During World War II, approximately 600 to 700 Italian Canadian men were interned between 1940 and 1943 as potentially dangerous enemy aliens with alleged fascist connections.

The importance of the family unit of Italian Canadians has provided a central role in the adaptation of newer socioeconomic realities.

The first explorer to coastal North America was the Venetian John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), making landfall in Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1497.

[3] His voyage to Canada and other parts of the Americas was followed by his son Sebastian Cabot (Sebastiano Caboto) and Giovanni da Verrazzano.

[5] A number of Italians were imported, often as "soldiers of fortune" and "men of letters", to work as navvies in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

[7] Italian workers in that period, as described by Lucy di Pietro, a manager of the Association for the Memory of Italo-Canadian Immigrants, were seen "as transients and judged, according to the stereotype, as warm-blooded people with violent and criminal dispositions".

This law provided for certain categories of foreigners deemed more "desirable", precisely, for reasons of cultural affinity or stereotypes related to labor industriousness, favoring workers from Great Britain or Northern European countries.

Smaller communities also arose in Vancouver, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Guelph, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste.

Many also settled in mining communities in British Columbia (Trail),[13][14] Alberta (Crowsnest Pass),[15] Cape Breton Island (Inverness),[16] and Northern Ontario (Sault Ste.

Approximately 40,000 Italians came to Canada during the interwar period, predominantly from southern Italy where an economic depression and overpopulation had left many families in poverty.

[22] In 2021, prime minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the war internment of Italian Canadians, in the House of Commons.

[7] The importance of the family unit of Italian Canadians has provided a central role in the adaptation of newer socioeconomic realities.

As the mistrust caused by the fascist period ceased, Italians were able to improve their living conditions, with an increase in the social mobility of young Italian-Canadians.

[32] On May 17, 2017, the Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly passed a unanimous motion, Motion 64, in the House of Commons to recognize the month of June as Italian Heritage Month across Canada — a time to recognize, celebrate and raise awareness of the Italian community in Canada, one of the largest outside of Italy.

[54] There has been an overall decline in the use of the Italian language since 2001. Notable Italian-Canadian films have included Almost America, Caffè Italia, Montréal, Corbo, Enigmatico, From the Vine, Mambo Italiano, The Saracen Woman (La Sarrasine) and Ricardo Trogi's semi-autobiographical tetralogy of 1981, 1987, 1991 and 1995.

Depictions of Italian Canadians in television have included the series Ciao Bella, Fugget About It and Il Duce canadese.