Black History Month 2023... by the numbers

Discrimination

• Discrimination or unfair treatment means treating people differently, negatively or adversely because of their race, age, religion, sex, and other characteristics. According to data from the 2020 General Social Survey on Social Identity, 58% of Black people aged 15 years or older reported that they had experienced discrimination in the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic^{Footnote 1}. Almost 50% of Black people reported experiencing discrimination because of their race or colour and 27% due to their ethnicity or culture.
• In the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic, 55% of Black people reported experiencing discrimination at work or when applying for a job or promotion; 51% in a store, bank or restaurant; and 27% when attending school or classes.
• In the first year of the pandemic^{Footnote 2}, Black people were 8.4 times more likely to report being a victim of ethnic or racial discrimination than the non-racialized population^{Footnote 3}.

Sources:

• Experience(s) of discrimination, reason(s) and context(s) of discrimination, 5 years before and since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, by groups designated as visible minorities and selected sociodemographic characteristics, 2020
• Discrimination before and since the start of the pandemic

Education

• According to the 2021 Census, nearly one-third (32.4%) of the Black population aged 25 to 64 has a bachelor's degree or higher, up from 27.0% in 2016 and 19.9% in 2006. This was similar to the 2021 average for the total population aged 25 to 64 (32.9%).
• The increase is partly driven by the arrival of rising numbers of highly educated Black immigrants in recent years. About 46% of Black immigrants from 2016 to 2021 had a bachelor's degree or higher.
• Among the Black third generation-or-more population (born in Canada, with both parents also born in Canada), the share with a bachelor's degree or higher was smaller, at 15.8%, compared with 24.0% among the overall third generation-or-more population in Canada.
• The share of the Black third generation-or-more population with a bachelor's degree or higher grew more among women (from 10.1% in 2006 to 18.7% in 2021) than among men (from 10.8% in 2006 to 12.8% in 2021).

Sources:

• Highest level of education by census year, visible minority and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations
• Labour force status by visible minority, immigrant status and period of immigration, highest level of education, age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts

Housing and family

• In 2021, just under one-third, representing 25.9% or 400,240 individuals, of the Black population, lived in unsuitable housing, meaning that their dwellings had too few bedrooms for the size and composition of their households according to the requirements of the National Occupancy Standard. In comparison, the number of the total Canadian population living in unsuitable housing was 9.7% in 2021.
• In 2018, the core housing need for the Black population was higher (15.1%) than that of the total Canadian population (9.0%). As a result, approximately 200,000 (197,500) Black individuals were in core housing need. When the housing of a household falls below at least one of the adequacy, affordability or suitability standards and the household would have to spend 30% or more of its total before-tax income to pay the median rent of alternative local housing that is acceptable (meeting all three housing standards), the household is said to be in core housing need.
• Lone parenthood among women was more prevalent among the Black population than among the rest of the population. In the 2016 Census, 27% of Black women aged 25 to 59 were lone parents, compared with less than 10% of other women. This situation was more prevalent among female immigrants than among Canadian-born Black women.

Sources:

• Housing suitability by visible minority and immigrant status and period of immigration: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts
• Changes in the socioeconomic situation of Canada's Black population, 2001 to 2016

Language

• In 2021, when both single and multiple responses were considered, English was the mother tongue (defined as the language first learned at home in childhood and still understood) of 58.9% of the Black population, while French was the mother tongue of 21.6%.
• Haitian Creole, Somali, Tigrigna, Amharic and Yoruba languages were the other top mother tongues most frequently reported. Overall, more than 250 languages were reported as a mother tongue by the Black population in the country.
• A higher percent of people within the Black population (28.0%) speak French at home compared to the total population (23.3%).

Sources:

• The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity
• Visible minority by mother tongue and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories and census metropolitan areas with parts
• Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, custom tabulation

Place of birth and ethnic origin

• Canada is the top place of birth of the Black population. In 2021, more than four in 10 Black people were born in Canada. Some have had ancestors in the country for several generations, while others are immigrants or the children of immigrants.
• Nearly one-third (32.6%) of the Black population was born in Africa, including Nigeria (7.1%), Ethiopia (2.8%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2.4%), while 21.0% were born in the Caribbean and Bermuda, mostly in Jamaica (8.8%) and Haiti (7.2%).
• Overall, more than 300 ethnic or cultural origins were reported by the Black population in Canada. The 10 most frequently reported origins among the Black population were: African, Jamaican, Haitian, Canadian, Black (no further clarification), Somali, Nigerian, African Caribbean, Congolese and Yoruba.
• Various religions were reported by the Black population, the main ones being Christian (no further clarification) (25.9%), Catholic (18.1%), Muslim (11.9%) and Pentecostal (8.0%). Close to one in five (18.0%) Black Canadians reported having no religion.

Source:

• The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity

Victimization

• In the five years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 16% of Black Canadians aged 15 or older reported experiencing discrimination when dealing with the police. This number was higher for men (21%) compared to women (13%).
• According to data from the 2020 General Social Survey on Social Identity, 54% of Black people aged 15 or older reported that they had confidence in the police service, justice system and the courts. Women were more likely to report confidence in the police (59%) than men (49%) but both women and men had similar confidence levels in the justice system and courts (55% and 54% respectively).

Sources:

• Experience(s) of discrimination, reason(s) and context(s) of discrimination, 5 years before and since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, by groups designated as visible minorities and selected sociodemographic characteristics, 2020
• Confidence in Canadian institutions, by groups designated as visible minorities and selected sociodemographic characteristics, 2020