Visible Minorities in the Canadian House of Commons

[Hatman 🍁]

I'm writing an essay on demography of the Canadian House of Commons, and for it, I researched the Visible Minorities of House Members, so I decided I'd share with the forum my findings.


South Asian
Navdeep Bains, Liberal; Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal; Ruby Dhalla, Liberal; Ujjal Dosanjh, Liberal; Nina Grewal, Conservative; Rahim Jaffer, Conservative; Wajid Khan, Conservative; Gurbax Malhi, Liberal; Deepak Obhrai, Conservative; Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal.
10

Chinese
Raymond Chan, Liberal; Michael Chong2, Conservative; Olivia Chow, NDP; Meili Faille, BQ; Inky Mark, Conservative
5

Aboriginal3
Rod Bruinooge, Conservative; Rob Clarke, Conservative; Nancy Karetak-Lindell, Liberal; Tina Keeper, Liberal; Todd Russell, Liberal
5

Black
Vivian Barbot, BQ; Hedy Fry, Liberal; Marlene Jennings, Liberal
3

Arab
Omar Alghabra, Liberal; Maria Mourani, BQ
2

Latin American
Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal
1

Southeast Asian
Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac, BQ
1

Japanese
Bev Oda, Conservative
1

--------

How would you say this compares to the US and other countries?

[ottermax]

How many total? It seems much higher than the U.S., but we also have a much larger Black population and Hispanics. Only one Native American, a few Asians. The biggest difference is in the Asian ancestries, we have much fewer South Asians, and I don't know if we have any Chinese.

I'm surprised by the number of visible minorities in the BQ. I always thought that the BQ was anti-immigration and wouldn't have many minority members. I guess they aren't, but then again I know little about the BQ on immigration.

[KEmperor]

I see you haven't made any mention of the invisible members.  Why are you so intolerant?

[Platypus]

28/308 are 'visible' minorities according to this. I presume you mean ethnic minorities, unless there happen to be no members of the parliament who are blonde, or disabled, or short, etc.

[Hatman 🍁]

28/308 are 'visible' minorities according to this. I presume you mean ethnic minorities, unless there happen to be no members of the parliament who are blonde, or disabled, or short, etc.

306, actually since there are two vacancies. Those would be the "invisible minorities".

And don't mock my use of the term, it's what Statistics Canada uses. Speaking of which, I have to go back and change all the figures in my essay since the new 2006 visible minority figures came out last night.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

I'm pleased with the relatively high number of Conservative minorities.

[Stranger in a strange land]

How many total? It seems much higher than the U.S., but we also have a much larger Black population and Hispanics. Only one Native American, a few Asians. The biggest difference is in the Asian ancestries, we have much fewer South Asians, and I don't know if we have any Chinese.

I'm surprised by the number of visible minorities in the BQ. I always thought that the BQ was anti-immigration and wouldn't have many minority members. I guess they aren't, but then again I know little about the BQ on immigration.

The % of Asians in Canada is about twice as high as the US IIRC.  The American perception of Canada as lily-white is out of date.

David Wu (D-OR) is of Chinese ancestry. There might be 1 or 2 others.

[Hatman 🍁]

According to the Census figures released yesterday, 20% of Canadians are visible minorities or Aboriginal. I'll have to make some maps soon.

[Verily]

How many total? It seems much higher than the U.S., but we also have a much larger Black population and Hispanics. Only one Native American, a few Asians. The biggest difference is in the Asian ancestries, we have much fewer South Asians, and I don't know if we have any Chinese.

I'm surprised by the number of visible minorities in the BQ. I always thought that the BQ was anti-immigration and wouldn't have many minority members. I guess they aren't, but then again I know little about the BQ on immigration.

The % of Asians in Canada is about twice as high as the US IIRC.  The American perception of Canada as lily-white is out of date.

David Wu (D-OR) is of Chinese ancestry. There might be 1 or 2 others.

David Wu is the first and only Chinese Representative, although Hiram Fong (R-HI, 1959-1977) was the first and only Chinese Senator.

[ottermax]

How many total? It seems much higher than the U.S., but we also have a much larger Black population and Hispanics. Only one Native American, a few Asians. The biggest difference is in the Asian ancestries, we have much fewer South Asians, and I don't know if we have any Chinese.

I'm surprised by the number of visible minorities in the BQ. I always thought that the BQ was anti-immigration and wouldn't have many minority members. I guess they aren't, but then again I know little about the BQ on immigration.

The % of Asians in Canada is about twice as high as the US IIRC.  The American perception of Canada as lily-white is out of date.

David Wu (D-OR) is of Chinese ancestry. There might be 1 or 2 others.

America does have more minorities than Canada though.

[phk]

How many total? It seems much higher than the U.S., but we also have a much larger Black population and Hispanics. Only one Native American, a few Asians. The biggest difference is in the Asian ancestries, we have much fewer South Asians, and I don't know if we have any Chinese.

I'm surprised by the number of visible minorities in the BQ. I always thought that the BQ was anti-immigration and wouldn't have many minority members. I guess they aren't, but then again I know little about the BQ on immigration.

The % of Asians in Canada is about twice as high as the US IIRC.  The American perception of Canada as lily-white is out of date.

David Wu (D-OR) is of Chinese ancestry. There might be 1 or 2 others.

David Wu is the first and only Chinese Representative, although Hiram Fong (R-HI, 1959-1977) was the first and only Chinese Senator.

What about Daniel Akaka (D-HI)?

