The number of visible minorities in Canada has topped the five million
mark for the first time in Canada’s history, now representing 16.2 per
cent of the country’s population. Canada’s visible minority population
has grown steadily since visible minority data was first collected in
1981. Then, the estimated 1.1 million visible minorities represented
4.7 per cent of the population. From 2001-2006, the most recent census
period, growth of the visible minority population was 26.2 per cent,
compared to total country population growth of 5.4 per cent.
Statistics Canada reports that if current growth trends continue,
visible minorities will account for about one fifth of Canada’s overall
population by 2017.
75 per cent of recent immigrants (those who arrived since 2001) are
visible minorities. South Asians became Canada’s largest visible
minority group in 2006, surpassing Chinese for the first time. The
South Asian group grew by 38 per cent during the census period,
reaching nearly 1.3 million people.
A total of 223 ancestral origins were reported in 2006. In 1901, there
were only 25 ethnic groups listed. More than ever before, people are
reporting multiple ancestries, “Canadian” being the most frequently
reported in an increasingly multicultural Canada.
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