Browse "Communities & Sociology"

Immigration of Cambodians to Canada is relatively recent. From 1980 to 1992, Canada welcomed more than 18,000 Cambodia refugees who were fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime. They settled in Canada’s major urban areas. In the 2016 Census, 38,490 people reported being of Cambodian ethnic origin. Over the years since Cambodians began immigrating to Canada, many Cambodian Canadians have become distinguished in their fields; examples include actress Ellen Wong, journalist Chan Tep and graffiti artist FONKi.

Camille Roy, priest, professor, literary critic (b at Berthier-en-Bas, Qué 22 Oct 1870; d at Québec City 24 June 1943). Though largely outmoded today, Roy's work was representative of his generation.

​Camille Turner, artist (born 11 March 1960 in Kingston, Jamaica).

The Holocaust is defined as the systematic persecution and murder of 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews, including Roma and Sinti, Poles, political opponents, LGBTQ people and Soviet prisoners of war (POWs), by Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Jews were the only group targeted for complete destruction. Nazi racial ideology considered them subhuman. Though Jewish Canadians did not experience the Holocaust directly, the majority endured anti-Semitism in Canada. Jewish Canadians were only one generation removed from lands under German occupation from 1933 to 1945. They maintained close ties to Jewish relatives in those lands. These ties affected the community’s response to the Holocaust. There was, for instance, a disproportionate representation of Jews in the Canadian armed forces. Jewish Canadians were also heavily involved in postwar relief efforts for displaced persons and Holocaust survivors in Europe.

Olga Melikoff, Murielle Parkes and Valerie Neale were leaders of the parent group behind the creation, in 1965, of Canada's first bilingual education program, at Margaret Pendlebury Elementary School in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Lambert, Quebec. Their education activism laid the groundwork for the French immersion system in Canada. As a result of their efforts, Melikoff, Parkes and Neale are often referred to as Canada’s “founding mothers" of French immersion.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on November 4, 2002. Partner content is not updated.

Between the 1950s and the 1990s, the Canadian government responded to national security concerns generated by Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union by spying on, exposing and removing suspected LGBTQ individuals from the federal public service and the Canadian Armed Forces. They were cast as social and political subversives and seen as targets for blackmail by communist regimes seeking classified information. These characterizations were justified by arguments that people who engaged in same-sex relations suffered from a “character weakness” and had something to hide because their sexuality was considered a taboo and, under certain circumstances, was illegal. As a result, the RCMP investigated large numbers of people. Many of them were fired, demoted or forced to resign — even if they had no access to security information. These measures were kept out of public view to prevent scandal and to keep counter-espionage operations under wraps. In 2017, the federal government issued an official apology for its discriminatory actions and policies, along with a $145-million compensation package.

DAVE IRVINE-HALLIDAY climbs out of his navy-blue tent, slips into his leather sandals and ventures into the warm Nepali night. It isn't that he's alone, awash in the silence of a remote village, that intrigues him.

The vast majority of Canada's eight million people fought the Great War at home.

The Second World War forever altered Canada. Among those most affected were young Canadians. The war had a profound impact on their lives and families.

The Canadian Federation of University Women was founded in 1919 as a Canadian counterpart to the International Federation of University Women, whose purpose was to emphasize women's role in social reconstruction and the prevention of war.

Canadian Girls in Training (CGIT) was established in 1915 by the YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSN and the major Protestant denominations to promote the Christian education of girls aged 12 to 17.

As the medical administrator of a RED CROSS field hospital in war-wracked Chechnya, Canadian nurse Nancy Malloy did a little bit of everything. One of her jobs was to ensure that the hospital did not run short of drugs or other medical supplies.

Canadian Parents for French is a national organization of parents dedicated to the expansion of French second-language learning opportunities for young Canadians. Primarily driven by the volunteer efforts of parents, it has been the leading organization in Canada dedicated to the expansion of French immersion programs and the improvement of French second-language learning programs since the 1970s.

Canada has been involved in various wars from the beginning of its colonial history. Just as the nature of these wars has changed over time, so too has their effect on Canadian women. Women have actively participated in war, from nursing and munitions manufacturing during the First and Second World Wars to the increasing involvement of Canadian women in the military.

CANO. Franco-Ontarian folk-pop collective, active 1975-85. The founding musicians were members of the Coopérative des artistes du Nouvel Ontario (CANO), an agricultural and artistic commune established in Sudbury in 1970.

People from the Caribbean region began to settle in Canada in the late 18^th century (see Jamaican Maroons in Nova Scotia and Black Canadians). In the 2016 census, 749,155 Canadians reported that they originated from the Caribbean, and most have immigrated to Canada since the 1970s

Caribbean music is an important component of musical life in Canada on two grounds: firstly, significant numbers of Caribbean peoples have immigrated to Canada, particularly beginning in the 1960s, and have continued the musical traditions of their homelands in the new environment; and secondly as early as the 1920s successive styles of Caribbean-derived music began to form part of the fabric of Euro-American pop music and thus part of the musical experience of many Canadians over the years.

Carl Ray, Cree artist, illustrator, editor and art teacher (born January 1943 in Sandy Lake, ON; died 26 September 1978 in Sioux Lookout, ON). Ray was known for his innovative paintings in the Woodlands style and was a founding member of the Indian Group of Seven. Ray’s work has influenced Indigenous art in Canada and can be found in the collections of various galleries and museums across the country.