Cultures · Middle East & Maghreb
Arab community in Ottawa.
58,180 residents of Ottawa are counted as Arab, and Arabic is the most common mother tongue in the city after English and French.
Figures · Census 2021, Statistics Canada
The short answer.
Census 2021 counts 58,180 Ottawa residents as Arab, 5.8% of the population in private households and the second racialized group in the city after Black residents. Arabic is the mother tongue of 43,725 people, more than any other non-official language. Lebanon is the fourth birthplace of Ottawa's immigrants and Syria the eighth.
All figures · Census 2021, Statistics Canada
Residents counted as Arab
Second among the racialized groups the census counts in Ottawa, after Black residents and just ahead of South Asian residents at 57,820.
Census 2021, Statistics Canada · racialized groups, City of Ottawa
How the community got here.
The census shows two layers: an older community built mostly by Lebanese families, and a newer one that grew after 2015.
Arrival · three lines
An older Lebanese core
11,900 Ottawa immigrants were born in Lebanon, fourth on the birthplace list, while only 1,045 of them arrived between 2016 and 2021. Most of Lebanese Ottawa has decades in the city behind it. Lebanese Ottawa has an article of its own.
Census 2021, Statistics CanadaSyrian families after 2015
6,370 Ottawa immigrants were born in Syria, eighth on the list, and 4,450 of them arrived between 2016 and 2021, the second largest group of that period after India. Canada resettled Syrian refugees from late 2015, and Ottawa took its share.
Census 2021, Statistics CanadaMany countries, one language
The census category Arab holds families from across the Middle East and North Africa: Lebanon and Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and more. Arabic, spoken by 43,725 people as a mother tongue, is what joins them.
Census 2021, Statistics Canada
The language.
Written Arabic is one standard; spoken Arabic is a family of dialects, Levantine, Egyptian, Iraqi, Maghrebi, and a Moroccan and a Lebanese neighbour may switch to French to be sure. Six phrases everyone shares.
Say it out loud · stress on the capitals
| Say | Sounds like | When you use it |
|---|---|---|
| Marhaba | MAR-ha-ba | Hello. Works at any hour. |
| As-salamu alaykum | as-sa-LAA-mu a-LAY-kum | Peace be upon you. The answer is wa alaykum as-salam. |
| Shukran | SHOOK-ran | Thank you. |
| Ahlan wa sahlan | AH-lan wa SAH-lan | Welcome. Said to a guest at the door. |
| Ramadan kareem | ra-ma-DAAN ka-REEM | Generous Ramadan. The greeting for the month of fasting. |
| Eid mubarak | EED mu-BAA-rak | Blessed Eid. Said on both Eids, to everyone. |
The kitchen.
Ottawa already eats this food late at night at the shawarma counter. The home kitchens run wider, from the Levantine mezze table to the couscous of the Maghreb.
Five dishes · what they actually are
Mezze
A table of small plates shared from the middle: hummus, baba ghanouj, tabbouleh, olives, pickles and warm bread. Nobody gets a plate of their own.
Shawarma
Marinated meat stacked on a vertical spit, shaved thin and rolled in flatbread with garlic sauce and pickles. Ottawa's late-night meal of record.
Maqluba
«Upside down»: rice, fried vegetables and meat cooked in one pot, then flipped onto a tray at the table. Palestinian, Syrian and Jordanian families all claim it.
Couscous
Steamed semolina under a stew of vegetables and meat, the Friday meal of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Ma'amoul
Shortbread cookies filled with dates, walnuts or pistachios, pressed in carved wooden moulds and baked by the tray for Eid and for Easter.
The year.
Arab Ottawa keeps the lunar calendar of Islam, the church calendars of its Christian families and the national days of the countries its families come from. The lunar dates move about eleven days earlier every year.
