#IAmHongKonger campaign aims to assert Hong Kongers’ identity in Canadian census

A group of Canadian Hong Kongers are encouraging Canadians with Hong Kong heritage to identify themselves as Hongkonger in Canada’s 2021 census in an effort to strengthen the community’s diaspora.

With Canada’s 23rd census commencing this week, a campaign called #IAmHongKonger is aiming to stand up for their own identity.

A spokeswoman of the campaign said they want the world to know that the identity of Hong Konger exists.

“We speak Cantonese, have our own culture and our lived experience as Hongkongers is very unique,” she said.

She also added that by having the Hong Konger identity recognized by the Canadian government, it would allow policymakers to strengthen services in minority languages and to support planning, administration, policy development, and evaluation activities of governments at all levels. 

Every five years, the Canadian government conducts a national census to collect information on the country’s demographics as well as the social and economic situation of its residents.

According to the 2016 census, 215,750 respondents listed Hong Kong as their place of birth.

While the 2016 census only included 255 reported ethnic origins, which did not include Hongkonger, the 2021 census has made changes to the questions, and will provide a list of over 500 examples of ethnic and cultural origins in an effort to address gaps in previous questionnaires.

In an email, Statistics Canada stated that Hongkonger has been included in the list of examples.

“Based on 2016 response counts, our planned assumption is that ‘Hong Konger; will be a category in disseminated data tables for the 2021 Census that feature the ethnic or cultural origins variable,” it stated.