Canada, as the most multicultural country in the world, will be changing its face constantly. Statistics Canada forecasts that in twenty years about one-third of Canada's population will be a visible minority. By 2031 there should be up to 14.4 million people coming from minority groups. The year 2031 will mark a half century since 1981, when there were about one million Canadians who identified themselves as visible minorities.

The number of visible minorities is increasing immensely in the country. Canada has had problems with birth rate for a while and has started to be dependent on immigration. If something does not change, Canadians will have problems with who will pay for their pensions. Aging population is a problem here. The trend of immigration is going to continue and Canada's foreign-born population is expected to rise to as much as 28 per cent. According to Statistics Canada, the growth of foreign-born population will be about four times faster than the rest of the population.

The largest visible minority group is projected to be South Asian, which includes people from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Statistics Canada projects that the South Asian population could double in 2031 to 4.1 million from roughly 1.3 million in 2006. South Asians will be at 28 per cent, thanks in part to high fertility rates. Chinese population will still be remarkable, but on the other side, due to the lowest fertility rates in Canada, it will drop from 24 to 21 per cent.

Is it scary? This is the fact. Some other projection suggests that there will be areas where whites will become the minority. This motion will happen in Toronto and Vancouver over the course of the next three decades. The largest proportion of visible minorities will live in Toronto, about 63 per cent of the population will be a visible minority. Vancouver will follow with 59 per cent, Calgary with 38 per cent and Montreal with 31 per cent of the population of visible minorities.

Newcomers like big cities, that is why it makes sense that the most attractive places for new immigrants are metropolitan, urban areas with more work and communities they can rely on and settle down surrounded with people with the similar values with language and education services.

Probably, the definition of a visible minority should change soon. Non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour will not be a visible minority anymore, but the vice-versa. This can mean that the Canadian will not be a white man anymore, as it used to be characterized and perceived by the rest of the world. Rural areas will still remind old Canada. However, about 12.5 million foreign-born people (25- 28%) living in Canada will also require better immigration services and Canada itself will have to probably deal with racism.   

Jana Paskova

Photo: ISIFA