Iranian Canadians or Persian Canadians are citizens of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

whose national background is traced from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

or are people possessing

ian and Canadian

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

. From the 2016 Canadian census, the main communities can be found in

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The vast majority, however, live in northern suburbs of Toronto such as Richmond Hill,

Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

Markham Markham may refer to: It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873. Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * ...

, and Thornhill, and in certain municipalities of Vancouver, including North Vancouver,

West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Ba ...

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

, and

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. ...

. a total of 97,110 Iranians reside in the Greater Toronto Area, 46,255 in the Greater Vancouver Area, and 23,410 in the

Greater Montreal Area Greater Montreal (french: Grand Montréal) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with ...

, with the remainder spread out in the other major cities of Canada, based on the 2016 Canadian Census. These numbers represent the people who stated "Iranian" as their single or joint ethnic origin in the census survey.

Terminology

Iranian-Canadian is used interchangeably with Persian-Canadian, partly due to the fact that, in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

was known as "Persia". On the

Nowruz Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...

of 1935,

Reza Shah Pahlavi , , spouse = Maryam Savadkoohi Tadj ol-Molouk Ayromlu (queen consort)Turan AmirsoleimaniEsmat Dowlatshahi , issue = Princess Hamdamsaltaneh Princess ShamsMohammad Reza Shah Princess Ashraf Prince Ali Reza Prince Gholam Reza Prin ...

asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the endonym of the country used since the Sasanian Empire, in formal correspondence. Since then the use of the word "Iran" has become more common in the Western countries. This also changed the usage of the terms for Iranian nationality, and the common adjective for citizens of Iran changed from "Persian" to "Iranian". In 1959, the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Reza Shah Pahlavi's son, announced that both "Persia" and "Iran" could officially be used interchangeably.Yarshater, Ehsa
Persia or Iran, Persian or Farsi
, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) However the issue is still debated today. Majd, Hooman, ''The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran'', by Hooman Majd,

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, September 23, 2008, , 9780385528429. p
161
/ref> While the majority of Iranian-Canadians come from Persian backgrounds, there is a significant number of non-Persian Iranians such as

Azeris Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second-most nume ...

and

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

within the Iranian-Canadian community, leading some scholars to believe that the label "Iranian" is more inclusive, since the label "Persian" excludes non-Persian minorities. The ''

Collins English Dictionary The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow. The edition of the dictionary in 1979 with Patrick Hanks as editor and Laurence Urdang as editorial director, wa ...

'' uses a variety of similar and overlapping definitions for the terms "Persian" and "Iranian".

Demographics

In 2021, there were 213,160 individuals in Canada who had been born in Iran, of which 70,395 had immigrated to Canada since 2011. Among all Iranian-Canadians, 103,560 (49%) identified as Muslim. Among immigrants since 2011, about 39,860 (57%) identified as Muslim while most of the rest did not identify with any religion.

Notable Canadians of Iranian descent

Persian Newspaper Shahrvand in Toronto Editorial Team 2014

Academia

Persian Plaza - Yonge Street - Toronto 2014

Payam Akhavan Payam Akhavan (Persian: پیام اخوان) is an Iranian-born lawyer. He is a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. He is a senior fellow at Massey College at the University of Toronto and is a visiting adjunct at the ...

, pioneer in international criminal law and leading human rights advocate;

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

Kaveh Farrokh Kaveh Farrokh ( fa, کاوه فرخ) is a Greek author of several academic books and peer-reviewed publications specializing in Iranian history, and has been a frequent lecturer on Iran-related topics at the University of British Columbia as pa ...

, historian *

Ramin Jahanbegloo Ramin Jahanbegloo ( fa, رامین جهانبگلو, born 28 December 1956 in Tehran) is an Iranian philosopher and academic based in Toronto, Canada. Biography Ramin Jahanbegloo was born in Tehran, Iran. He has a doctorate in philosophy from Sorb ...

, philosopher and university professor * Ali Khademhosseini, Associate Professor of Medicine; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology *

Shahrzad Mojab Shahrzad Mojab is an academic activist and professor, teaching at the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education and Women and Gender Studies Institute, at the University of Toronto. Shahrzad has been living in Canada since 1986 with her ...

, Professor of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education;

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

Reza Zadeh Reza Zadeh is an American-Canadian-Iranian computer scientist and technology executive working on machine learning. He is adjunct professor at Stanford University and CEO of Matroid. He has served on the technical advisory boards of Databricks an ...

