---
title: "Second-Generation Canadians | Canada History"
description: "Second-generation Canadians are people born in Canada to immigrant parents, showing how heritage, bilingualism, and identity shaped modern Canadian society."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/history-canada-after-1867/key-terms/second-generation-canadians"
type: "key-term"
subject: "History of Canada – 1867 to Present"
unit: "Unit 13"
---

# Second-Generation Canadians | Canada History

## Definition

Second-generation Canadians are people born in Canada to immigrant parents. In History of Canada since 1867, the term helps explain how immigration shaped identity, language, and social integration across generations.

## What It Is

Second-generation Canadians are people born in Canada to immigrant parents. In History of Canada from 1867 to the present, the term points to a generation that grew up inside Canadian institutions, but often inside family cultures shaped by migration, language retention, and memories of another country.

That makes this group different from first-generation immigrants, who arrived in Canada themselves, and from later generations who may be farther removed from the migration story. Second-generation Canadians often move between two worlds. At home, they may hear a parental language, follow family customs, and carry expectations about education, work, or community. Outside the home, they are growing up in Canadian schools, neighborhoods, and media, where English or French usually dominates.

This is why bilingualism comes up so often with second-generation Canadians. Some become fully bilingual, while others understand a heritage language without speaking it fluently. Language can become a marker of belonging, but it can also become a source of tension if a person feels less fluent than their parents expect, or less connected to the wider Canadian culture than their peers assume.

The term also matters because second-generation Canadians often experience integration differently from their parents. Their parents may be focused on finding work, settling in, and adapting to life in Canada. The children are more likely to face identity questions, peer pressure, and discrimination in school or the workplace. A student in this position might be praised for academic success while still feeling treated as an outsider because of their name, accent, religion, skin color, or family background.

In the Canadian historical context, this generation is a sign that immigration is not just about arrival. It is also about settlement, adaptation, and the long process of building a shared society. Second-generation Canadians have helped shape that society through university participation, professional careers, cultural production, activism, food, music, and social movements. Their experiences show how Canadian identity has become more plural, especially after the growth of multiculturalism as a national idea.

When you see the term in a class discussion or reading, think of it as a bridge generation. Second-generation Canadians link immigrant family histories to broader questions about social integration, belonging, and what it means to be Canadian in a diverse country.

## Why It Matters

Second-generation Canadians matter because they show how immigration changes Canada over time, not just at the moment people arrive. In a course on Canada since 1867, this term helps you track the effects of immigration across generations, especially when the discussion shifts from settlement to identity, language, and social mobility.

It also gives you a way to analyze multiculturalism more carefully. Canada can promote diversity on paper, but individual families still deal with daily pressures around school success, language retention, cultural expectations, and discrimination. Second-generation Canadians often sit at the center of that tension, so the term helps explain why Canadian identity is often described as shared but not identical.

This concept also connects to bigger historical patterns, like urban growth, changing labor markets, and debates about integration. If you are reading a source, watching an interview, or looking at a policy question, the term helps you ask who is adapting to Canada, who is shaping Canada, and how those two processes affect each other.

## Connections

### Multiculturalism

Second-generation Canadians are one of the clearest examples of multiculturalism in everyday life. Their experiences show how official support for diversity can shape identity, language use, and community life. The term also helps you see the difference between a policy idea and what actually happens inside families, schools, and neighborhoods.

### Social Integration

This term fits into social integration because second-generation Canadians are already part of Canadian society, but still have to navigate belonging. They may be fully educated in Canada and yet face exclusion or identity pressure. That makes them useful for thinking about integration as an ongoing process, not a one-time event.

### Cultural Assimilation

Second-generation Canadians sometimes feel pressure to assimilate, especially in school or work settings where speaking only English or French is treated as the norm. The difference between assimilation and retaining heritage culture is often visible in this generation. Their experiences can show where Canadian society asks for adaptation versus where it allows plural identities.

### [employment equity policies](/history-canada-after-1867/key-terms/employment-equity-policies)

Employment equity policies connect to second-generation Canadians when you study how access to jobs is shaped by race, religion, accent, or family background. Even when someone is Canadian-born, barriers can still appear in hiring or promotion. This makes the term useful for linking identity to questions of fairness in the labor market.

## On the AP Exam

A quiz item or short-answer question might ask you to identify second-generation Canadians from a scenario, such as a person born in Toronto to immigrant parents who speaks one language at home and another at school. In an essay, you might use the term to explain how immigration changed Canadian society beyond the first arrival of newcomers.

You can also use it in source analysis. If a reading describes identity conflict, bilingualism, or pressure to balance family traditions with Canadian expectations, the term helps you label that pattern clearly. For a discussion prompt, it can anchor examples about multiculturalism, discrimination, or the way second-generation Canadians contribute to art, cuisine, activism, and public life.

## Key Takeaways

- Second-generation Canadians are born in Canada to immigrant parents, so they often live between family heritage and Canadian institutions.
- The term is not just about ancestry. It is about how identity, language, and belonging change across generations.
- Bilingualism is common, but it can also be uneven, with people speaking a heritage language more at home than in public life.
- This generation often experiences both opportunity and pressure, especially around school success, cultural expectations, and discrimination.
- In Canadian history, second-generation Canadians show how immigration reshapes the country long after the original move.

## FAQs

### What is Second-Generation Canadians in History of Canada?

Second-generation Canadians are people born in Canada to immigrant parents. In this course, the term is used to explain how immigration affects identity, language, education, and belonging beyond the first generation. It is a useful way to study how Canada became more culturally diverse over time.

### Are second-generation Canadians the same as immigrants?

No. Immigrants are people who moved to Canada, while second-generation Canadians were born in Canada. The difference matters because second-generation Canadians usually grow up in Canadian schools and social systems, even if their family life is shaped by another culture.

### Why do second-generation Canadians often speak more than one language?

Many grow up hearing a heritage language at home and English or French in school and public life. That can make them bilingual or at least familiar with both languages. The degree of fluency varies, which is why language is often tied to identity and family expectations.

### How do second-generation Canadians connect to multiculturalism?

They show what multiculturalism looks like in everyday life. Instead of choosing only one identity, many combine family heritage with Canadian belonging. That mix helps explain why Canadian identity in the post-Confederation period is often discussed as diverse, layered, and still changing.

## Related Study Guides

- [13.3 Integration Challenges and Successes](/history-canada-after-1867/unit-13/integration-challenges-successes/study-guide/goKzjAXGxaswKoOO)

## About This Document

Canonical Fiveable pages are available as Markdown at the same path plus `.md`.

- [llms.txt](https://fiveable.me/llms.txt): index of Fiveable's sections and URL patterns
- [llms-full.txt](https://fiveable.me/llms-full.txt): complete subject and unit listing
- [MCP server](https://fiveable.me/mcp): call Fiveable as tools instead of fetching pages (`https://fiveable.me/api/mcp`)
- [MCP server for AP teachers](https://fiveable.me/mcp/teachers): a teacher's classes, assignments and AP-rubric grading (`https://fiveable.me/api/mcp/teacher`)

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