Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - April 2008
The latest census data for 2006, released this week in a report by Statistics Canada, shows that, for the first time in census history the number of visible minorities has surpassed five million. This remarkable growth has been attributed to a dramatic rise in immigration over the past five years.
The data also reveals that, again for the first time, the largest visible minority group is from Southeast Asia which includes such countries as Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Previously, the Chinese minority were the largest group. Since 2001 there has been a 38 per cent increase in the Southeast Asian population in Canada.
Statistics Canada stated that “if immigration trends continue, visible minorities will account for about one-fifth of Canada’s population by 2017.”
The trends for visible minority groups vary from region to region within Canada.
The vast majority of visible minority immigrants, 96 per cent, live in urban centres with most choosing to live in either Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal. Almost half of Toronto’s population includes visible minorities while that number drops significantly in the Atlantic regions, down to almost three per cent.
Not surprisingly, the data also shows that the majority of French-speaking minorities settle in Montreal, from African or Arabic nations, while Asians are more likely to choose Vancouver or Ontario.
Between 2001 and 2006, the population growth-rate on whole for Canada was 5.4 per cent while the visible minority growth-rate was 26.2 per cent.
Source: The Globe and Mail