His wiki bio states

"Daniel Kahikina Akaka (born September 11, 1924) is the junior U.S. Senator from Hawaii and a member of the Democratic Party. He is the second U.S. Senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry[dubious – discuss] and is currently the only Chinese American member of the Senate"

[Hatman 🍁]

As a % of Canada's population (2006)

South Asian: 4.0%
Chinese: 3.9%
Aboriginal: 3.8%
Black: 2.5%
Filipino: 1.3%
Latin American: 1.0%
Arab: 0.9%
Southeast Asian: 0.8%
West Asian: 0.5%
Korean: 0.5%
Japanese: 0.3%

[Verily]

Calling him Chinese would be a stretch - he's something like one-eighth Chinese.

[ottermax]

In Hawaii, anyone who is even one-sixteenth Native Hawaiian considers themselves Native Hawaiian - there are privileges.

[minionofmidas]

Calling him Chinese would be a stretch - he's something like one-eighth Chinese.

Akaka? There seems to be some uncertainty, but he's most likely to be 3/4 Native Hawai'ian and 1/4 Chinese. What's "dubious" in that Wiki note is the "first" bit - Hiram Fong, a Senator from Hawai'i's early statehood days, is sometimes claimed to have been half-Chinese, half-Native Hawai'ian, but is more commonly assumed to have been pure Chinese. The Chinese in Hawai'i assimilated surprisingly well with the Native Hawai'ians, not sure why (maybe just lack of female immigration?). The Japanese kept more to themselves.

David Wu is sometimes discounted because he's technically Taiwanese. Although of mainlander (KMT cadre) ancestry so he should certainly be considered Chinese.

There's a sizeable number of Japanese-Americans in Congressional history (even at current, there's Dan Inouye, Mazie Hirono, Mike Honda and Doris Matsui.) Bobby Scott (VA-3) is half-Filipino and half-Black. There's been a small number of South Asians in Congress over time - Bobby Jindal until recently, a Sikh (IIRC) from California at some surprisingly early date - 40s or 50s, I think.

[Хahar 🤔]

The Conservative Party can actually attract minorities, proving that immigrants don't have to be far-left. They'll go to any non-xenophobic party.

[Hash]

The Conservative Party can actually attract minorities, proving that immigrants don't have to be far-left. They'll go to any non-xenophobic party.

I decided to do a rundown of where the Conservatives were elected. Floor-crossers etc. excluded

Nina Grewal: Vancouver
Rahim Jaffer: Edmonton
Deepak Obhrai: Calgary

Michael Chong: Midwestern ON
Inky Mark: Manitoba

Rod Bruinooge: Winnipeg
Rob Clarke: Saskatchewan

Bev Oda: Central ON

[Hatman 🍁]

Ethnicity map added to gallery.

[Хahar 🤔]

This one?

Interesting; Quebec and the Atlantic seem to be the South of Canada.

[Hatman 🍁]

This one?

Interesting; Quebec and the Atlantic seem to be the South of Canada.

Yeah. I don't know what's up with Quebec. Despite the high number of separatists, the people there overwhelmingly self-identify themselves as Canadians- higher than any other province or region. It's not even that they are identifying themselves as "French Canadian" either, since French is often outnumbered by 3 to 1 or 2 to 1 margins.  Perhaps StatsCan is counting "French Canadian" as just Canadian and not French. My only explanation.

Interestingly, a census division in Alberta has more French people than any other ethnicity. Go figure!

[Hatman 🍁]

For reference, this is the 2001 census map



You can see, a lot less people are identifying as Canadian.

[Hatman 🍁]

Some more random info

Top 10 largest cities in Canada and their ethnicities that make up at least 5% of the population.

Toronto:
*13.8% English
*12.5% Chinese
*10.8% Canadian
*9.9% Scottish
*9.6% Irish
*7.6% East Indian
*7.3% Italian

Montreal:
*33.8% Canadian
*23.0% French
*9.8% Italian
*5.4% Irish

Calgary:
*26.6% English
*20.4% Scottish
*18.9% Canadian
*16.5% German
*16.1% Irish
*10.0% French
*7.6% Chinese
*7.0% Ukrainian

Ottawa:
*28.4% Canadian
*24.3% English
*22.5% Irish
*21.5% French
*19.8% Scottish
*8.4% German

Edmonton:
*22.0% English
*17.2% Scottish
*16.9% Canadian
*16.8% German
*14.7% Irish
*13.2% Ukrainian
*11.5% French
*7.1% Chinese
*6.3% Polish

Mississauga:
*14.9% East Indian
*12.8% English
*10.6% Canadian
*8.8% Scottish
*8.6% Irish
*8.3% Chinese
*7.4% Italian
*6.5% Polish
*5.2% Portuguese

Winnipeg:
*22.6% English
*18.4% Scottish
*17.0% German
*16.6% Canadian
*15.4% Ukrainian
*13.9% French
*13.8% Irish
*8.1% Polish
*6.1% Filipino
*6.1% Metis
*5.5% North American Indian

Vancouver:
*30.6% Chinese
*17.8% English
*13.2% Scottish
*10.7% Irish
*9.6% Canadian
*7.5% German
*5.9% French
*5.3% Filipino

Hamilton:
*27.8% English
*21.7% Canadian
*19.8% Scottish
*16.2% Irish
*11.8% Italian
*9.6% German
*8.5% French
*5.6% Polish
*5.2% Dutch

Quebec City:
*69.3% Canadian
*35.8% French

[ottermax]

I think the French-Canadian entries are all being turned into "Canadian" StatsCanada conspiracy! jk

[cannonia]

I think people can give more than one answer.

[minionofmidas]

I think people call themselves Québecois these days, not French Canadian.
And as the US Census Bureau's "American" is also a catch-all category for regional names within the US... I think I know what happened here.