Yoruba Canadians (original) (raw)

Yoruba Canadians are Canadians of Yoruba descent. The Yoruba people are an ethnic group of southwestern Nigeria and southern Benin in West Africa. They represent the largest ethnic community of Nigerians in Canada. According to the 2021 Canadian census by Statistics Canada, 26,305 respondents spoke Yoruba at home ranking it as the most spoken Niger-Congo language in the country. But exact population estimates for Yoruba-Canadians are most likely far greater, because many would have simply identified as Nigerian or Beninese only or reported just English as home language. The earliest Yoruba settlers in Canada were descendants of slaves transported to North America, Latin America and the Caribbean through the Atlantic slave trade. This resulted in a sizeable proportion of Yoruba Canadians de