Diversity

Where Canada’s population groups live, and how the country’s diversity has changed

Diversity by neighbourhood

Where Canada’s population groups live, down to the census tract (neighbourhood) for every metropolitan area (2021 Census). Use the dropdown to switch between groups, and zoom and pan to your area (tracts are labelled by their Statistics Canada ID). Census tracts are defined only for larger urban areas (census metropolitan areas and agglomerations), so rural and remote regions are left blank.

How the groups are assembled. Statistics Canada’s “visible minority” variable (its term) has no distinct White category. There is only a “Not a visible minority” residual, which contains both White and Indigenous peoples. To show Indigenous explicitly we use the 2021 Census Indigenous-identity count, and derive White as “Not a visible minority” minus Indigenous identity. The three top-level groups (All visible minorities, White and Indigenous) sum to 100%.

For an even finer scale, open a metro’s dedicated map using the links below. These are kept on their own page for load speed, and use Statistics Canada’s smallest standard areas (dissemination areas, roughly 400–700 people in small neighbourhoods):

→ Diversity by dissemination area: Vancouver · Toronto · Montréal · Calgary · Ottawa–Gatineau

The largest group, mapped

A different cut of the same data: each tract coloured by its largest single group. This is a plurality, not necessarily a majority. The tract’s full mix can be seen in the hover (kept on its own page so this one stays fast to load):

→ The largest group in each neighbourhood

How the diversity of Canada has changed

Canada’s visible minority population has grown from roughly one in eight people in the early 2000s to more than one in four. This chart traces each group’s share across recent censuses. Use the dropdown to switch geography (Canada, a province, or a major city) and click legend entries to add or remove groups (the “Not a visible minority” majority starts hidden so the smaller groups are legible; click it on to see the full composition).

A few notes for accurate interpretation: the series begins in 2006. That is the earliest census the consistent visible-minority-by-census-year table (98-10-0429-01) covers, and earlier 2001 products aren’t available in a comparable machine-readable form. Shares here are of the population aged 15 and over (the basis of that table), so they differ slightly from the all-ages maps above; an age breakdown isn’t offered because the table reports the 15-plus population only. 2011 was the voluntary National Household Survey rather than the mandatory census, so its point is flagged and less directly comparable; and sub-group definitions have shifted modestly over the decades, so the “All visible minorities” total is the most comparable line. Unlike the maps above, this trend uses Statistics Canada’s visible-minority categories only. White and Indigenous are not broken out here because that consistent multi-census table doesn’t carry them. Doing so would require splicing a separate Indigenous-identity series onto a different population base, which would not necessarily be accurate.

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