By Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun |
Canada is experiencing the fastest rate of ethnic change of any country in the Western world, say international demographers.
Almost seven of 10 Metro Vancouver residents will be visible minorities, or non-whites, in less than two decades, says Eric Kaufmann, a professor at University of London, Birkbeck, citing Statistics Canada projections.
By Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun |
Canada is experiencing the fastest rate of ethnic change of any country in the Western world, say international demographers.
Almost seven of 10 Metro Vancouver residents will be visible minorities, or non-whites, in less than two decades, says Eric Kaufmann, a professor at University of London, Birkbeck, citing Statistics Canada projections.
In addition, Kaufmann said, University of Laval professor Patrice Dion has worked with Statistics Canada officials to develop projections that suggest Canada as a whole, at the current rate of immigration, will be almost 80 per cent non-white in less than a century.
While the rapid pace of change likely will not hurt Canada’s economy, Kaufmann said, it will continue to have great effect on the ethnic make-up of cities such as Greater Toronto and Metro Vancouver.
These two Canadian cities will soon, or already have, become “majority minority,” a term describing places in which one or more ethnic minority (relative to the country’s population) make up a majority of the local population.
A 2017 Statistics Canada report, titled Immigration and Diversity: Population Projections, forecasts the number of Canadians with visible minority status will “increase more rapidly than the rest of the population” and “could more than double by 2036 to between 12.8 million and 16.3 million.”
The cities that will have the highest levels of visible minorities by 2036 will be Greater Toronto, Metro Vancouver, Calgary, Abbotsford-Mission, Edmonton and Winnipeg.
Non-whites already make up almost half the residents of Greater Toronto and Metro Vancouver.
But Statistics Canada projects the working-age population of Greater Toronto will expand to roughly 71 per cent non-white by 2036, while Metro Vancouver’s working-age population will be more than 66 per cent non-white. Abbotsford-Mission’s portion will be 52 per cent.
Meanwhile, Victoria and Kelowna will remain less than 25 per cent non-white. So will Quebec, the Maritimes and rural Canada.