Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and its suburbs have a substantial

Italian Canadian Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...

community. As of 2021, 17.3% of the ethnic Italians in Canada live in

Greater Montreal 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 a ...

. Montreal's

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

community is one of the largest in Canada, second only to Toronto. With 267,240 residents of Italian ancestry as of the 2021 census in

, Montreal has many Italian districts, such as La Petite-Italie, Saint-Leonard (

Città Italiana Saint-Leonard ( ; french: Saint-Léonard ) is a Boroughs of Montreal, borough (''arrondissement'') of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Formerly a separate city, it was amalgamated into the city of Montreal in 2002. The former city was originally called ...

), Rivière-des-Prairies, Montreal-Nord, LaSalle, and the Saint-Raymond area of

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...

; the community has also since spread into

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

and the

West Island The West Island () is the unofficial name given to the cities, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Dorval, Pointe-Cla ...

suburbs. Italian is the third most spoken language in Montreal and in the province of

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 ...

History

In 1893 there were about 1,400 ethnic Italians in Montreal.Linteau, Paul-André, René Durocher, and Jean-Claude Robert (translator into English: Robert Chodos). ''Quebec: A History 1867-1929'' (Volume 1 of Quebec, a History, Paul André Linteau). James Lorimer Company, 1983. , 9780888626042. p
47
During this time, Italian employment agencies that worked with Canadian steamship and railway companies attracted many Italian labourers to Montreal. Additional growth in the Italian population took place in the 20th century. The 1905, the ''Royal Commission appointed to Inquire into the Immigration of Italian Labourers to

and alleged Fraudulent Practices of Employment Agencies'' was launched into deceptive tactics used by ''padroni'', labour brokers that recruited Italian workers for Canadian employers. The commission recommended that the city of Montreal pass a by-law requiring immigration agents and offices to be licensed before being permitted to carry out their business. The first Catholic church for the Italians became Mount Carmel Parish in 1905. It was established by an Italian-speaking man, Canon Bruchési. In 1911 the second Italian parish opened. The political unit of the Italian community split after

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

became the leader of Italy in the 1920s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the Canadian government opposed pro-Mussolini elements in the Montreal Italian community. The Order of the Sons of Italy in Montreal dedicated a statue of the

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

John Cabot John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North ...

in 1935. The order suggested that Cabot, and not

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French-Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of th ...

, was in fact the first European to reach Canada.

Demographics

In 1931, there were more Italians than people of British origins in St. Jean Ward. During that year, in 19 of Montreal's 35 wards, the Italians were the largest non-French and non-British ethnic group. This was also the case in five other cities and towns in

.Rosenberg, Louis and

Morton Weinfeld Morton Irwin Weinfeld (born 1949) is a Canadian sociologist, who has conducted studies on Canadian Jewry. He is chair in Canadian ethnic studies and former chairman of the sociology department at McGill University. Weinfeld was born to Polish Jew ...

. ''Canada's Jews: A Social and Economic Study of Jews in Canada in the 1930s'' (Volume 16 of McGill-Queen's Studies in Ethnic History). McGill-Queen's Press (MQUP), Oct 12, 1993. , 9780773563940. p
33

References

* Harney, Nicholas DeMaria. "Ethnicity, Social Organization, and Urban Space: A Comparison of Italians in Toronto and Montreal" (Chapter 6). In: Sloan, Joanne (editor). ''Urban Enigmas: Montreal, Toronto, and the Problem of Comparing Cities'' (Volume 2 of Culture of Cities). McGill-Queen's Press (MQUP), January 1, 2007. , 9780773577077. Start p
178

Notes

* Some material originated from Demographics of Montreal#Italians

History

Demographics

See also

References

Notes

Further reading