one of the largest in the Western World. How to Be Indie, a Canadian children's television program produced by YTV, revolves around the daughter of Hindu Indian immigrants living in Toronto, and has since been syndicated in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Latin America and elsewhere. The Indian Canadian comedian Russell Peters has used his heritage as material for many of his jokes. In the 2015 Canadian federal election, 16 South Asian Members of Parliament (MPs) were elected from Ontario alone, which is the most in Canadian history. Four South Asian ministers have been appointed to the Canadian cabinet, which includes the Minister of National Defence, Harjit Sajjan. Demography Population The first confirmed reports on the Canadians from India were in 1908 which put the East-Indian Canadian population at 5,209. The overwhelming majority of whom were Sikh, male, and settled in British Columbia. However, as a result of laws which restricted the immigration the community had declined to only 1,100 by the mid-1920s. By 1961, right before racial restriction were respectfully removed from Canada's immigration policy, Canadians from South Asian countries rose to 6,774. With racial quotas being removed (invitations extended) during the 1960s the number of Canadians from South Asia created the diverse population we see into the present day. According to the 2016 National Household Survey 1,963,330 Canadians had South Asian origins and 1,924,635 other Canadians were classified as belonging to the visible minority group, generally termed, South Asian. The growth of the population is attributed to sustained invitations of immigration from South Asian nations. According to a 2011 study conducted by Statistics Canada Canadians from South Asia will grow to between 3.2 and 4.1 million by 2036 or 8.7% to 9.1% of the Canadian population overall. National origins Note: Totals exceed 100% due to multiple origin responses. Religion Until the 1950s, Sikhs formed up to 95% of the entire South Asian Canadian population. The 1981 Canadian census found that the religious breakdown of Canadians with South Asian ancestry was 31.5% Sikhism, 27.2% Hinduism, 21% Islam, 15.2% Christianity, 3.1% Irreligion, 0.5% Buddhism, 0.1% Judaism, 0.01% Baháʼí, and 0.1% other. The 2001 Canadian census found that the religious breakdown of Canadians with South Asian ancestry was 29.7% Sikhism, 28.4% Hinduism, 23.2% Islam, 13.6% Christianity, 3.3% Irreligion, 0.9% Buddhism, 0.3% Zoroastrianism, 0.3% Jainism, 0.1% Judaism, 0.1% Indigenous, and 0.1% other. A report detailing the religious proportion breakdown of the