TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Groups from Taiwan and Hong Kong in Canada are urging people to clearly state their identities in the latest census, CNA reported Friday.
Team Taiwan Club, the Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society of Vancouver, and other Taiwanese groups have launched online campaigns ahead of the census. They are asking people from Taiwan to choose or write “Taiwanese” instead of the broader term “Chinese.”
The groups said “Taiwanese” gives a clear answer in census questions about language, ethnic or cultural background, and population group. They said people who speak Mandarin or Hakka at home can write “Taiwanese Mandarin,” “Taiwanese Hakka,” or “Formosan Languages,” a term often used for Taiwan’s Indigenous languages.
Team Taiwan Club head Tu Chih-chuan (杜志娟) said a similar campaign before Canada’s 2021 census received strong support. She said the group hopes Taiwanese in Canada will again use the census to show their Taiwan identity.
Canada’s 2021 census showed 65,365 people said they were born in Taiwan. Among them, 64,202 people, or about 98%, said their ethnic or cultural origin was “Taiwanese.”
Tu said public campaigns helped improve the result. She said more than 60,000 people said they were born in Taiwan in both the 2016 and 2021 censuses, but only about 36,000 identified as Taiwanese in 2016.
That number rose to more than 64,000 in 2021. Tu said the increase showed community efforts can help people understand why clear identity answers matter.
Canada has held a national census since its early history. Since 1951, it has held a major census every five years to help the government plan policies on income, jobs, housing, language, and culture.
Taiwanese community leaders began a campaign in 2011 asking people from Taiwan to write “Taiwanese” in the census. At the time, census choices for language and ethnic background often listed only “Chinese.”
The campaign received wide media attention and helped make the Taiwanese community more visible in Canada. In the 2016 census, “Taiwanese” was added as an option for ethnic background.
Former Taiwanese Canadian Association of Canada chair Chang Yu-wen (張幼雯), who helped start the 2011 campaign, said the change over the past 15 years has been clear. She said it was moving to see stronger unity among Taiwanese Canadians and greater visibility for Taiwan.
Hongkonger groups in Canada are also calling on people from Hong Kong to state their identity clearly. They are asking them to choose “Cantonese” for language and “Hongkonger” for identity.
Canadian Citizens Association head Tung Ta-shing (董達成) said his group was inspired by the Taiwanese community. He said Hongkongers began to stress identity more strongly during the 2021 census.
Tung said clear census answers are not meant to divide Chinese-speaking communities in Canada. He said they help the Canadian government understand the different needs of Taiwanese, Hongkongers, and Chinese communities.
He said the information can affect public services in practical ways. For example, it can help the government pay attention to Cantonese as well as Mandarin, keep traditional Chinese in public documents, and provide community resources more accurately.