, computer scientist; Stanford University

Art and literature

Hossein Amanat Hossein Amanat ( fa, حسین امانت, born 1942) is an Iranian-Canadian architect. He is best known for being the architect of the Shahyad Tower (renamed as Azadi Tower after the 1979 revolution) in Tehran, Iran, the Baháʼí Arc buildin ...

, architect, urban designer * Reza Baraheni, novelist, poet, critic, and political activist *

Jian Ghomeshi Jian Ghomeshi (born June 9, 1967) is a British-born Persian-Canadian broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and former CBC personality. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In ...

, member of

Moxy Früvous Moxy Früvous was a Canadian politically satirical folk-pop band from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. The band was founded in 1989, and was active until 2001. Common themes in Früvous songs include Canada and the "human experience". History The ...

; former host of CBC's ''play''; former host of ''Q'' on CBC Radio 1 *

Siamak Hariri Siamak Hariri, OAA, AAA, AIBC, FRAIC, RCA, Intl. Assoc. AIA (born 1958) is a Canadian architect and a founding partner of Hariri Pontarini Architects, a full-service architectural and interior design practice based in Toronto, Canada. Born in ...

, architect * Nazanine Hozar, writer *

Ramin Karimloo Ramin Karimloo ( fa, رامین کریملو; ; born September 19, 1978) is a Canadian actor, singer and composer recognized for his work in London's West End and Broadway theatre. He has played the leading male roles in both of the West End's ...

, West End performer, playing the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

'' and the sequel '' Love Never Dies'' *

Navid Khonsari Navid Khonsari ( fa, نوید خونساری) (born 1970) is an Iranian - Canadian video game, virtual/mixed reality, film and graphic novel creator, writer, director and producer. Khonsari is the co-founder of iNK Stories, an award-winning stu ...

, video game, film and graphic novel creator, writer, director and producer *

Fariborz Lachini Fariborz Lachini ( fa, فریبرز لاچینی; born August 25, 1949) is an Iranian film score composer. Career He started his career in Iran writing music for children, creating "Avaz Faslha va Rangha" at the age of 18 which caught the attent ...

, music composer * , painter, photographer and husband of ex-

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

Myriam Bédard Myriam Bédard, (born December 22, 1969) is a Canadian retired biathlete. She represented Canada at two Winter Olympics winning gold medals, and a bronze medal. As of 2022, Bédard is the only Canadian biathlete, male or female, ever to win an ...

, convicted and sentenced in June 2007 for stealing paintings from the late painter Ghitta Caiserman * Sanaz Mazinani, photographer and curator *

Kaveh Nabatian Kaveh Nabatian is an Iranian-Canadian musician and film director, known as a trumpeter and keyboardist with the Juno Award winning orchestral post-rock band Bell Orchestre. Career As a filmmaker Nabatian is noted for his 2010 short film ''Vapor ...

, musician and filmmaker *

Marina Nemat Marina Nemat ( fa, مارینا نِمت, russian: Марина Немат; born 22 April 1965) is the author of two memoirs about her life growing up in Iran, serving time in Evin Prison for speaking out against the Iranian government, escapi ...

, author *

Ghazal Omid Ghazal Omid (Persian ) is an Iranian-Canadian author. She wrote an autobiographical work entitled ''Living in Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces''. She is known in the United States ...

, nonfiction political writer, nonfiction children's book writer, speaker, NGO executive *

Fariborz Sahba Fariborz Sahba ( fa, فريبرز صهبا, born 1948 Mashhad) is an Iranian-American architect, now living between Canada and the United States. Education Sahba has a master degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts from the University of Tehran ...

, architect * Bardia Sinaee, poet *

Parviz Tanavoli Parviz Tanavoli (born 1937) is an Iranian sculptor, painter, educator, and art historian. He is a pioneer within the Saqqakhaneh school, a neo-traditionalist art movement. Tanavoli has been one of the most expensive Iranian artists in sales. Tanav ...

, sculptor and painter

Beauty pageants

* Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Miss Canada 2003, first runner-up of

Miss World 2003 Miss World 2003 was the 53rd edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China on 6 December 2003. At the end of the event, Azra Akın of Turkey crowned Rosanna Davison of Ireland as Miss World 2003. ...

