GUYANESE in Canada come from a country characterized by ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity. Situated along the northeastern coast of South America and facing the Atlantic Ocean, the former colony of British Guiana shares a border with Venezuela on the east. Within its domain live nearly 800,000 people. Of these, half are people of Asian Indian descent, followed by those of African origin (30 percent), with the remainder consisting of  “coloured” (mixed African and European origin), Amerindian, Portuguese, and Chinese peoples.

The first Guyanese came to Canada during the late nineteenth century. The early arrivals settled primarily in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec. By 1921, a community of over 200 Guyanese had settled in Toronto while others established themselves in smaller numbers elsewhere. The great majority found work as sleeping-carporters who provided remarkably efficient and discreet service to railway passengers. Guyanese immigration came to a virtual standstill after World War I as new Canadian immigration legislation expanded the list of those to be refused entry to include anyone belonging to a race or nationality simply deemed unsuitable. Guyanese immigrants only began arriving in Canada again after 1955 as part of a regularized scheme under which an annual quota of 100 unmarried female domestic servants could enter the country on temporary employment visas and obtain permanent residence after a few years of service. Economic instability, growing unemployment, pressure on the Asian Indian population by the government of Linden Forbes Burnham produced a surge in Guyanese emigration to Canada during the 1960s and 1970s. Canada emerged more fully as a major destination for Guyanese immigrants only when all the vestiges of racial and ethnic discrimination were officially expunged from Canadian immigration regulations and procedures and a point system instituted to measure an applicant’s qualifications in a series of categories.

Those who came during peak years of Guyanese immigration made their way to the industrial heartland of Canada, with Ontario as the main destination. The logic of economics and chain migration catapulted Toronto and the urban centres of Mississauga, Brampton, Ottawa, Hamilton, and Windsor into the premier positions as Guyanese settlement areas. In the 1996 Canadian census, 40,520 individuals described themselves as being of Guyanese origin. Of these, 22,110 said Guyanese was their only ethnic origin, and 18,410 said it was one of their ethnic origins. A total of 35,055 Guyanese lived in Ontario, with Toronto home to 15,425. Outside central Canada, Guyanese were drawn to the metropolitan areas of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal. These Canadian urban centres provided the greatest scope for the linguistic skills and the professional talent in medicine, engineering, insurance, and banking as well as for merchants and entrepreneurs. Guyanese have also shown a strong preference for areas of residential concentration, most notably in Toronto. Traditional arriving and staging areas in Toronto include Jameson Avenue and Queen Street West, Finch Avenue West and Weston Road, Lawrence Avenue East and Markham Road, Albion Road and Islington Avenue, and Lawrence Avenue West and Weston Road.

Guyanese tend to establish sports, dancing, and recreational clubs rather than large, formal ethnocommunity organizations. The immigrants, in turn, have contributed to Canadian culture in the area of music as Canadians have enthusiastically embraced the sound of steel bands, calypso, and reggae. It is reasonable to assume that the religious identity of the Guyanese in Canada resembles that of the home-land. Most Guyanese belong to one of three Christian denominations: Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Baptist. The Guyanese Asian Indian community in Canada, consisting of both Hindus and Muslims, has not yet established any major religious centres. Rather the group participates in the various churches, temples, and mosques serving Canada’s diverse nationalities.