Visible minorities now 16% of Canadian population

Canada's visible minority population has surpassed the five-million mark, according to the latest census report, more than doubling in 15 years.

The visible minority population grew five times faster than the population as whole between 2001 and 2006. Visible minority groups accounted for 16 per cent of Canada's population on the most recent census, according to Statistics Canada, up from 11 per cent a decade earlier.

For the first time, South Asians have surpassed Chinese as the largest visible minority group in Canada, and both groups now number well over one million people. Blacks comprise the next biggest visible minority population, with just over 780,000 people.

Canada is home to people of more than 200 different ethnic origins, and increasing numbers are identifying with multiple ancestries as Virani and her daughter do.

Forty-one per cent of the population claimed a hyphenated ethnic background on the most recent census in 2006, up from 36 per cent a decade earlier, Statistics Canada says. The agency attributes the increase to more intermarriage between ethnic groups and greater "awareness of family heritage." 

In fact, mixed unions (marriage and common-law) are growing five times faster than all other couples, accounting for almost four per cent of all couples of 2006, up from three per cent five years earlier.

Of Canada's 200-plus ethnic origins, 11 groups passed the one million mark in 2006, including French, Scottish, Chinese and Ukrainian, according to Statistics Canada. At the same time, almost one-third of the population - 10.1 million people - selected Canadian as their ethnic origin, either alone or in combination with another, making it the biggest group counted by the census.