, actress, singer-songwriter, human rights activist; wife of former Canadian Defence Minister

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007� ...

* Ramona Amiri,

Miss World Canada The Miss World Canada contest is a Beauty pageant held annually in different incarnations since 1957 to select Canada's representative to the Miss World contest. In 2017 MTC-W Inc. obtained the exclusive rights to send the Canadian representativ ...

2005, semifinalist of

Miss World 2005 Miss World 2005, the 55th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 10 December 2005 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. María Julia Mantilla of Peru crowned her successor Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir of Iceland. 102 contesta ...

* Samantha Tajik,

Miss Universe Canada The Miss Universe Canada or "The Beauties of Canada" is a national beauty pageant in Canada, which sends its winners to the Miss Universe pageant. The Beauties of Canada Organization gained the exclusive rights to send a Canadian representativ ...

2008

Business

Sea Life Cavern wing at West Edmonton Mall

* Ghermezian family, billionaire shopping mall developers *

Hassan Khosrowshahi Hassan Khosrowshahi ( fa, حسن خسروشاهی) , is an Iranian-Canadian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He founded Future Shop, a Canadian consumer electronics chain store that was acquired by Best Buy in 2001 for c.$580 milli ...

, founder of

Future Shop Future Shop was a Canadian electronics store chain. It was established in 1982 by Hassan Khosrowshahi. By 1990, the chain had become the country's largest retailer of computer and consumer electronics. In January 2013, the company operated 139 l ...

Karim Hakimi Karim Hakimi (Persian: کریم حکیمی) (born 1933) is an Iranian-Canadian entrepreneur and optician, known for founding Hakim Optical, a large chain of eyeglass stores across Canada. Early life Hakimi was born in Iran. At the age of five, h ...

, founder of Hakim Optical *

Michael Latifi Michael Mehrdad Latifi (born October 1962 in Iran) is an Iranian-Canadian businessman. He is the owner, Chairman and CEO of Sofina Foods Inc., a Markham, Ontario-based manufacturer of processed animal products. Sofina acquired Lilydale in a C$1 ...

, founder of Sofina Foods Ltd and owner of Nidala (BVI) Limited which holds a share in the

McLaren Group The McLaren Group is a British holding company based in Woking, England, which is involved in Formula One and other motorsport and the manufacture of luxury cars. The group was founded by Ron Dennis shortly after his acquisition of the McLaren ...

. * Shahrzad Rafati, founder of

BroadbandTV Corp BroadbandTV Corporation is a Canadian media and technology company founded by CEO Shahrzad Rafati in 2005. In 2019, the company was the second largest video property by unique viewers, according to comScore. Its head office is in Vancouver, Britis ...

* Sam Mizrahi, real estate developer * Shahin Assayesh, publisher

Crime

Omid Tahvili Omid Tahvili ( fa, امید تحویلی; born on 31 October 1970, in Kermanshah, Iran) is an Iranian-Canadian sexual offender and kingpin of an organized crime family in Canada which is connected to various international crime organizations. ...

, kingpin and international fugitive

Entertainment

Mehdi Sadaghdar Mehdi Sadaghdar ( ; ; born 13 January 1977), also known on YouTube as ElectroBOOM, is an Iranian-Canadian YouTuber, electrical engineer, and comedian. Early life Sadaghdar was born in Iran on 13 January 1977 and resides in Vancouver, British ...

, YouTube personality, electrical engineer

Journalism

ITC TV - Persian TV Station in Toronto 2014

Various Persian-language media (including TV and newspapers) are active in Canada, including Shahrvand and Salam Toronto, which cover local events as well. *

Maziar Bahari Maziar Bahari ( fa, مازیار بهاری; born May 25, 1967) is an Iranian-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist. He was a reporter for '' Newsweek'' from 1998 to 2011. Bahari was incarcerated by the Iranian government fr ...

, journalist * Farid Haerinejad, CBC former producer, documentary maker and current ِِEditor in Chief of

Radio Zamaneh Radio Zamaneh ( fa, رادیو زمانه) is an Amsterdam-based Persian language exile news platform and former radio broadcaster. "Zamaneh" is the Persian literary term for "time". Radio Zamaneh is an independent Persian-language exile media a ...

