Italian-Canadians are Canadians of Italian descent. Approximately 1.2 million Canadians consider themselves to be of Italian descent, according to the Canadian census.
History
Italians were among some of the earliest Europeans to come to Canada. A number of the early explorers such as John Cabot were Italians. During the New France era France also occupied parts of Italy and there was a significant Italian presence in the French military forces in the colony. Italians made up a small portion of the population, however, and were quickly lost their ethnic identities. In 1881 only 2000 Canadians claim to be Italian. A substantial influx began in the early twentieth century when over a hundred thousand Italians moved to Canada. These were mainly peasants from the poorer southern portion of Italy. They mainly immigrated to Toronto and Montreal both of which soon had large Italian communities.
This migration was largely halted by the First World War and new immigration laws in the 1920s also limited Italian immigration. During the Second World War Italian-Canadians were regarded with suspicion and faced a great deal of discrimination. Those who had been actively pro-Fascist, and some who were falsely accused, were interned at Camp Petawawa during the war. There was no mass internment as befell Japanese-Canadians, however.
Mass immigration resumed after the Second World War when discriminatory immigration laws were repealed and Italians left the war-impoverished country for opportunities in a young and growing country. Most Italian-Canadians arrived in this post-war influx. In 1958 Italy surpassed the United Kingdom as Canada's largest source of immigrants. These arrivals also mostly settled in Toronto and Montreal, but large Italian Canadian communities also developed in Ottawa and Hamilton. In the 1960s immigration laws were again changed and the bias in favour of Europeans was removed. In the same period Italy was rapidly growing in wealth and fewer Italians were interested in emigration.
Italian-Canadian media
Italian-Canadian entrepreneur Johnny Lombardi founded of CHIN Radio, a multilingual radio station in Toronto, and CFMT-TV ("Canada's First Multi-lingual Television"); now owned by Rogers Communications, it has spun off into two multilingual television services in southern Ontario, OMNI-1 and OMNI-2. Telelatino , or TLN, is a widely-distributed cable television service offering Italian and Spanish-language programming, and deriving about 70% of its revenue from the former.
Corriere Canadese [1], based in Toronto, is a widely-read Italian-language daily newspaper, with an English-language weekly edition called Tandem. Other Italian-language newspapers have included Insieme and La Verita in Montreal and L'Ora di Ottawa in Ottawa.
eyetalian magazine, launched in 1993 as a challenging, independent magazine of Italian-Canadian culture, encountered commercial difficulty and leaned towards a general lifestyle magazine format before concluding publication later in the 1990s.
For several years there has been controversy over allowing RAI International into Canada. Telelatino had since 1984 carried some RAI content as well as domestically produced Italian shows. In 2003 RAI pulled its content from Telelatino and petitioned the CRTC to set up its own channel. This effort was backed by Rogers Communications. This generated controversy as the move was seen as part of scheme by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to gain greater influence over the Italian language media in Canada. Just recently, the Italian laws had been changed to give the Italian diaspora votes in Italian elections and permanent seats in the legislature. Unlike the more independent Telelatino, RAI was widely seen as very pro-Berlusconi.
The affair divided the Italian-Canadian community. The local Committees of Italians Abroad supported RAI's application. But these organizations are mainly funded by the Italian foreign ministry. Other Italian-Canadians opposed the application. The CRTC eventually turned down the application saying that the presence of RAI International would make it impossible to set up a domestic Italian language channel. Rogers continues to lobby the CRTC for a license for the channel.
Notable Italian Canadians
Many Italian immigrants found work in the constructions trades, and later built their own construction businesses. Italian-Canadians can now be found in almost any profession in Canada.
Notable Italian-Canadians include politicians Charles Caccia, Joe Volpe, and Alfonso Gagliano, musicians Guy Lombardo and Gino Vannelli, hockey players Phil and Tony Esposito, and author Nino Ricci.
See also
External links
