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 tota ...

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 Turkm ...

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 dis ...

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

, and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...

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

North Vancouver North Vancouver may refer to: *North Vancouver (city), a city in British Columbia, Canada * North Vancouver (district municipality), a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada * North Vancouver (electoral district), a federal electoral di ...

, West Vancouver,

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 ...

, and

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

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

Greater Vancouver Area Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term "Greater Vancouver" is roughly coterminous with the geographic area governed b ...

, and 23,410 in the Greater Montreal Area, 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 asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...

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 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ( fa, محمدرضا پهلوی, ; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah (), was the last ''Shah'' (King) of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow in the Irani ...

, 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 nu ...

and

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

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, w ...

'' 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 language, 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, Toronto, Massey College at the University o ...

, 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, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

* Kaveh Farrokh, historian * Ramin Jahanbegloo, philosopher and university professor *

Ali Khademhosseini Ali Khademhosseini ( fa, علی خادم‌حسینی, born October 30, 1975, Tehran, Iran) is the Director and CEO of the Terasaki Institute and former professor at the University of California-Los Angeles where he held a multi-departmental profes ...

, Associate Professor of Medicine; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology * Shahrzad Mojab, Professor of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education;

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

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 a ...

, computer scientist; Stanford University

Art and literature

* Hossein Amanat, architect, urban designer *

Reza Baraheni Reza Baraheni ( fa, رضا براهنی; 13 December 1935 – 25 March 2022) was an Iranian novelist, poet, critic, and political activist. Baraheni lived in Toronto, Canada, where he used to teach at the Centre for Comparative Literature at t ...

, novelist, poet, critic, and political activist * Jian Ghomeshi, member of Moxy Früvous; former host of CBC's ''play''; former host of ''Q'' on CBC Radio 1 * Siamak Hariri, architect *

Nazanine Hozar Nazanine Hozar (born 1978) is an Iranian Canadian writer, whose debut novel ''Aria'' was published in 2019. Born in Tehran, Hozar moved to Canada with her family in childhood following the Iranian Revolution, and grew up in Surrey, British Columbi ...

, writer * Ramin Karimloo, West End performer, playing the lead role in

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musica ...

's '' The Phantom of the Opera'' and the sequel '' Love Never Dies'' * Navid Khonsari, 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 atte ...

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

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, convicted and sentenced in June 2007 for stealing paintings from the late painter Ghitta Caiserman * Sanaz Mazinani, photographer and curator * Kaveh Nabatian, musician and filmmaker * Marina Nemat, author * Ghazal Omid, nonfiction political writer, nonfiction children's book writer, speaker, NGO executive *

Fariborz Sahba Fariborz Sahba ( fa, فريبرز صهبا, born 1948 Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-ea ...

, architect *

Bardia Sinaee Bardia Sinaee is an Iranian Canadian poet and editor,Shazia Hafiz Ramji"Bardia Sinaee’s poetry finds intruders – like cancer and COVID – constantly encroaching" '' Quill & Quire'', April 1, 2021. whose debut collection ''Intruder'' was the wi ...

, 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 * Ramona Amiri, Miss World Canada 2005, semifinalist of Miss World 2005 *

Samantha Tajik Samantha Tajik (; ) is an Iranian Canadian model, actress and television personality. She was crowned Miss Universe Canada 2008 on 28 April 2008 in Toronto, Ontario, and went on to represent Canada at the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant in V ...

, Miss Universe Canada 2008

Business

Sea Life Cavern wing at West Edmonton Mall

Ghermezian family The Ghermezian family is a Canadian business family of Iranian Jewish origin. The Ghermezians are best known for building North America's three largest shopping malls: West Edmonton Mall, Mall of America, and American Dream. The family has been b ...

, 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 mil ...

, founder of Future Shop *

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, 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 McLare ...

. *

Shahrzad Rafati Shahrzad Rafati is an Iranian-Canadian chairwoman and CEO of BroadbandTV Corp (BBTV) a global media company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. In October 2020, Rafati led BBTV to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Early ...

, founder of BroadbandTV Corp *

Sam Mizrahi Sam Mizrahi ( fa, سام میزراهی or سام مزراحی; he, סם מזרחי, born 1971) is an Iranian-born Canadian real estate developer who is active in Toronto. Mizrahi is currently the president of a number of corporations, includin ...

, real estate developer *

Shahin Assayesh Shahin Assayesh (born 1939, in Mashhad) is an Iranian publisher. Assayesh was educated at the University of London, the University of Tehran and the University of Mashhad. She was a secondary school teacher in Tehran before moving to the United ...

, publisher

Crime

* Omid Tahvili,

kingpin Kingpin or king pin may refer to: Vehicular part * Kingpin (automotive part), the pivot in the steering mechanism ** The central bolt of a skateboard, axle assembly ("truck"), around which the rest of the mechanism can flex, allowing the rider ...

and international fugitive

Entertainment

* Mehdi Sadaghdar, 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 ''Shahrvand'' (Persian language, Persian: شهروند) is the largest Persian language newspaper in North America, which serves the Iranian and Afghan communities across North America. Shahrvand has been published since 1991. Shahrvand is publi ...

and

Salam Toronto ''Salam Toronto'' ( fa, سلام تورنتو) is the first Persian-English bilingual weekly publications in Canada being published since October 2000. In publication since October 2000, Salam Toronto earned the distinction of being the first an ...

, which cover local events as well. * Maziar Bahari, journalist *

Farid Haerinejad Farid Haerinejad (Persian: فرید حائری‌نژاد) is a documentary maker and blogger. He formerly worked with CBC and is now the editor-in-chief of Persian-language Radio Zamaneh in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Life and education Farid Haer ...

, CBC former producer, documentary maker and current ِِEditor in Chief of Radio Zamaneh * Zahra Kazemi, photojournalist * Nikahang Kowsar, cartoonist * Touka Neyestani, cartoonist

Politicians

* Ali Ehsassi, Federal Liberal MP for Willowdale, lawyer *

Majid Jowhari Majid Jowhari ( fa, مجید جوهری, born October 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015, 2019 and in the 2021 Canadian federal election to represent the electoral district of Richmond Hill as a Member of Parliam ...

, Federal Liberal MP for Richmond Hill, engineer * Amir Khadir, Québec solidaire Former MNA for Mercier, 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 minis ...

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

Sport

* Nicholas Latifi,

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 text shaping engine

Iranian districts in Canada

British Columbia

* British Properties, West Vancouver * 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. Neighbour ...

* Financial District, Vancouver * 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 fa ...

Don Valley Village Don Valley Village is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the former suburb of North York. Located north of Highway 401 and bisected by Don Mills Road, it is bounded by Sheppard Avenue to the south, Leslie St ...

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 * Flemingdon Park * 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