Zahra Kazemi Zahra "Ziba" Kazemi-Ahmadabadi ( fa, زهرا کاظمی احمدآبادی; 1948 – 11 July 2003) was an Iranian-Canadian freelance photojournalist. She gained notoriety for her arrest in Iran and the circumstances in which she was held by I ...

, photojournalist *

Nikahang Kowsar Nikahang Kowsar ( fa, نیک‌آهنگ کوثر, born 1969), also known as Nik Kowsar is an Iranian-Canadian cartoonist, journalist, and blogger, currently living in Washington, D.C., US. Kowsar was also a reformist candidate for the second term ...

, cartoonist *

Touka Neyestani Touka Neyestani ( fa, توکا نیستانی) (born 1960) is an Iranian political cartoonist who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the brother of Mana Neyestani, who is also a cartoonist. Life and career Touka Neyestani was born in Tehra ...

, cartoonist

Politicians

Ali Ehsassi Ali Cyrus Ehsassi ( fa, علی احساسی‎; born April 24, 1970) is a Canadian politician currently serving as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Willowdale, Ontario riding of Willowdale in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 fe ...

, Federal Liberal MP for Willowdale, lawyer * Majid Jowhari, Federal Liberal MP for Richmond Hill, engineer *

Amir Khadir Amir Khadir ( fa, امیر خدیر; born June 12, 1961) is a Canadian politician in the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), Canada for the electoral district of Mercier, and the first male spokesperson for Québec solidaire, a sovereigntist and ...

Québec solidaire Québec solidaire (QS; ) is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada. The party and media outlets in Canada usually use the name "Québec solidaire" in both French and English, but the party's name is sometimes ...

Former MNA for

Mercier Mercier is French for ''notions dealer'' or ''haberdasher'', and may refer to: People * Agnès Mercier, French curler and coach *Annick Mercier (born 1964), French curler *Amanda H. Mercier (born 1975), American Judge * Armand Mercier, (1933–20 ...

, microbiologist *

Reza Moridi Reza Moridi ( fa, رضا مریدی; born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 to 2018 who represented the riding of Richmond Hill. He served as a cabinet minist ...

, Ontario Liberal Former MPP for Richmond Hill, physicist, engineer

Sport

Nicholas Latifi Nicholas Daniel Latifi (born 29 June 1995) is a Canadian racing driver who last raced for Williams Racing under the Canadian flag in the 2022 Formula One World Championship. Latifi made his Formula One debut at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix a ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver for

Williams Grand Prix Engineering Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Hea ...

Technology

* Behdad Esfahbod, programmer and creator of the

HarfBuzz HarfBuzz (loose transliteration of Persian calque ''harf-bāz'', literally "open type") is a software development library for text shaping, which is the process of converting Unicode text to glyph indices and positions. The newer version, ''N ...

text shaping engine

Iranian districts in Canada

British Columbia

British Properties Originally known as Capilano Estates, the British Properties is a residential area in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The 4,000 acre area was sold by the municipality of West Vancouver to the British Pacific Properties Corporation in ...

* Ambleside, West Vancouver * Lower North Vancouver *

Coal Harbour Coal Harbour is the name for a section of Burrard Inlet lying between Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula and the Brockton Point of Stanley Park. It has also now become the name of the neighbourhood adjacent to its southern shoreline. Neighbourhoo ...

Financial District, Vancouver The Financial District is a highrise office commercial area within the central business district of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located roughly along Burrard and West Georgia Streets on the Downtown Peninsula, the Financial Distri ...

* Vancouver's Downtown South

Ontario

* Willowdale East *

Newtonbrook Newtonbrook is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the area around Yonge Street and Finch Avenue in the district of North York between the east and west branches of the Don River. Officially, the area is divided into two ...

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

* Don Valley Village *

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Bayview Village Bayview Village is an neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the federal Don Valley North riding and the provincial Don Valley North electoral district, and Toronto electoral Ward 17: Don Valley North. In 2006, it had a popula ...

Flemingdon Park Flemingdon Park is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the city's North York district. It is part of the Don Valley East federal and provincial electoral districts, and Ward 26: Don Valley East (South) municipally. In 2011, it ...

* Willowdale West * Parkwoods-Donalda * Woburn * Mount Pleasant

References

External links

PM meets with representatives of the Persian-Canadian community

Iranians of Toronto website
{{Iranian citizens abroad Ethnic groups in Canada Asian Canadian West Asian Canadians