From home kitchens to store shelves, Diwali finds a wider audience in Canada

Posted November 4, 2026 12:09 pm.

On her first Diwali in Canada, Harminder Grewal made kheer, said a prayer and thought about her family in India. She had arrived as a new bride in August 1975. When the Festival of Lights came around, she and her husband marked it quietly at home.

“On Diwali day we would sit here and miss family. There was nothing to do,” she recalled. “We would make kheer [Indian rice pudding], pray and that was it.”

A phone call home lifted her spirits, even if her husband, Surinder Grewal, had one eye on the clock.

“When she called home, I was happy to see her happy, but my heart would sink knowing it was five dollars per minute,” he said.

More than five decades later, families preparing for Diwali can find sweets, clay lamps known as diyas, decorations and specialty ingredients at major retailers. Schools and community groups mark the occasion through classroom activities, dance performances and public celebrations. The festival the Grewals once observed quietly at home now has a place on Canadian postage stamps, in toy aisles and in bank catalogues.

“Diwali means everything to us”

For Harminder, that change happened gradually. As the couple got to know more families, Diwali grew from a quiet evening into a gathering. Pulling out an old photo album, she remembered how everyone pitched in to make about 100 samosas and plenty of sweets, all from scratch.

Among those who joined the celebrations was Sunanda Sortur, a friend from Karnataka, India, who began celebrating with the Grewals in 1996. Sortur said the gatherings were a chance to learn from one another. As the women cooked together, they taught each other how to make dishes from their home states.

Years later, the two friends were shopping for Diwali supplies together when Sortur sent a video from the store to a friend. The reply captured how much had changed.

“Yesterday when I went to store to buy Diwali things with Harminder, I sent video to my friend,” Sortur said. “She said, ‘Wow, you live in India or Canada?'”

Harminder, a former Punjabi teacher, remembers bringing a diya from India to show her students how it was traditionally lit. At home one Diwali, Surinder asked her to put out an incense stick because he worried the neighbours might object to the smell.

“But now you get everything at stores. It’s amazing,” she said. “The times have changed now. The new generations have brought Diwali here.”

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Diwali holds particular significance for Hindus. Around the same time, Sikhs mark Bandi Chhor Divas and Jains observe Mahavira Nirvana Diwas, distinct religious occasions that also have traditions involving light. Statistics Canada noted in an October 2025 article that the 2021 census counted about 828,000 Hindus, 772,000 Sikhs and 8,300 Jains in Canada.

Public recognition has taken different forms. In 2017, Canada Post and India Post jointly issued Diwali stamps and unveiled them at Toronto City Hall.  Since 2020, Canada Post has issued them annually.

Mattel has even captured the season, notably working with Indian designer Anita Dongre on its first Diwali Barbie doll, bringing the festival into children’s popular culture.

Retailers see a market, too. Walmart Canada said more than half of its stores stocked Diwali products in 2025, including food, décor, clothing and gifts. TD marketed a one-gram Diwali gold bar for 2026, drawing on a custom associated with Dhanteras, when some families buy gold or silver as a sign of prosperity.

Finding familiar items can help newcomers carry on family traditions far from home. In a classroom, lighting a diya can give children a way to share a custom their families have long practised. Retailers benefit from seasonal spending, while schools and community events give people a chance to learn what their neighbours are celebrating.

For the Grewals, one tradition still connects them to the home Harminder missed on her first Diwali in Canada. Their house in India stands empty, Surinder said, but every Diwali, relatives go there to light a diya.

“Diwali means everything to us,” he said.

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