Canada's Cultural Groups - 4

German

 

Close to half of people in Saskatchewan are German-Canadians.

While Germans from rural Eastern Europe tended to organize community life around their churches, immigrants from urbanized Germany established social clubs

The German-Canadian Congress (GCC) was founded in 1984, with some 550 affiliated organizations, including 130 churches, 100 German language schools, 20 senior citizens' homes, art associations, museums, theatres and credit unions

Canada's first illuminated Christmas tree, a medieval German custom, was erected in 1781. Here is the story.

 

 

According to the National Household Survey, 430,000 people reported German as their mother tongue in 2011. German is also one of the 10 languages most spoken at home in Canada

Kitchener was formerly named Berlin. The name, along with many other public displays of German heritage, was changed during WWII due to the discrimination against the German people.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest is an annual nine-day festival in the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Based on the original German Oktoberfest, it is billed as Canada's Greatest Bavarian Festival, and is the second-largest Oktoberfest in the world.

 

 

Italian
Much of the Italian-Canadian heritage was born from the culture clash that resulted when penniless Italians were exposed to the economic wealth of North America.

In cities where Italians have settled in sufficient numbers, they have tended to create ethnic neighbourhoods. These "Little Italys," with their distinctive shops, restaurants, clubs and churches, are easily recognizable

 

 

The Roman Catholic Church has been involved in immigrant aid, education and recreation, and contributed toward the preservation of the Italian Canadian community’s language and culture.

 

 

A distinctive Italian-Canadian Catholicism has been preserved by two major practices — the honouring of the saints' days through feasts and the celebration of the sacraments (especially marriage) through banquets.

 

 
TeleItalia, an Italian-language television service, was founded in Montreal

Telelatino (TLN) of Toronto, is widely available through cable distribution. 70% of its revenue comes from Italian programming.

Corriere Canadese, founded by Dan Iannuzzi in 1954, is Canada's only Italian-language daily today and is published digitally in Toronto

In 1986 these authors established the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers, and by 2001 there were over 100 active writers publishing books of poetry, fiction, drama and anthology