By 2031, the diversity of Canada’s population is expected to significantly increase, according to a study released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.

Courtesy caribb/Flickr

When it comes to visible minorities – as defined in the Employment Equity Act – the increase is even more significant.

In 2031, Statistics Canada projects the visible minority population between 11.4–14.4 million, more than double the 5.3 million reported in 2006.

While the report offers projections based on trends, Richard Day, an associate professor of Sociology at Queen’s University, said his biggest problem is the report itself.

“We’re still counting people,” said Day.

“I don’t want to play the game of counting people and that’s the difficulty for me in talking about this.  The very fact that we’re concerned about someone’s skin colour is deeply problematic,” he said.

The report outlines population increases concerning South Asians, Chinese, Arabs, Black, Filipinos and West Asians in the country.

According to Day, Canadians need to think about this whole notion of diversity.

“The beginning of getting over [racial stereotypes] is to acknowledge that that’s what going on and this is what’s really hard,” he said. “It’s become so normal in Canada to be like this, that most of the time people don’t notice.”

Day said he was sceptical as to why this report was released.

“One definite effect of releasing reports like these all the time is to remind everyone that there is a lot so called diversity,” he said. “Just releasing something like this without any comment, with nothing behind it except these bare numbers, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I think it heightens racism.”

Metropolitan areas

According to the report, more than 71 per cent of all visible minorities will live in the Canada's three largest metropolitan areas: Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

By 2031, visible minorities would compromise 63 per cent of Toronto's population, 59 per cent in Vancouver and 31 per cent in Montreal.