Visible minority

File:Visible minority identity by census division.svg

Percentage of visible minorities by census division (2021 census)

File:Visible Minority Distribution in Canada, 2021 Census.jpg

Population distribution largest panethnic visible minority group in Canada by census division, 2021 census

In Canada, a visible minority (Template:Langx) is defined by the Government of Canada as "persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". The term is used primarily as a demographic category by Statistics Canada, in connection with that country's Employment Equity policies. The qualifier "visible" was chosen by the Canadian authorities as a way to single out newer immigrant minorities from both Aboriginal Canadians and other "older" minorities distinguishable by language (French vs. English) and religion (Catholics vs. Protestants), which are "invisible" traits.

The term visible minority is sometimes used as a euphemism for "non-white". This is incorrect, in that the government definitions differ: Aboriginal people are not considered to be visible minorities, but are not necessarily white either. In some cases, members of "visible minorities" may be visually indistinguishable from the majority population and/or may form a majority-minority population locally (as is the case in Vancouver and Toronto).

Since the reform of Canada's immigration laws in the 1960s, immigration has been primarily of peoples from areas other than Europe, many of whom are visible minorities within Canada.

Background

File:Visible minorities in Canada by province.png

Map of visible minorities in Canada by province, 2016

9,639,200 Canadians identified as a member of a visible minority group in the 2021 Canadian Census, for 26.53% of the total population. This was an increase from the 2016 Census, when visible minorities accounted for 22.2% of the total population; from the 2011 Census, when visible minorities accounted for 19.1% of the total population; from the 2006 Census, when the proportion was 16.2%; from 2001, when the proportion was 13.4%; over 1996 (11.2%); over 1991 (9.4%) and 1981 (4.7%). In 1961, the visible minority population was less than 1%.

The increase represents a significant shift in Canada's demographics related to record high immigration since the advent of its multiculturalism policies.

Statistics Canada projects that by 2041, visible minorities will make up 38.2–43.0% of the total Canadian population, compared with 26.5% in 2021. Statistics Canada further projects that among the working-age population (15 to 64 years), meanwhile, visible minorities are projected to make up 42.1–47.3% of Canada's total population, compared to 28.5% in 2021.

As per the 2021 census, of the provinces, British Columbia had the highest proportion of visible minorities, representing 34.4% of its population, followed by Ontario at 34.3%, Alberta at 27.8% and Manitoba at 22.2%. Additionally, as of 2021, the largest visible minority group was South Asian Canadians with a population of approximately 2.6 million, representing roughly 7.1% of the country's population, followed by Chinese Canadians (4.7%) and Black Canadians (4.3%).

Demography

Population

Visible minority populations by group (2006–2021)

Visible minority group	2021		2016		2011		2006
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
South Asian	2,571,400		1,924,635		1,567,400		1,262,865
Chinese	1,715,770		1,577,060		1,324,750		1,216,565
Black	1,574,870		1,198,540		945,665		783,795
Filipino	957,355		780,125		619,310		410,695
Arab	694,015		523,235		380,620		265,550
Latin American	580,235		447,325		381,280		304,245
Southeast Asian	390,340		313,260		312,075		239,935
West Asian	360,495		264,305		206,840		156,700
Korean	218,140		188,710		161,130		141,890
Japanese	98,890		92,920		87,270		81,300
Multiple	331,805		232,375		171,935		133,120
N.I.E.	172,885		132,090		106,475		71,420
Visible minority population	9,639,205		7,674,580		6,264,750		5,068,090
Total responses	36,328,480		34,460,065		32,852,320		31,241,030
Total population	36,991,981		35,151,728		33,476,688		31,612,897

Visible minority populations by group (1981–2001)

Visible minority group	2001		1996		1991 Template:Rp		1986 Template:Rp		1981 Template:Rp
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Chinese	1,029,395		860,150		626,435		390,590		299,915
South Asian	917,075		670,590		505,515		300,545		223,235
Black	662,215		573,860		504,290		355,385		239,455
Filipino	308,575		234,195		169,150		102,360		75,485
Latin American	216,980		176,970		134,535		60,975		50,230
Southeast Asian	198,880		172,765		132,415		86,945		53,910
Arab	194,685		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
West Asian	109,285		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Korean	100,660		64,835		45,535		29,205		22,570
Japanese	73,315		68,135		63,860		52,880		46,060
Arab/West Asian	—	—	244,665		289,755		149,665		112,435
N.I.E.	98,915		69,745		5,440		—	—	—	—
Multiple	73,875		61,575		48,545		40,500		—	—
Other	—	—	—	—	—	—	8,660		8,530
Visible minority population	3,983,845		3,197,480		2,525,480		1,577,710		1,131,825
Total responses	29,639,030		28,528,125		26,994,040		25,022,010		24,083,495
Total population	30,007,094		28,846,761		27,296,859		25,309,331		24,343,181

