South Asians now biggest visible minority in Canada

Figure reaches 5million, or 16% of population

May 20, 2008

Data from the recent census suggest that immigrants are coming to Canada in record numbers. An article in the Globe and Mail indicates that the number of visible minorities has reached five million. This represents 16.2 per cent of Canada's total population (data released April 02 2008). Now for the first time ever, South Asians form Canada's largest visible minority group, surpassing citizens of Chinese origin. Included among South Asians are Indo- Caribbean peoples.

"Visible minority" is the term to describe persons who are not of the majority race in a given population. In March 2007, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination described this term as racist, since it singles out a specific group. Despite this, Canadians have grown accustomed to its use. To us, "visible minorities" refers to "persons (other than Aboriginals) who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in color". Statistics Canada uses it as a demographic category to reflect our country's multiculturalism. Visible minorities are designated as a protected group under the Canadian Employment Equity Act.

In Canada, the term "South Asian" refers to any person whose ethnicity is associated with the southern part of Asia, or one who self-identifies with the South Asian visible minority group. This definition encompasses people from a great diversity of ethnic backgrounds-Afghanistan, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Goan, Gujarati, Hindu, Ismaili, Kashmiri, Nepali, Pakistani, Punjabi, Sikh, Sinhalese, Sri Lankan and Tamil ancestry. South Asians may have been born in Canada, on the Indian sub-continent, as well as in Africa, Great Britain, the Caribbean (Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago), or elsewhere. The growth in the visible minority population was driven largely by immigration (as opposed to natural birth). Between 2001 and 2006, it soared 26.2 per cent, five times faster than the 5.4 per cent increase for the population as a whole.

South Asians are now Canada's largest visible minority people-a 38% increase. The next largest visible minority group comprises Canadians who self-identified as Chinese increased 18.2% to 1.2 million. Indo-Guyanese arrivals showed a 4.2%, and Trinidad & Tobago (2.5%). Over the past 25 years Canada's visible minority population has grown steadily. In 1981, the estimated 1.1 million represented 4.7 per cent of Canada's total population. Today, this figure stands at five million. If current immigration trends continue, visible minorities will account for about one fifth of Canada's population by 2017 (Reported by Roop Misir, PhD).

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