Canada's Ethnocultural Mosaic, 2006 Census: Canada's major census metropolitan areas

Halifax: Highest proportion of visible minorities in the Atlantic region

An estimated 7.5% of Halifax's population, 27,600 people, belonged to a visible minority group. While this proportion was below the national level of 16.2%, it was higher than any other census metropolitan areas in the Atlantic region, such as Saint John (3.1%), Moncton (2.0%) and St. John's (1.9%). The proportion of visible minorities in Halifax was up from 7.0% in 2001.

Blacks accounted for almost one-half (48.0%) of visible minorities in Halifax. They represented the largest group in the census metropolitan area's visible minority population and made up 3.6% of the total population in Halifax in 2006. Nine in 10 Blacks in Halifax were Canadian-born. This was the highest proportion of Canadian-born Blacks in any census metropolitan area in Canada. In fact, Halifax had the highest proportion of Canadian-born visible minorities in the country.

The second largest visible minority group was those who reported Arab. They made up 1.0% of the total population in Halifax. Among Arabs, 71.4% were born outside of Canada. Chinese and South Asian visible minority groups each comprised 0.8% of the population.

Halifax was home to about 180 different ethnic origins. In 2006, the most frequently reported ethnic origin was Canadian. Over one-third of the population (37.6%) reported Canadian origin, either alone or with other ancestries. English, Scottish, Irish and French were also among the top ethnic origins reported. The ethnic composition of the population reflects the long history of these ethnic groups in Halifax.

Other common ancestries in Halifax were German, Dutch and North American Indian. Most residents who reported these ancestries did so in combination with at least one other group. The list of the 10 most frequently reported ancestries was almost the same as in 2001.

  Previous page | Table of contents | Next page