It was recently declared by the most recent Census Canada data (from 2006) that South Asians have surpassed the Chinese with the largest population in the visibility minority category. From those that filled out their census form, 1.3 million people have South Asian ancestry.
There are two things that bothers me about these stats (other than people not filling out their surveys). First, the term South Asian is so broad and essentializes a diverse group of people into a category based on an abstract construction of race. According to the Cesus Canada, South Asians are individuals who were born in or whose ancestors were born in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. Yup, definitely diverse. So why are all these countries lumped together while other categories like Chinese and Filipino are given their own? Just because we all fall under a category of “brown skin” doesn’t mean we should all be grouped into one category. I really don’t understand the logic behind the creation of these ethnic categories.
Second, the census asks people what ethnic categories their ancestors are and not what ethnic category/categories they want to affiliate with. Therefore someone like me, a visible minority whose ancestors fall under the category of South Asian, cannot claim my ethnicity to be Canadian. Some people would object to this, but I think it is important to find out how people want to identify themselves rather than forcing them into a labelled category based on their ancestry. Why should a person living in Canada have their identification constrained by how Stats Canada and other official organizations want to label them. If I want to call myself Canadian then I should be able to do that regardless of whether or not I was born in Canada or how my parents and grandparents affiliate themselves. First, second, and third generation Canadians should not be treated differently than later generations and all Canadian residents should be given the right to label themselves as they want. Limiting people’s ability to do so and restricting the access to classify one’s ethnicity as Canadian perpetuates the misguided ideology of Canada as a White nation where only “real Canadians” are those of fully European ancestry.
REFERENCES
The Globe And Mail: “Canada’s visible minorities top five million”