Religion

Visible Minority demography by religion (2001–2021)

Religious group	2021		2011		2001
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Christianity	3,615,150		2,625,340		1,738,200
Irreligion	2,438,855		1,392,340		875,095
Islam	1,583,415		925,135		497,275
Hinduism	823,810		494,715		291,495
Sikhism	769,320		453,120		275,715
Buddhism	326,835		332,300		276,275
Judaism	12,000		7,185		5,275
Baha'i	11,060		—	—	7,690
Jainism	8,180		—	—	2,400
Personal Faith or Spiritual Beliefs	7,580		—	—	—	—
Zoroastrianism	6,850		—	—	4,580
Druze	5,645		—	—	—	—
Other Eastern Religions	4,720		—	—	4,325
Taoism	3,940		—	—	1,675
Theism	2,900		—	—	—	—
Spiritualism	2,800		—	—	—	—
Ancestor Veneration	1,625		—	—	—	—
Paganism	1,450		—	—	720
Shintoism	1,355		—	—	490
Rastafari	1,335		—	—	710
Multi-faith	1,120		—	—	—	—
Unitarian/Unitarian Universalist	555		—	—	—	—
Indigenous spirituality	460		165		740
Satanism	415		—	—	95
Animism	385		—	—	—	—
Unity - New Thought - Pantheism	365		—	—	215
New Age	330		—	—	60
ECKist	285		—	—	—	—
Shamanism	250		—	—	—	—
Gnosticism	175		—	—	140
Scientology	105		—	—	70
Other	4,935		34,450		585
Total Visible Minority population	9,639,205		6,264,750		3,983,845

Geographical distribution

Subdivisions

2021 census

National average: 26.5%
Source: Canada 2021 Census

• Note: Subdivisions shown below have visible minority populations above the national average.

Alberta Template:Div col

• Brooks ()
• Edmonton ()
• Chestermere ()
• Calgary ()
• Wood Buffalo ()

British Columbia Template:Div col

• Richmond ()
• Burnaby ()
• Greater Vancouver A ()
• Surrey ()
• Coquitlam ()
• Vancouver ()
• New Westminster ()
• Delta ()
• West Vancouver ()
• Abbotsford ()
• Port Coquitlam ()
• North Vancouver (city) ()
• Port Moody ()
• North Vancouver (district) ()
• Langley (district) ()

Manitoba Template:Div col

• Neepawa ()
• Winnipeg ()

Ontario Template:Div col

• Markham ()
• Brampton ()
• Richmond Hill ()
• Ajax ()
• Mississauga ()
• Toronto ()
• Milton ()
• Pickering ()
• Whitchurch-Stouffville ()
• Oakville ()
• Vaughan ()
• Aurora ()
• Whitby ()
• Waterloo ()
• Newmarket ()
• Windsor ()
• Ottawa ()
• Kitchener ()
• Oshawa ()
• London ()

Quebec Template:Div col

• Brossard ()
• Dollard-des-Ormeaux ()
• Montréal ()
• Laval ()
• Mount Royal ()
• Kirkland ()
• Dorval ()

2016 census

National average: 22.3%
Source: Canada 2016 Census

• Note: Subdivisions shown below have visible minority populations above the national average.

