibetan culture [4]
In 1959, around 87,000 were killed during Chinese rule. [5] Tibetans that practiced their religion were killed. At least 80 000 Tibetans and the Dalai Lama left Tibet to Nepal but were denied access. [6] Then they found refuge in India. [4] India took them, however had difficulty to give imperative services and help needed to Tibetan refugees. However, there were more migration patterns towards India in the 1980s and 1990s. [6]
During the United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees in 1951, India did not sign this convention. This entailed that Tibetans living in India had little rights and hence tried to find another place for resettlement. [4]
In 1970 and 1971, 240 Tibetan refugees settled into Canada from India. The resettlement of Tibetan refugees was viewed by the Canadian government as a pilot project to evaluate what the country would do in the future regarding refugee aid. It was after a direct plea from the Dalai Lama to Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson in 1966 that launched Canada's slow process to bring 60 families into their country. The first Tibetans to arrive from the resettlement group were Tsering Dorjee Wangkhang and Jampa Dorjee Drongotsang when they landed in Toronto on October 15, 1970. The two settled in Batawa, Ontario where the first Tibetan community was planned to be located. Wangkhang and Drongotsang both started working at the Bata shoe factory. Factory owner Thomas Bata had gone to India, one of the countries where Tibetans were exiled, and took the initiative to employ three to four refugees in his company. [7]
In 2007, a two-year immigration program to bring 2,000 Tibetan refugees to Canada was organized by Prime Minister Stephen Harper after a plea by the Dalai Lama. The first 21 Tibetans flew from India to Vancouver International Airport and were expected to settle into the Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Sunshine Coast areas. [8]
Canada originally declined Tibetan refugees to settle as a group, however this changed with consultations and national meeting with the Prime minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau. This involved James George, one of the previous high commissioners to India. George's impact on Pierre Elliot Trudeau helped immigration officials to be more lenient with refuge policies for Tibetans. [6]
In the 1960s, the Canadian government accepts Tibetan refugees under a few conditions. These conditions were set under the Tibetan Refugee program. This was an experimental program that would let 228 Tibetans enter Canada quickly and at a lower cost. [6]
It took a decade for the first Tibetan migrants to set foot in Canada. The Canadian government officials did not want Tibetans to settle in a group but on individual basis and family basis. This means that only young families and single people coming as laborers were approved to seek refuge in Canada. Additionally, Canadian immigration officials were concerned about Tibetans nomadic lifestyles and establishing/settling themselves as a group. This would pose a challenge on the integration process. If group settlement had been approved, the integration process would have been much more difficult and permanency of integration would also be a challenge for newcomers and pose issues on the governmental level. [6] Canadian immigration officials were worried that it would pose problems. Such problems were isolation and dependence within members of the same ethnic community. Additionally, learning one of the official languages of Canada was another problem that could arise and could affect integration directly (Logan & Murdie, 2014). Moreover, immigration officials chose younger Tibetan immigrants over older immigrant groups because integration would be easier regarding the process of learning one of the official languages. Therefore, finding a job and reaching out if one needs help or services would also be affected positively. [9]
Tibetan immigrants were also selected from towns and villages because knowing their nomadic lifestyle, immigrant officials wanted Tibetans that had sedentary patterns. Tibetans also needed to have a certain level of high education. [9]
Integration was facilitated through “group processing” which involves refugees and the state work together to aid resettlement into Canada. [9]
The neighbourhood of Parkdale in Toronto contains the largest concentration of Tibetan immigrants and refugees in Canada. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, around 11% of Parkdale residents were of Tibetan ethnicity, comprising 1,985 persons (62% of Toronto's total Tibetan population and 42% of Tibetans in all of Canada). [4] According to global population estimates, this makes the Parkdale Tibetan community the largest outside of Tibet and its surrounding area. [10]
Most of the housing in the area consists of high-rise apartment buildings and single-family homes. Compared to much of the Toronto core, rent prices in Parkdale are affordable, and the area provides many amenities and services to recent immigrants and at-risk populations. Additionally, public transit offers accessibility to the city centre of Toronto. [4]
Parkdale's existing Tibetan community and cultural institutions encourage the continued immigration of Tibetans to the neighbourhood, with 64% of Tibetan immigrants citing the existing presence of other Tibetans as a major factor in their decision to settle in the area. [4] Little Tibet is centred around a series of blocks on Queen Street West, consisting of a number of Tibetan restaurants and shops with diverse influences from India, Nepal and China.
Within Parkdale, a significant concern among Tibetan Canadian families is reunification with their relatives. Tibetans living in Canada that have already obtained permanent residency have found difficulty bringing their family members into Canada. Many of the relatives that have been unable to come to Canada live in Nepal and India. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) states that the Nepalese government is blocking Tibetan peoples that found refuge in Nepal after 1989 from exiting the country. India imposes that Tibetans must have a valid Identity Certificate to exit the country, and the process of obtaining this document can take several years. [8]
The Central Tibetan Administration is the Tibetan government in exile based in Dharamshala, India. It is composed of a judiciary branch, a legislative branch, and an executive branch.
Kham is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas, and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham covers a land area distributed in multiple province-level administrative divisions in present-day China, most of it in Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan, with smaller portions located within Qinghai and Yunnan.
Chushi Gangdruk was a Tibetan guerrilla group. Formally organized on 16 June 1958, the Chushi Gangdruk guerrilla fighters fought the forces of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Tibet from 1956 to 1974.
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a non-profit advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans, ensure their human rights, and protect Tibetan culture and the environment. Founded in 1988, ICT is the world's largest Tibet-related NGO, with several thousand members and strong bases of support in North America and Europe. On March 15, 2018, the ICT completed 30 years of service to the Tibetan community and received a video message from the Dalai Lama. ICT also released its new logo. An event was also held in the United States Congress on March 6, 2018 to mark the event with Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Jim McGovern, ICT Chairman Richard Gere, Representative Ngodup Tsering and ICT Board Member Tempa Tsering making remarks.
