White Canadian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| White Canadian | |
|---|---|
Image:Byron Johnson.jpgImage:John Bourinot.jpg 
| |
| Total population | 24,618,250 (in 2001)<ref>[1]</ref>
83.06% of the Canadian population |
| Regions with significant populations | Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, BC, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Maritimes |
| Language | English, and French (both the official languages of Canada); others include Italian, German, and Polish |
| Religion | Mostly Christianity, but also Judaism, Islam and other religions <tr>
<th style="background-color:#fee8ab;">Related ethnic groups</th> <td style="background-color:#fff6d9;">Whites, Europeans, White British, French, White American, White Australian and White African</td> </tr> |
White Canadians are a category of ethnicity counted in Statistics Canada reports.
There are separate boxes for Arabs, Latin Americans, and West Asians in Canada Census forms, but it is possible to mark more than one box.<ref>Fellegi, Ivan P. Statistics Canada. 2001 Census. 2001. November 8, 2006. [2]</ref> One Statistics Canada publication defines a white person as a Canadian who's ancestors originated from Europe, but not including anyone who's ancestors are from Latin America. <ref>Finnie, Ross. Statistics Canada. Minorities, Cognitive Skills, and the Incomes of Canadians. [3]</ref>
[edit] Demographics
From the 2001 Canadian Census, White Canadians are the vast majority of the Canadian population, making up about 83 percent of all people in the country. According to the 2001 Canadian Census, 24.62 million Canadians reported themselves as white, equalling 83.06% out of the total population of 29.64 million, not including a further 270,000 (another 0.90%) who reported themselves as white and one or more other responses (e.g. Black, Chinese, South Asian etc.)<ref>[4]</ref> Most white Canadians are of British or French descent. 9.97 million Canadians (33.64% of the total population) report themselves having British Isles ancestry, while 4.71 million Canadians of French ancestry (some 15.89% of the total population). Canada has the second highest percentage of white people in a country outside of Europe, following Australia. It also has the highest amount of people of Icelandic descent outside of Iceland. Also, Canada has the highest ammount of people of French descent outside of France.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the proportion of British and French immigration declined a bit, and the Canadian government developed a racist immigration policy only allowing immigrants from Europe to enter Canada. The government began to sponsor immigrants from Scandinavia, Germany, Ukraine, and parts of Eastern Europe to fill up empty farm land in the West. Also, many immigrants from Italy, Ireland, and Poland moved to Ontario and Quebec's mining and industrial cities. Italian and German immigrants were at some point the largest sources of immigrants for Canada.
Non-British and non-French white Canadians number almost another 10 million (33%).<ref>[5]</ref> Those with more than one million members include German Canadians (2,742,265 or 9.25% of total population), Italian Canadians (1,272,835 or 4.3% of the total population) and Ukrainian Canadians (1,071,060 or 3.61%). There are also many white Canadians of Dutch (mostly in western Canada and southern Ontario), Polish, and Russian heritage.
Compared to other ethnic groups, white Canadians are more aged than other racial groups. Around 18.69% are under the age of 14, whereas those over 65 number 13.11%.[citation needed] For example, one in three white Canadians are under 14 years of age, reflecting a much lower median age.<ref>[6]</ref> One of the main reasons why the population of white Canadians is ageing is due to their fertility rate (1.5 children per woman), which is far below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. However, they tend to have more children than those of East Asian Canadian heritage.<ref>[7]</ref>
[edit] Living conditions
One Statistics Canada study concludes that the differences between white and non-white male wages are best explained by discrimination or by lower literacy levels of non-whites.<ref>Pendakur K. and R. Pendakur. (1998) "The color of money: color differentials among ethnic groups in Canada.", Canadian Journal of Economics. 31 1, 518-548.</ref> White Canadians averaged the highest literacy score of 259.4. In term of getting a college degree, Asian Canadians were three times as likely as white Canadians to earn a degree while White Canadians were three times as likely as Aboriginal Canadians to earn a degree.<ref>Finnie, Ross. Statistics Canada. Minorities, Cognitive Skills, and the Incomes of Canadians. [8]</ref> A different study found that this income difference only applied to non-whites born outside Canada.<ref>Hum D. and W. Simpson. (1999) "Wage Opportunities for Visible Minorities in Canada", Canadian Public Policy 25 (3) 379-394</ref>
[edit] References
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