Alberta Template:Div col

• Edmonton (37.1%)
• Brooks (36.8%)
• Calgary (36.2%)
• Chestermere (35.0%)
• Wood Buffalo (26.7%)
• Banff (24.4%)

British Columbia Template:Div col

• Richmond (76.3%)
• Burnaby (63.6%)
• Greater Vancouver A (67.3%)
• Surrey (58.5%)
• Vancouver (51.6%)
• Coquitlam (50.2%)
• New Westminster (38.9%)
• West Vancouver (36.4%)
• Delta (36.0%)
• Abbotsford (33.7%)
• Port Coquitlam (32.4%)
• North Vancouver (city) (31.3%)
• Port Moody (30.5%)
• North Vancouver (district) (25.6%)

Manitoba Template:Div col

• Neepawa (40.7%)
• Winnipeg (28.0%)

Ontario Template:Div col

• Markham (77.9%)
• Brampton (73.3%)
• Richmond Hill (60.0%)
• Mississauga (57.2%)
• Ajax (56.7%)
• Toronto (51.5%)
• Pickering (42.9%)
• Milton (42.8%)
• Whitchurch-Stouffville (36.9%)
• Vaughan (35.4%)
• Oakville (30.8%)
• Aurora (26.9%)
• Windsor (26.9%)
• Waterloo (26.4%)
• Ottawa (26.3%)
• Newmarket (25.8%)
• Whitby (25.3%)

Quebec Template:Div col

• Brossard (42.9%)
• Dollard-des-Ormeaux (38.8%)
• Montréal (34.2%)
• Laval (26.1%)
• Mount Royal (24.7%)
• Kirkland (24.2%)
• Dorval (23.4%)

2011 census

National average: 19.1%
Source: Canada 2011 Census

• Note: Subdivisions shown below have visible minority populations above the national average.

Alberta Template:Div col

• Calgary (30.1%)
• Edmonton (30.0%)
• Chestermere (29.2%)
• Brooks (26.7%)
• Banff (22.2%)

British Columbia Template:Div col

• Richmond (70.4%)
• Greater Vancouver A (62.1%)
• Burnaby (59.5%)
• Surrey (52.6%)
• Vancouver (51.8%)
• Coquitlam (43.8%)
• New Westminster (34.8%)
• Delta (30.2%)
• Abbotsford (29.6%)
• North Vancouver (city) (29.2%)
• Port Moody (28.9%)
• Port Coquitlam (28.5%)
• West Vancouver (28.2%)
• North Vancouver (district) (22.0%)

Manitoba Template:Div col

• Winnipeg (21.4%)

Ontario Template:Div col

• Markham (72.3%)
• Brampton (66.4%)
• Mississauga (53.7%)
• Richmond Hill (52.9%)
• Toronto (49.1%)
• Ajax (45.8%)
• Pickering (35.4%)
• Vaughan (31.4%)
• Milton (29.9%)
• Whitchurch-Stouffville (24.5%)
• Ottawa (23.7%)
• Windsor (22.9%)
• Oakville (22.8%)
• Waterloo (20.4%)
• Whitby (19.2%)
• Newmarket (19.2%)

Quebec Template:Div col

• Brossard (38.3%)
• Dollard-des-Ormeaux (35.9%)
• Montréal (31.7%)
• Dorval (22.1%)
• Kirkland (20.8%)
• Mount Royal (20.8%)
• Laval (20.7%)

2006 census

National average: 16.2%
Source: Canada 2006 Census

• Note: Subdivisions shown below have visible minority populations above the national average.

Alberta Template:Div col

• Calgary (23.7%)
• Edmonton (22.9%)
• Chestermere (17.8%)
• Brooks (17.1%)
• Banff (16.8%)

British Columbia Template:Div col

• Richmond (65.1%)
• Burnaby (55.4%)
• Greater Vancouver A (55.2%)
• Vancouver (51.0%)
• Surrey (46.1%)
• Coquitlam (38.6%)
• New Westminster (29.6%)
• Delta (27.0%)
• Abbotsford (26.4%)
• North Vancouver (city) (26.2%)
• Port Coquitlam (25.7%)
• Port Moody (25.3%)
• West Vancouver (22.8%)
• North Vancouver (district) (22.2%)

Manitoba Template:Div col

• Winnipeg (16.3%)

Ontario Template:Div col

• Markham (65.4%)
• Brampton (57.0%)
• Mississauga (49.0%)
• Toronto (46.9%)
• Richmond Hill (45.7%)
• Ajax (35.6%)
• Pickering (30.5%)
• Vaughan (26.6%)
• Windsor (21.0%)
• Ottawa (20.2%)
• Oakville (18.4%)
• Milton (17.1%)
• Whitby (17.0%)
• Waterloo (16.9%)

Quebec Template:Div col

• Brossard (34.3%)
• Dollard-des-Ormeaux (30.9%)
• Montréal (26.0%)
• Mount Royal (19.7%)
• Dorval (19.1%)
• Kirkland (18.7%)

2001 census

National average: 13.4%
Source: Canada 2001 Census

• Note: Subdivisions shown below have visible minority populations above the national average.

