Latin American community warms up for World Cup with deep roots

When Ramon Pelayo opened La Familia Mexican Barber a short walk from BC Place Stadium in 2022, he had no idea the World Cup would land in his backyard. Now his gleaming brass chairs and red upholstery—walls covered in Latin American memorabilia, Mexican flags draped as barber's capes—sit at the heart of Vancouver's surging Latin community preparing to cheer for both heritage and home.

Canada's Latin American population has tripled since 1996, growing from about 177,000 to more than 580,000 by 2021, according to Statistics Canada. The largest source countries are Colombia and Mexico, followed by El Salvador, Peru, Chile, and Brazil. Pelayo said he can hear the shift in the streets: Spanish speakers in Vancouver have been "growing and growing," along with a soccer fandom that runs deep.

"I feel it's going to start to grow, the soccer community here in Canada, but we have it in our blood, Latin people, because your parents teach you," Pelayo said at his shop, which counts several Vancouver Whitecaps members among its customers.

Fernanda Jardim moved to Canada from Brazil in 2016 and has watched her Brazilian community expand steadily. She's taken time off work to enjoy the tournament but won't be attending matches due to high ticket prices. Still, she said the tournament feels like a gift. "I'm very lucky to be able to attend two World Cups in the country I live in, twice in the same lifetime," she said, having been in Rio for the 2014 tournament.

Pelayo, now a parent of two Canadian-Mexican children, sees the broader pattern: "The second generation, it's like what happened with Chinese or Indians, but now what's happening with Latin people." He hopes the World Cup brings a wave of customers and business to his shop, banking on proximity to the stadium and short-term rental units filling the neighborhood.