More and more visible…

The two largest visible minorities in Canada are Chinese and South-Asians*. In fact, the population of each group should rise to between 1.6 and 2.2 million by 2017. Immigrants compose the majority of these two groups: 68% are South-Asian Canadians and 72% are Chinese Canadians.

According to the latest Statistics Canada data available on the subject, almost 45% of Chinese immigrants came from the People’s Republic of China, 30% from Hong Kong and almost 10% from Taiwan.

The Canadian South-Asian population, for its part, is characterized by its diversity of ethnic origin and country of birth. Indians make up the highest proportion of South-Asian immigrants (47%), followed by Sri Lanka (13%) and Pakistan (12%).

Although these communities have a keen desire to integrate into Canadian culture and that the sense of belonging in Canada is strong, they attach great importance to maintaining their own traditions and customs as well as teaching their mother tongue to their children.

* Includes people of Bangladeshi, Bengalese, Indian, Goanese, Gujarati, Hindu, Ismaili, Kashmiri Nepalese, Pakistani, Punjabi, Sikh, Sinhalese, South-Asian, Sri-Lankan and Tamil descent.

Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=89-621-X&CHROPG=1〈=fra