User:NickCkrhus/sandbox

'''Heritage Languages: Russian'''

Demographic

According to the 2011 Census, the number of Toronto residents who consider Russian their mother tongue is approximately 36,950 (with people with 16,620 being male and 20,325 being female) which is 1.4% of the total population of Toronto (excluding those residing within institutions). The number of residents who speak Russian most often at home is approx. 26, 935 (a little more than 1% of Toronto residents) with 12,420 being male and 14,515 being female. 8,315 Toronto Residents consider Russian to be their secondary or other language spoken regularly at home (less than 1% of Toronto residents.) with 3,825 being male and 4,490 being female.

Status

After 1918, a majority of a million Russians wishing to leave due to the revolution in their homeland thought to move to Canada. During the great depression and the second world war the immigration of Russians (as well as most immigrants.) was very little if any. It was only between 1948 and 1953 that Russians were able to immigrate to Canada, afterwards however immigration from Russia had decreased.

The Russian language is not as large in population in terms of speakers in comparison to other language such as Cantonese or Italian.

Some of the more spoken languages in Toronto are Cantonese, Tamil, Mandarin and Tagalog.

Though Russian Immigrants do send their children to regular English based schools, some of the Russian community wishes to uphold their mother tongue for future generations and have decided to send their children or grandchildren to schools made by church groups with one of the biggest being in Toronto (The holy trinity Russian orthodox church of Toronto) and extracurricular activities after school to help teach Russian.

Institutional Support

Many universities do teach russian as a language but a well known institutions for Russian studies is the Munk school of global affairs where there is a centre for European, Russian and Eurasian studies, it offers the sponsoring of students in an undergraduate degree in European studies and a master degree in Russian. The holy trinity Russian orthodox church of Toronto (considered a landmark) was known for giving meals to many Russian workers returning from work as well as holding school lessons for children on weekends. Many members of the church are also members of another notable institution: The Russian Canadian Cultural Aid Society (RCCAS), A Toronto institution that helps organize events for the Russian immigrant community, help new Russian immigrants settle in Toronto and cultivate the russian culture and language within the city.

Sources

• Ekaterina L’vovna Koudrjavtseva, Daniya Abuzarobna Salimova and Ludmila Anatolievna Snigireva. “Russian as Native, Non-native, one of Natives and Foreign Languages: Questions of Terminology and Measurement of Levels of Proficiency.” Canadian Center of Science and Education May 22, 2015.
• Keren Dali “Reading by Russian-speaking immigrants in Toronto: use of public libraries, bookstores, and home book collections.” n.p n.d
• Polkovsky, Valeri “The Russian Language Today”. Canadian Slavonic Papers. 22/09/02
• Mikhailova, Julia “Russian Slavonic Papers”. Canadian Slavonic Papers. Mar. 2013

• http://heritagetoronto.org/russian-canadian-cultural-aid-society-community-spaces/
• http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=3520005&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=toronto&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=35&B1=Language&Custom=&TABID=1
• http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/russian-canadians/
• http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/program/centre-for-european-russian-and-eurasian-studies/
• http://heritagetoronto.org/cornerstones-orthodox-russians-in-toronto/