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Ethnicity and Race in Canada: Past and Present

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The International Handbook of the Demography of Race and Ethnicity

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Population ((IHOP,volume 4))

Abstract

The ethnic and racial landscape of Canada in the twenty-first century is significantly different from its earliest demographic history. Aboriginal peoples, English and French settlers are the original founding pillars of Canada, but over the centuries, immigration has made Canada more diverse with arrivals from many Western, Northern, Southern and Eastern European countries. Migrants and their descendants from areas other than Europe now are transforming Canada’s ethnic and racial composition again. The ethnic composition of Canada is continually changing, not only as the result of immigration but also because of fluctuation by individuals in their choices of ethnic labels. Nonetheless, ethnicity continues to be a defining characteristic of Canada, particularly because it is related to language use among Anglophone and Francophone populations. Additionally, race is salient in discussions of “what Canada is and what it will become.” Race, or rather its social construction, now is an important component of demographic change and highly correlated with socioeconomic advantages and disadvantages experienced by newcomer groups and by Aboriginal peoples. Following a brief orienting overview of Canada’s geography and demography, this chapter reviews ethnic flux in Canada, English -French populations and their language origins and use, changes in immigration sources and the growth in people of color, and the demographic and socioeconomic profiles of Aboriginal groups.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The definition of “poor” is derived from a Statistics Canada measure called low income cut-offs (LICOs). Statistics Canada does not officially call this measure a poverty indicator, but it is used by many researchers as an indicator of economic deprivation. Low income cut-offs are calculated for individuals living in economic families, defined as a group of individuals related by blood, marriage, or adopted and living in the same dwelling, or persons living alone or not in a household where they are related to others in that dwelling. These cut-offs are specific to the size of the city or town in which people reside and to the size of family, for those living in families.

  2. 2.

    “On-reserve” refers to “legally defined Indian reserves, Indian settlements, other land types created by the ratification of Self-Government Agreements and other northern communities affiliated with First Nations according to the criteria established by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada” (Statistics Canada 2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Monica Boyd

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  1. Monica Boyd
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Correspondence to Monica Boyd .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Public Policy and Department of Demography, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Rogelio Sáenz

  2. Loyola University Chicago Dept. Sociology, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    David G. Embrick

  3. Dept of Sociology and Population Research Centre, The Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    Néstor P. Rodríguez

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Boyd, M. (2015). Ethnicity and Race in Canada: Past and Present. In: Sáenz, R., Embrick, D., Rodríguez, N. (eds) The International Handbook of the Demography of Race and Ethnicity. International Handbooks of Population, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8891-8_2

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