A visible minority is a person who is visibly not one of the majority race in a given population. The term is used as a demographic category by Statistics Canada in connection with that country's Employment Equity policies. The qualifier "visible" is important in the Canadian context where political divisions were traditionally determined by language (English vs. French) and religion (Catholics vs. Protestants), or by ethnic background - "invisible" traits. Since the reform of Canada's immigration laws in the 1960s, immigration has been heaviest from areas other than Europe, thus creating visible minorities. Members of visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginal people, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."[1] The term is used to address the alleged labour market disadvantage of this group.
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Over five million Canadians identified themselves as a member of a visible minority group in the 2006 Census, accounting for 16.2% of the total population. This was an increase from 2001 where visible minorities accounted for 13.4% of the total population; an increase from 1996 when the proportion was 11.2%; and a major increase over 1991 (9.4%) and 1981 (4.7%). The increase represents a significant shift in Canada's demographics since the advent of its multiculturalism policies.
Of the provinces, British Columbia had the highest proportion of visible minorities, representing 24.8% of its population, followed by Ontario at 22.8%. In the 2006 census, South Asian Canadians overtook ethnic Chinese as Canada’s largest visible minority group. In 2006, Statistics Canada estimated that there were 1.3 million South Asian people in Canada compared with 1.2 million Chinese.[2] In 2001, there were approximately 1 million Chinese Canadians representing 3.5% of the country’s population, followed by South Asian Canadians (3.1%) and Black Canadians (2.2%).
According to the Employment Equity Act of 1995, the definition of visible minority is:
“members of visible minorities” means persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour;[3]
The act does not elaborate on the subject other than specify that Caucasians or whites are not classified as visible minorities. The Canadian government uses an operational definition where they classify as visible minorities the following groups: Blacks, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Latin Americans, Pacific Islanders, South Asians, and West Asians/Arabs.[4] However, a few exceptions are applied to some groups, according to the explanation given by the Visible Minority Population and Population Group Reference Guide of the 2006 Census, the exception is:
"In contrast, in accordance with employment equity definitions, persons who reported 'Latin American' and 'White,' 'Arab' and 'White,' or 'West Asian' and 'White' have been excluded from the visible minority population. Likewise, persons who reported 'Latin American,' 'Arab' or 'West Asian' and who provided a European write-in response such as 'French' have been excluded from the visible minority population as well. These persons are included in the 'Not a visible minority' category. However, persons who reported 'Latin American,' 'Arab' or 'West Asian' and a non-European write-in response are included in the visible minority population."[5]
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. In this context, the use of the term non-white does open the door to ambiguity. For example, people who are Arabs or Latin Americans may consider themselves to be white, yet the federal government treats Arabs and Latin Americans as members of the visible minority category.[6]
The classification “visible minorities” has attracted controversy. In March 2007, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination described the term as racist because it singles out a group.[7] Another criticism arises regarding the composition of “visible minorities” as defined by the Canadian government. Critics have noted that the groups comprising “visible minorities” have little in common with each other, as they include some disadvantaged ethnic groups and other groups who are not disadvantaged.[8] 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.[9][10]
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