Lunar, church and fixed dates
| When | What | How the date behaves |
|---|---|---|
| February to March 2027 | Ramadan | Lunar. A month of fasting from dawn to sunset, and the iftar meal that breaks it each evening. |
| March 2027 | Eid al-Fitr | Lunar. Ends Ramadan: prayers in the morning, visits and sweets all day. |
| May 2027 | Eid al-Adha | Lunar. The feast of the sacrifice, at the end of the pilgrimage season. |
| Christmas · Easter | Marked by Arab Christian families | Christmas is fixed. Easter moves, and the Western and Eastern calendars can place it on two different Sundays. |
| Mid-July | Ottawa Lebanese Festival | Held on the grounds of the St. Elias parish, free in the daytime. Halal Ribfest also runs in July. |
Where the community gathers.
Mosques, parish halls, Saturday Arabic schools and a bakery counter carry most of the weekly life here.
Five types of place
Mosques and their community rooms
Friday prayers, Qur'an classes for children and the shared iftar tables through Ramadan.
Parishes and their halls
Arab Christian congregations carry the same weekly life: language classes, youth groups, weddings, funerals, and the summer festival on the grounds outside.
Weekend Arabic schools
Saturday classes run by mosques, parishes and associations are how the written language reaches children born here.
Associations
Associations organised by country of origin run the national days, the dinners and the dabke nights.
Bakeries, grocers and shawarma counters
A counter selling man'oushe at seven in the morning and shawarma at midnight does part of the work of a community centre, whether or not anybody planned it that way.
At the festival.
The Ottawa Lebanese Festival and the summer food festivals belong to the people who built them. A pavilion at Capital Cultures is a September weekend and a smaller ask, open to any Arab community in the city.
First edition · September 2027
- The kitchen decides the menu. Food, drink and souvenirs sold at a community pavilion stay with the community in full, and the pavilion fee is zero.
- The stage is programmed by the community. We hold the schedule, the sound and the licences; the community holds who performs and in what order.
- A community festival and a pavilion here are separate things. The July festivals and the Eid gatherings stay entirely the community's own, and a pavilion in September takes nothing from them.
From an application to a pavilion
- 01Apply on the community form
- 02A person answers within 10 working days
- 03Plan the menu, the stage and the craft table
- 04Run the pavilion in September 2027
Four steps from a first message to a pavilion on the field.
Short answers.
What people ask about Arab Ottawa, answered from the census and the community calendar.
6 questions
How many Arabs live in Ottawa?
Census 2021 counts 58,180 residents of the city of Ottawa as Arab, 5.8% of the population in private households and the second racialized group in the city after Black residents. Census 2021, Statistics Canada.
What is the most spoken language in Ottawa after English and French?
Arabic. 43,725 people in Ottawa have Arabic as their mother tongue, ahead of Mandarin (22,155), Spanish (14,235) and Cantonese (10,045). Census 2021, Statistics Canada.
Where do Arab Ottawans come from?
Lebanon is the largest source: 11,900 Ottawa immigrants were born there, fourth among all birthplaces. Syria follows with 6,370, and 4,450 of them arrived between 2016 and 2021. Families from Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan and the Maghreb complete the picture. Census 2021, Statistics Canada.
When are Ramadan and Eid in 2027?
Ramadan begins in February 2027, Eid al-Fitr follows in March and Eid al-Adha in May. The dates move about eleven days earlier every year with the lunar calendar. The calendar of Ottawa's communities has every month.
Is there an Arab festival in Ottawa?
The Ottawa Lebanese Festival fills the grounds of the St. Elias parish every July, free in the daytime, and Halal Ribfest also runs in July. Capital Cultures is a separate festival in September 2027, where an Arab community can run a pavilion of its own.
Can an Arab community run a pavilion at Capital Cultures?
Yes. Capital Cultures is a free two-day multicultural festival in Ottawa in September 2027. Each pavilion is run by a community: it plans its menu and stage, keeps what its counter takes, and pays no pavilion fee. How a community applies.
Write this page with us.
Corrections, additions, a family's arrival story, the name of the cook whose table everyone queues for. The byline belongs to whoever does the work.