Alberta Template:Div col

• Edmonton (19.7%)
• Calgary (18.7%)
• Banff (17.3%)

British Columbia Template:Div col

• Richmond (59.0%)
• Vancouver (49.0%)
• Burnaby (48.6%)
• Greater Vancouver A (43.5%)
• Surrey (36.7%)
• Coquitlam (34.3%)
• New Westminster (24.9%)
• Delta (23.4%)
• North Vancouver (city) (22.6%)
• Port Coquitlam (22.3%)
• Port Moody (20.7%)
• Abbotsford (20.4%)
• West Vancouver (20.3%)
• North Vancouver (district) (19.3%)
• Squamish (16.8%)
• Fort St. James (14.7%)
• Saanich (13.7%)

Manitoba Template:Div col

• Winnipeg (13.4%)

Ontario Template:Div col

• Markham (55.5%)
• Toronto (42.8%)
• Richmond Hill (40.4%)
• Mississauga (40.3%)
• Brampton (40.2%)
• Pickering (26.4%)
• Ajax (24.3%)
• Vaughan (19.0%)
• Ottawa (18.0%)
• Windsor (17.2%)
• Waterloo (13.5%)

Quebec Template:Div col

• Saint-Laurent (38.2%)
• Brossard (27.7%)
• Dollard-des-Ormeaux (26.0%)
• Pierrefonds (25.8%)
• Montréal-Nord (23.5%)
• Montréal (22.7%)
• Saint-Léonard (20.8%)
• LaSalle (20.6%)
• Kirkland (17.2%)
• Roxboro (16.6%)
• Mount Royal (15.4%)
• Anjou (15.1%)

Legislative versus operational definitions

According to the Employment Equity Act of 1995, the definition of visible minority is: "persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour".

This definition can be traced back to the 1984 Report of the Abella Commission on Equality in Employment. The Commission described the term visible minority as an "ambiguous categorization", but for practical purposes interpreted it to mean "visibly non-white". The Canadian government uses an operational definition by which it identifies the following groups as visible minorities: "Chinese, South Asian, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Southeast Asian, Arab, West Asian, Korean, Japanese, Visible minority, n.i.e. (n.i.e. means "not included elsewhere"), and Multiple visible minority".

If census respondents write-in multiple entries, like "Black and Malaysian", "Black and French" or "South Asian and European", they would be included in the Black or South Asian counts respectively. However, the 2006 Census states that respondents that add a European ethnic response in combination with certain visible minority groups are not counted as visible minorities. They must add another non-European ethnic response to be counted as such:

The term "non-white" is used in the wording of the Employment Equity Act and in employment equity questionnaires distributed to applicants and employees. This is intended as a shorthand phrase for those who are in the Aboriginal and/or visible minority groups.

Controversy

The classification "visible minorities" has attracted controversy, both nationally and from abroad. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has stated that they have doubts regarding the use of this term since this term may be considered objectionable by certain minorities and recommended an evaluation of this term. In response, the Canadian government made efforts to evaluate how this term is used in Canadian society through commissioning of scholars and open workshops.

Since 2008, census data and media reports have suggested that the "visible minorities" label no longer makes sense in some large Canadian cities, due to immigration trends in recent decades. For example, "visible minorities" comprise the majority of the population in many municipalities across the country, primarily in British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta.

Yet another criticism of the label concerns the composition of "visible minorities". Critics have noted that the groups comprising "visible minorities" have little in common with each other, as they include both disadvantaged groups and non-disadvantaged groups. The concept of visible minority has been cited in demography research as an example of a statistext, meaning a census category that has been contrived for a particular public policy purpose. As the term "visible minorities" is seen as creating a racialized group, some advocate for "global majority" as a more appropriate alternative.

See also

• Affirmative action
• Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom
• Colourism
• Employment equity (Canada)
• Ethnic penalty
• Global majority
• Invisible disability
• List of visible minority politicians in Canada
• Majority minority
• Minority language
• Multiculturalism in Canada
• Race and ethnicity in censuses
• Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
• Racialism (racial categorization)

External links

• Visible minority population and population group reference guide (2006 Census) from Statistics Canada
• Visible minority population, by census metropolitan areas (2006 Census) from Statistics Canada