Vancouver's Iranian Community

The Discover Vancouver website says that Iranians have made their home in Vancouver since the 1950s, but mass immigration only started after 1979, when the Shah (king) of Iran was toppled and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s regime swept to power during the Islamic Revolution.

After that came the eight year Iran - Iraq War. The resulting hardship saw many Iranians emigrat.

Since 2002, the Iranian population in Vancouver has tripled.
Today, North Vancouver, West Vancouver and Coquitlam has many Persian shops, businesses and restaurants and Farsi shop signs, with Iranian institutions like the recently-opened Deh Khoda School (named after a Persian philosopher) allowing children to study Farsi and Persian history.

Today more than 50.000 Iranians living in BC

The Iranian community is well established. It has its own media, with the Farsi language

Shahrvand BC (newspaper- weekly)

Payvand (newspaper- weekly)

Farhang (newspaper- bi weekly)

Danestaniha  (magazine – weekly)

Goonagoon (magazine – bi weekly)

Iranian Info Pages (Iranian Directory book – yearly)

Vancouver Persian radio (weekly)

Payvand TV (weekly)

Tamasha TV (weekly)

Majority of Iranians living in Vancouver are Muslim.
Other Iranians follow the Zoroastrian, Christian, or Jewish faiths. No matter what faith they have, all Iranians have cultural festivals in common, such as Norooz - the Persian New Year that falls on March 21 - and Yalda, the winter solstice festival celebrated on December 21

 Clich here for the English Poster

Clich here for the Farsi Poster

Click here for IICS Norooz 2009 Sponsorshi Proposal

Click here for Site map