Population There were approximately 114,880 Canadians of Croatian ethnic origin as reported in the 2011 Census compiled by Statistics Canada, rising to 133,965 by the
2016 Census. Vancouver (1967), and Winnipeg (1968). On 9 September 1976, mons.
Paul Reding issued a decree on establishing the Croatian Catholic parish of the Most Holy Trinity in Oakville. Today there are ethnic Croatian parishes and missions in seventeen cities in Canada. One of the most prominent Croatian Catholic parishes is the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in
Norval, Ontario. The establishment of the parish began in 1976 when community members, under the guidance of the Franciscan Friars, gathered for one evening to discuss the necessity and logistics of creating a place of gathering and cultural and faith building and preservation for the large Croatian immigrant population. In May 1977, 160 acres of property were purchased by the organizing committee specifically dedicated to Croatian Catholics. In the Norval Croatian Centre, as in many other Croatian Catholic parishes, brochures, books, CDs and other forms of Croatian media are offered. Croatian Catholic youth in particular have started and taken part in many faith developments of their own. The Croatian Catholic Youth Group (CCY) is a faith-based group that comes together by schedule to discuss Catholic subjects and strengthen their religious belief. In addition, Mladifest is an annual event started in 2013 by the Queen of Peace Parish and has each year attracted hundreds of young Catholic Croatians to further explore the intersection of their faith and culture. As the event continued to develop over the years, it began to be rotated between host parishes, with the 2013, 2014, and 2015 Mladifests being in Norval, 2016 in Sacred Heart, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2017 in Immaculate Heart of Mary, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2018 in Croatian Martyrs Church, Mississauga, Ontario, and 2019 in Saint Nicholas Tavelic, Montreal, Quebec. It is an event funded by each parish's members' donations and contributions to bake sales, banquets and other events held to amass funds.
Other Christian While an overwhelming percentage of Croatians in Canada remain Roman Catholic, there are non-Catholic populations, including
Protestants (most of whom have been in Canada for more than one generation) and
Eastern Orthodox (the majority of whom are of mixed ethnic background).
Islam Previously unorganized Croats of the Muslim faith, with the arrival of eminent physician
Asaf Duraković, founded the
Croatian Islamic Centre on 23 June 1973 in
Etobicoke (75 Birmingham Street, Etobicoke, ON M8V 2C3), helped by the Croatian Catholic community. An old Catholic school was bought for 75,000 CAD and readjusted into a
masjid. Since the old building was in bad condition, a new mosque was built on the site of the old one in 1983. The Croatian Islamic Center has called on Muslim governments, organisations, and individuals to press the Yugoslav regime to end the persecution of Islam and to grant genuine equality to Muslims in Yugoslavia. The director of Centre Kerim Reis has asked that Belgrade release Muslim prisoners of conscience and to end restrictions on the building of mosques. During Yugoslavia, this group often accused Tito's Yugoslavia of practising discrimination against both Muslim and Catholic Croats. == Culture ==