Êzîdî in North America and Australia: USA, Canada and Australia

As of: mid-2026. This article closes the gap of the overseas diaspora: the Êzîdî communities in the USA, Canada and Australia. Together with Europe, these three countries form the global Êzîdî diaspora. The worldwide distribution and the overall figures are dealt with in the article Diaspora and Demography; the historical flight movements in Migration Routes; the triggering genocide in the articles Genocide 2014 (Şingal) and Genocides against the Êzîdî. By far the largest diaspora, Germany, has its own article. Methodology: All figures with source and, where ascertainable, year. There are no official religious statistics; all data are estimates with considerable ranges. In quoted authority, programme and campaign names the English spelling used there (“Yazidi”) is retained.

Overview

While the great majority of the Êzîdî diaspora lives in Europe, above all Germany –, from the 2000s onward new communities also arose beyond the oceans. They differ fundamentally from the European diaspora: they are younger, smaller and almost entirely shaped by two events, the Iraq War from 2003 (via interpreter and resettlement programmes) and the genocide of 2014 (via state admission and private sponsorship programmes).

One common feature stands out: in all three countries Êzîdî were deliberately settled in mid-sized regional cities: Lincoln (Nebraska), Winnipeg (Manitoba), Toowoomba (Queensland), Wagga Wagga (New South Wales), and not in the metropolises. There, dense, mutually supportive communities arose, which facilitated integration but also brought challenges in language, work and above all in coping with the gravest traumas.

USA

Figures

For the USA a much-quoted estimate of around 10,000 Êzîdî (as of 2017) circulates [3]. Community representatives and local media cite for the period after 2014 partly higher values, since births in the USA and family reunification let the number rise. An official record does not exist.

Lincoln, Nebraska: the largest US community

The centre of the Êzîdî in the USA lies not on the coast but in the Midwest: Lincoln, Nebraska, is regarded as the largest Êzîdî community in the United States. Local media put it at around 3,000 people; older figures cited about 2,500 [1][2][4]. According to reports, around 85 percent of the Êzîdî there came as refugees [4].

How did Lincoln of all places come to this role? The roots reach back into the Iraq War from 2003. Êzîdî served the US armed forces disproportionately often as interpreters and local staff: their non-Arab, religiously distinct position made them comparatively trustworthy intermediaries for the US Army. According to estimates, fewer than 200 Êzîdî interpreters worked for the US troops [5]. Through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for Iraqi local staff who had worked for the US government, some of them were able to immigrate to the USA together with their families [5][6]. Lincoln was already an established resettlement city with admission structures and low living costs; once arrived, the first families drew further ones through chain migration. From a small nucleus of the 2000s, after 2014 the largest US community emerged.

In Lincoln there exists a Yazidi Cultural Center as a focal point of the community; every year on 3 August the community publicly observes the anniversary of the genocide of 2014 [1]. Tragic is the story of many SIV interpreters: they had served the USA, and a few years later had to witness how their families in Şingal were exposed to the genocide of the so-called “Islamic State” [5].

Houston and Phoenix

Alongside Lincoln there exist smaller communities, in particular in Houston (Texas) and Phoenix (Arizona): both classic resettlement destinations with warm climate and well-developed refugee aid. Reliable individual figures are not available for these cities; they are considered the second- and third-most-important US locations after Lincoln.

Challenges

The US communities struggle with the typical burdens of a genocide diaspora: severe traumatisation (many families lost relatives or have enslaved women and missing children to mourn), language barriers, the need for mother-tongue psychological care in Kurmancî as well as the balancing act between preserving their own religious tradition and integrating into a completely foreign society.

Canada

“Operation Ezra”: a multireligious sponsorship in Winnipeg

The Canadian Êzîdî history is closely linked with a remarkable grassroots initiative: “Operation Ezra” in Winnipeg (Manitoba). Started in March 2015 by members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community, it initially had the aim of bringing a single Êzîdî family to Canada through private sponsorship (Private Sponsorship of Refugees) and of creating awareness of their situation [7][8].

From the initiative there grew a multireligious coalition of over 40 organisations, synagogues, churches, schools and businesses. By 2017 “Operation Ezra” had raised around half a million Canadian dollars and brought several Êzîdî families privately to Winnipeg; over the years the number of privately and publicly accompanied persons grew to several hundred [7][8]. An accompanying farming project helped traumatised families to gain a foothold again through the familiar agricultural work [8]. The name refers to the biblical Ezra, who organised the return of the exiles.

The state special programme 2016/2017

The civil-society efforts fuelled political pressure. On 25 October 2016 the Canadian House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion to admit endangered Êzîdî women and girls [10]. In February 2017 the government announced it would admit by the end of 2017 around 1,200 particularly vulnerable Êzîdî women and children as well as further Daesh survivors as Government-Assisted Refugees [9][10]. In total over 1,300 survivors were referred to Canada under this programme [10].

Toronto, Calgary and further locations

Those admitted were distributed above all across Winnipeg, Toronto, Calgary and London (Ontario) [10]. Surveys cite for Toronto around 90 families and for Calgary about 100 families [10]. In Calgary and Toronto the admission organisations showed themselves shaken by the physical and mental condition of the arrivals, at the same time impressed by the resilience and the close inner cohesion of the community [10].

