More than one-third of the population in the Montreal region will be a visible minority by 2031, according to projections released today by Statistics Canada.
In Montreal, the proportion of visible minorities is expected to almost double from the 16 per cent counted in the 2006 census. By 2031, its Arab population would almost reach the same proportion as the black population, according to the projections.
National numbers growing
The projections suggest the face of Canada will change even more dramatically than it already has as immigrants from South Asia and China continue to outnumber the Europeans who settled the country.
The national figures project a radically altered population over a half century.
Across Canada, Statistics Canada is predicting 32 per cent of the population will be a visible minority in three decades -- that's more than 14.4 million people.
In 1981, there were just over one million Canadians who identified themselves as visible minorities, representing less than five per cent of the population.
Statistics Canada takes its definition of a visible minority from the federal Employment Equity Act, which is "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
Newcomers to Canada tend to land in larger cities not only because the sheer size means more job opportunities, but also because there are built-in communities of people with similar backgrounds.
