Statistics Canada has released 2021 Census data on ethnic or cultural origins. Ethnic or cultural origin refers to the ethnic or cultural origins of a person’s ancestors. Ancestors may have Indigenous origins, origins that refer to different countries or other origins that may not refer to different countries. Often referred to as a person’s ancestral “roots,” ethnic or cultural origins should not be confused with citizenship, nationality, language or place of birth. For example, a person who has Canadian citizenship, speaks Hindi and was born in the United States may report having Guyanese ancestry.
Responses to the ethnic or cultural origins question on the census reflect respondents’ perceptions of their background. As such, many factors can influence changes in responses over time, including the contemporary social environment, the respondents’ knowledge of their family history, and their understanding of and views on the topic.
This means that two respondents with the same ethnic or cultural ancestry could have different response patterns and thus could be counted as having different origins. Therefore, data on ethnic or cultural origins can be fluid. Nevertheless, data on ethnic or cultural origins from the Census of Population reflect respondents’ perception of their ancestral origins at the time of collection.
In 2021 survey, it was possible to identify either a single or multiple ethnic or cultural origins.
According to results, there were 5,550 persons in Canada who reported Estonian only origin and 17,910 who reported Estonian as one of the several ethnic backgrounds. This is a slight decline from 2016 census, where corresponding numbers were 6,155 and 18,375.
In Toronto, there were 2,120 persons in 2021 who identified their origin as Estonian only and 4,330 persons with some Estonian background.
For comparison, here are the numbers for other ethnic groups in Canada that might be of interest to Estonians.
| Single ethnic origin | Multiple ethnic origins |
| Estonian | 5,550 | 17,910 |
| Latvian | 6,195 | 21,945 |
| Lithuanian | 10,565 | 41,470 |
| Finnish | 26,050 | 118,010 |
| Russian | 116,605 | 431,540 |
| Ukrainian | 273,210 | 985,425 |
