Guyanese community in Toronto

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The Guyanese community in Toronto includes people who moved from Guyana and their descendants. In 2021, about 31,000 Guyanese lived in Toronto (2.4% of the city), and about 65,000 lived in the Greater Toronto Area. Toronto has one of the largest Guyanese populations outside Guyana, along with New York City. Most Guyanese in Toronto arrived in the 1970s for better opportunities and to escape political tensions.

In the Greater Toronto Area, the community has grown since 2011, when the GTA had over 70,000 Guyanese. Across Canada, there were about 86,000 Guyanese in 2021, with about 78,000 in Ontario, where most live. In Toronto, estimates of the local Guyanese population range from 30,000 to 50,000. The community is diverse, with many members of African and Indian backgrounds, and it is one of the city’s largest Afro-Canadian communities alongside Jamaicans and Trinidadians. Guyana also has a consulate in Toronto.

Outside Toronto, other GTA cities with sizable Guyanese populations include Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, and Pickering, where Guyanese make up about 6.6% of the population—the largest share in the area. In Toronto, there are many Guyanese restaurants, community centres, and cultural festivals, and many Guyanese are second-generation Canadians with dual citizenship.