Global True Lithuania Encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide

Canada

History of the Lithuanian community in Canada is like a scaled-down version of the Lithuanian Americans history (today there are 47 000 Lithuanian Canadians). It also began later. The first Lithuanians came to Canada in some 1900 to work in Nova Scotia mines. The first ethnic parish was erected in 1913. Main immigration took place ater the Soviet occupation of Lithuania and like in the USA there was a post-1990 third wave.

Most Lithuanian Canadians live in Ontario (~27 500) and namely the Toronto area where most of Canada's Lithuanian heritage is located. Hamilton is the second city in Ontario by the number of Lithuanian heritage. There is also more limited Lithuanian heritage in some other cities of Ontario: St. Catharines, Windsor, Ottawa, London. There are Lithuanian resorts and camps in Wasaga Beach and Romuva (near Huntsville). Lithuanians also left a mark in Delhi tobacco area.

Quebec Province, Alberta and British Columbia has between 4000 and 6000 Lithuanians each. The Maritimes still have ~1500 descendants of first Lithuanian immigrants but most are now of mixed heritage (less than 100 pure Lithuanians). Of these provinces, only in Montreal Lithuanian heritage is significant while Edmonton and Winnipeg both have some sites.

Two Canadian towns - Wilno, Ontario and Vilna, Alberta - are named after Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital (Wilno is the Polish name of Vilnius while Vilna was the Russian name).

The map of Lithuanian-Canadian sites

All the Lithuanian-Canadian locations are marked on this interactive map, made by the "Destination Lithuanian America" expedition (click the link):

Interactive map of Canada Lithuanian sites