Migration Overview

The historical and contemporary presence of Muslim communities in Canada has often remained obscured, unacknowledged, and misrepresented. Their profound contributions to Canadian society warrant deeper appreciation, acknowledgement, and understanding. Our research project aims to contribute to this cause by focusing on South Asian Canadian Muslim communities of B.C. We use archival records, academic works, and personal interviews to highlight these, often untold, stories of South Asian Canadian Muslim communities in B.C.

Far from being a monolithic religion, Islam is a mosaic. Its two main sects are Sunni and Shia, which further branch out into various sub-sects. Sunni sub-sects include Wahabi, Salafi, Barelvi, and Deobandi. Shia subsects include Twelver Shi'ism and Ismailism. Sufism, not strictly a sect but a mystical approach to Islam, is also important. Most South Asian Canadian Muslims in the area are Sunni, but many follow Sufi practices.

In this virtual exhibit, we seek to narrate the migration history of South Asian muslims of British Columbia while acknowledging this internal diversity of Islam. We cover three major time periods:

Challenging Popular Assumptions

Looking at the news today, it may seem like all conflicts around migrants seem to centre on Muslims.

Globally, Muslims form 29% of the world’s migrants, second to Christians (47%) and so 4% of the world’s total Muslim population are international migrants (i.e. live outside of their country of birth). Contrary to popular belief, this is still a small percentage of the world’s total Muslims (about 4%). Those who are from some of South Asia’s largest countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) form a significant portion of international migrants, but the vast majority of these migrants from South Asia choose to go to places like the UAE or North Africa. According to the Pew Research Centre only a small percentage of Muslims choose to live in North America. In 2024 this number was at 6%.

This may sound surprising, but that is because Muslim migrants appear in the news and government pronouncements on immigration in North America far in excess of their actual presence, particularly after 9/11.

This is also why it is harder to trace the broader history of Muslim migration in North America. The sources are quite limited and disaggregating them by region is challenging.

Migration to British Columbia

In the first half of the 20th century, the narrative of South Asian Canadian Muslim migration to British Columbia closely reflected the broader movement of people from the region. However, due to their smaller numbers and the lack of detailed data on South Asian Canadians, we can only piece together the presence of Muslims from this area through fragments of information. We do know that the community of Muslims in British Columbia grew very slowly in these early years, with 136 Muslims recorded in 1931 and 1335 recorded in 1971.

Most early accounts of South Asian migration rightly focus on colonial history and the Komagata Maru, a ship that attempted to subvert the immigration restrictions Canada had imposed at the time. There were 24 Muslims aboard that ship.


Prior to the 1960s, Canadian immigration policies were restrictive, favoring European immigrants while imposing restrictions on non-European groups, including South Asians. However, the introduction of the Immigration Act in 1962 marked a shift towards a more equitable system, although it took time for the number of South Asians immigrating to Canada to rise significantly.

The prolonged period of restrictions had a significant impact on the demographic makeup of the country. Scholars of migration have noted how people tend to travel to places they are familiar with where they have existing community ties. It is then not surprising that the earliest established South Asian communities in British Columbia, primarily composed of Punjabis, grew more rapidly than the number of South Asian Muslims and in the early days there is also evidence that the multi-religious South Asian communities supported one another. As one of our interviews revealed, the sense of safety and social diversity that some Muslims families felt when they came to British Columbia then led them to believe that this was a place that they could call home.

In 1967, the introduction of a points-based immigration system that prioritized skills and qualifications over ethnic background further increased the influx of South Asians into Canada, thereby aiding in the development of British Columbia’s diverse and vibrant South Asian communities. The new immigration act finally introduced in 1976 marked the turning point when Asian migrants to Canada increased substantially.