Tibetan Americans are Americans of Tibetan ancestry. As of 2020, more than 26,700 Americans are estimated to have Tibetan ancestry. The majority of Tibetan Americans reside in Queens, New York.
Immigration to Bhutan has an extensive history and has become one of the country's most contentious social, political, and legal issues. Since the twentieth century, Bhutanese immigration and citizenship laws have been promulgated as acts of the royal government, often by decree of the Druk Gyalpo on advice of the rest of government. Immigration policy and procedure are implemented by the Lhengye Zhungtshog Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Department of Immigration. Bhutan's first modern laws regarding immigration and citizenship were the Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1958 and subsequent amendments in 1977. The 1958 Act was superseded by the Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1985, which was then supplemented by a further Immigration Act in 2007. The Constitution of 2008 included some changes in Bhutan's immigration laws, policy, and procedure, however prior law not inconsistent with the 2008 Constitution remained intact. Bhutan's modern citizenship laws and policies reinforce the institution of the Bhutanese monarchy, require familiarity and adherence to Ngalop social norms, and reflect the social impact of the most recent immigrant groups.
Seven Years in Tibet is a 1997 American biographical war drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. It is based on Austrian mountaineer and Schutzstaffel (SS) sergeant Heinrich Harrer's 1952 memoir of the same name, about his experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951. Seven Years in Tibet stars Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, and has music composed by John Williams with a feature performance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) was founded by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama on reaching McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India in exile from Tibet in August 1959. It was then called Tibetan Music, Dance and Drama Society, which was one of the first institutes set up by the Dalai Lama, and was established to preserve Tibetan artistic heritage, especially opera, dance, and music.
Lhalu Tsewang Dorje commonly known as Lhalu, Lhalu Se, or Lhalu Shape, was a Tibetan aristocrat and politician who held a variety of positions in various Tibetan governments before and after 1951.
The 1959 Tibetan uprising began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the Seventeen Point Agreement was reached in 1951. The initial uprising occurred amid general Chinese-Tibetan tensions and a context of confusion, because Tibetan protesters feared that the Chinese government might arrest the 14th Dalai Lama. The protests were also fueled by anti-Chinese sentiment and separatism. At first, the uprising mostly consisted of peaceful protests, but clashes quickly erupted and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) eventually used force to quell the protests. Some of the protesters had captured arms. The last stages of the uprising included heavy fighting, with high civilian and military losses. The 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Lhasa, while the city was fully retaken by Chinese security forces on 23 March 1959. Thousands of Tibetans were killed during the 1959 uprising, but the exact number of deaths is disputed.
Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa was a Tibetan nobleman, scholar, statesman and former Finance Minister of the government of Tibet.
Tsering Dorjee Bawa is a Chinese actor, producer, musician and dancer of Tibetan descent. He acted in the Oscar nominated film ‘Himalaya' in 1999 and has created the original soundtrack with Michael Becker for 2009 Emmy Award-winning documentary ‘The Woman of Tibet - A Quiet Revolution’. He was nominated twice for outstanding featured performance in play, male for his off-Broadway show, 'The Oldest Boy'.
The Tibetan diaspora are the diaspora of Tibetan people living outside Tibet.
Tsering Dolma Gyaltong was a Tibetan spiritual leader living in exile in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Tsering was a Founding Member of the Tibetan Women's Association and participated in its re-establishment in 1984.
Human rights in Tibet are a contentious issue. Reported abuses of human rights in Tibet include restricted freedom of religion, belief, and association; arbitrary arrest; maltreatment in custody, including torture; and forced abortion and sterilization. The status of religion, mainly as it relates to figures who are both religious and political, such as the exile of the 14th Dalai Lama, is a regular object of criticism. Additionally, freedom of the press in China is absent, with Tibet's media tightly controlled by the Chinese leadership, making it difficult to accurately determine the scope of human rights abuses.
The CIA Tibetan program was an anti-Chinese covert operation spanning almost twenty years. It consisted of "political action, propaganda, paramilitary and intelligence operations" facilitated by arrangements made with brothers of the 14th Dalai Lama, who himself was allegedly not initially aware of them. The stated goal of the program was "to keep the political concept of an autonomous Tibet alive within Tibet and among several foreign nations". The program was administrated by the CIA, and unofficially operated in coordination with domestic agencies such as the Department of State and the Department of Defense.
Protests and uprisings in Tibet against the government of the People's Republic of China have occurred since 1950, and include the 1959 uprising, the 2008 uprising, and the subsequent self-immolation protests.
Chope Paljor Tsering is a former member of the cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration. He is the longest serving representative of the Dalai Lama, having served as the representative to Nepal, Eastern Europe, Australasia and East Asia over twenty one years from 1986 until 2007.
As of May 2022, 160 monks, nuns, and ordinary people have self-immolated in Tibet since 27 February 2009, when Tapey, a young monk from Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in the marketplace in Ngawa City, Ngawa County, Sichuan. According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), "Chinese police have beaten, shot, isolated, and disappeared self-immolators who survived."
Penpa Tsering is a Tibetan politician based in India. He is the second democratically elected Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration in India. He succeeded the last Sikyong Lobsang Sangay on 27 May 2021. Penpa Tsering was the speaker of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration for two terms between 2008 and 2016.
Canadians of Asian descent by area of origin | ||
|---|---|---|
| Central Asia |  | |
| East Asia | ||
| Southeast Asia | ||
| South Asia | ||
| West Asia | ||
