History of Syrian Canadians

Son of the West

At Active History, Sarah Carter reflects on some old stock Canadians, the early Syrian settlers of Saskatchewan:

Arab settlers from Syria/Lebanon arrived in Western Canada starting well over one hundred years ago. They settled throughout the West but there was a significant cluster of Arabs in southern Saskatchewan on arid marginal land in the heart of Captain John Palliser’s infamous triangle that he identified as an extension of the Great American Desert. Most were from eastern Lebanon and they included Muslims and Christians.

Chickpea production in Saskatchewan, introduced by Syrians in the 1930s dustbowl, promises to make Regina the next hummus capital of the world, she says.

There are hummus capitals? As they used to say in the north end of Sydney, Cape Breton (another hotbed of old stock Middle Eastern Canadianism), "Are you serious?"  "No, I'm Lebanese."

Old jokes aside, terrific article. We could cope with some more Syrian-Canadians, no?

Image: from Active History.