Challenges

A report found that only few of the survivors in Canada were able to make use of individualised trauma counselling: an indication of grave gaps in the psychosocial care of people who survived enslavement, torture and the loss of entire families [10]. Added to this are language (Kurmancî/English/French), illiteracy among some women from rural Şingal regions as well as the worry about relatives remaining in IS captivity.

Australia

Figures

In Australia, according to estimates, around 4,000 Êzîdî live (as of 2022, Yazda survey) [11]. The settlement took place almost entirely after 2014 and concentrates, unlike with many migrant groups, deliberately on regional cities away from Sydney and Melbourne.

Settlement history

The background is the Australian pledge of 2015 to admit an additional 12,000 refugees from the Syria and Iraq conflict, a programme which not exclusively, but to a considerable extent comprised Êzîdî and other persecuted minorities [12]. After the United Nations and Australia had classified the crimes of the so-called “Islamic State” against the Êzîdî as genocide, Australia specifically admitted genocide survivors from the region around Mount Şingal [12].

The first humanitarian-visa recipients arrived in 2017; from 2018 the communities grew markedly [12]. Toowoomba in southern Queensland became a focal point, deliberately chosen because of its mix of rural and urban environment. Already by 2018 around 500 Êzîdî had settled there; experts predicted that Toowoomba could become Australia’s largest Êzîdî reception city [12].

Communities and locations

Alongside Toowoomba (Queensland) there exist larger communities in rural New South Wales, above all in Wagga Wagga, Armidale and Coffs Harbour [11][12]. Local structures such as the Multicultural Council of Wagga Wagga accompany the integration. Remarkable: several Êzîdî newcomers quickly engaged in voluntary work, for example with the state disaster-relief service (State Emergency Service) in Wagga Wagga, a visible sign of arriving and of the will to give something back to the new homeland.

Challenges

The Australian communities bear heavily the genocide experience: deep traumas, the loss and the ongoing missing-persons situation of relatives, language barriers and the adjustment from a peasant life in Şingal to a highly developed urban society. Added to this is the burden of cuts in regional refugee services, while new families continued to arrive. The community feels especially painful reports about the return of persons connected with IS to Australia, for survivors a re-traumatisation [12].

Classification

The overseas diaspora remains small in numbers compared to Europe, but is of high symbolic significance: it shows that the international community after 2014, albeit late and limited, took on humanitarian responsibility, whether through state admission programmes (Canada, Australia) or through interpreter and resettlement routes (USA). Common to all three countries is that the communities were deliberately anchored in manageable cities and there build up their own religious and cultural structures. The greatest unsolved tasks are everywhere the same: mother-tongue trauma care, language and the holding fast to one’s own tradition around Tawûsî Melek in a wholly foreign environment. The specific experiences of the rising generation are dealt with in the article Young Diaspora.

Quellen

1. KLKN-TV: „Yazidi community in Lincoln commemorates 11th anniversary of genocide", https://www.klkntv.com/yazidi-community-in-lincoln-commemorates-11th-anniversary-of-genocide/
2. Nebraska Today (UNL): „Lincoln Yazidi activists share Nobel Prize winner’s mission", https://news.unl.edu/article/lincoln-yazidi-activists-share-nobel-prize-winner-s-mission
3. Wikipedia: „Yazidis in the United States", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis_in_the_United_States
4. Marketplace: „Yazidis find a home in Lincoln, Nebraska" (2017), https://www.marketplace.org/story/2017/09/26/yazidis-find-home-lincoln-nebraska
5. The Hill: „Iraqi allies left in danger is a national shame", https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/403030-iraqi-allies-left-in-danger-is-a-national-shame/
6. U.S. Department of State: „Special Immigrant Visas for Iraqis, Who Were Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government", https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/special-immg-visas-iraqis-employed-us-gov.html
7. Jewish Federation of Winnipeg: „Operation Ezra", https://www.jewishwinnipeg.org/community-relations/operation-ezra
8. CBC News: „Operation Ezra Yazidi families arrive in Winnipeg", https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-yazidi-celebrates-resettlement-1.3993562
9. Government of Canada (IRCC): „Helping vulnerable Yazidi women and children and other survivors of Daesh" (2017), https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2017/02/helping_vulnerableyazidiwomenandchildrenandothersurvivorsofdaesh.html
10. CBC News: „Fewer than 5 Yazidi survivors have accessed individualized trauma counselling in Canada", https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/yazidi-resettlement-canada-1.4390812
11. Yazda: „Mapping the Yazidi Diaspora in Australia" (2022), https://irp.cdn-website.com/16670504/files/uploaded/Yazda_Publication_2022-01_MappingYazidiDiasporaAustralia_2501202_Download_EN_vf.pdf
12. SBS News: „The Queensland town welcoming Australia’s newest refugees", https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-queensland-town-welcoming-australia-s-newest-refugees

An older nucleus than often told: first families since the 1990s

The portrayal of Lincoln’s Êzîdî community as primarily a product of the Iraq War from 2003 onwards falls short. In fact, its roots reach back further. As early as the late 1990s, the first Êzîdî families arrived in Lincoln through resettlement programs; according to reports, some individual Êzîdî have even been living in the city since the 1980s [13][14]. Documented, for instance, is the family of Shahnaz Osso, who moved to Lincoln from a Syrian refugee camp in 1998 and is regarded as part of the “first flight of Êzîdî to the USA” [13]. The city was thus already an established Êzîdî hub before the SIV interpreters of the 2000s and the genocide survivors after 2014 were added, which was what made the later chain migration possible in the first place.