Immigration = Change

Canada Welcomes the World

MULTICULTURALISM

 

 

A Portrait of Canada: · Canada is one of the most multicultural countries in the world.

· Bilingualism (speaks 2 languages) is very important to Canadian society.

· Cultural Diversity is recognized and celebrated.

According to the Census:

• 1:6 people, or 5,335,000 people have a “mother tongue” other than English or French.

• Over 100 languages are spoken in Canadian homes.

• Close to 20% of Canadians were born outside of the country.

What do you think the top five languages spoken in Canada are?

•Languages spoken in Canada, in order: 1.    English2.    French3.    Chinese4.    Italian5.    German6.    Punjabi7.    Spanish  187, 675 people speak one or more of the over 40 reported Aboriginal languages.   

•Historically, the most commonly spoken languages in Canada other than English or French were German, Italian, Ukrainian, Dutch, Polish and other European and Eastern European languages. •In the last 10+ years, immigration from Asia and the Middle East has been significant.

• The 2001 Census is the first time where Chinese appears as the most commonly spoken language other than English or French. 2.9% of Canadians speak Chinese as their “mother tongue”.

• Other language groups with significant increases include Punjabi, Arabic, Urdu, Tagalog and Tamil.

What is Multiculturalism?

• A society that encourages interest in many cultures rather than in only one culture.

• Canada is considered to be a mosaic. (Lots of different types of people making up one country)

What is a visible minority?

• Visible minorities are ethnic groups in society who look different from the majority

• In Canada, visible minorities are people who are not ‘white’

An Example

• If Ms Wallace, Ms Fergusson or Ms Hamilton went to China or India, or Somalia, they would be a visible minority

• If a ‘white’ person came here from Sweden, even though he was an immigrant, he would not be a visible minority

Toronto

• Toronto is the Canadian city with the highest percentage of visible minorities, at about 47 %

• It is ranked as the safest large city in North America

Toronto Cont…

• 1 in 5 immigrants in Canada live in Toronto• Between 2001 and 2006, Canada received 1,109,980

international immigrants• The top five visible minority groups in Toronto were:

• - South Asian at 298,372 or 12.0 per cent

• - Chinese at 283,075 or 11.4 per cent;– Black at 208,555 or 8.4 per cent;– Filipino at 102,555 or 4.1 per cent;– Latin American at 64,860 or 2.6 per cent.

Why do most immigrants come to the big cities?

Immigrants come to the big cities because….

- Many immigrants are sponsored by family members already living in cities

- Those who speak neither English nor French are attracted to cities where their language is spoken

- More jobs available- Cities are already diverse, so many

immigrants find them more welcoming