Introduction
The Canadian census collects data on the ethnic, national, and religious origins of Canadians as the primary reference for the representation of Canadian diversity (James and Lloyd 10). This has been the case since the early 1970s when the Canadian government began multiculturalism based on the recognition of ethnicity (Rally et al. 535). This represents a change in the role paled by the census in countries such as Canada as they adopted anti-discrimination measures. From this standpoint, classification is meant to serve as a tool for determining which groups are disadvantaged and which mechanisms become the basis for ethnic stratification (James and Lloyd 10).
In the Canadian census, the categories used are mixed and include questions on race (Black, White), ethnicity and nationality (Japanese, Chinese), regionality (South Asian, Southeast Asian), and Other (James and Lloyd 11). To what extent are these categories useful? Researchers argue that these categories may be ‘useful’ for different reasons, for example, Glazer (50) argues that the census provides information on how people conceptualize their diversity and how their views on diversity and its significance change over time, while Rally et al. (533) argue that “the intrinsically ambivalent nature of ethnic data must be emphasized, in the sense that…they can confirm hierarchical organization, as well as be used in aiming for equality” (533). Using examples, this paper discusses the issues concerning the statistics contained in Canada’s ethnic/racial categories.
Ethnic and Racial Categories
Using racial and ethnic categories is problematic for several reasons. First, using this type of analysis leads to many classification problems as they are based on categories that are assumed to be fixed, “a fiction that is contradicted by the fluidity of ethnic identities” (Rallu et al. 532). Particularly since Canadians have been able to self-select their ethnicity/race and other countries are allowing respondents to tick more than one box, the classification is becoming even more blurred (Glazer 52). Second, while these classifications are presented as being value-free, that is, that they simply collect data about reality, researchers argue that this is not the case. For example, the continuing differentiation of ‘whites’ from ‘blacks’ in North America is very much rooted in history, and Glazer (50) argues that there is “large distinction in the processes of assimilation and integration that has persisted during the three- or four-century history of American diversity – the distinction between blacks and others.” He goes on to note that the various ethnicities presented as ‘Others’ (with ‘white’ as the central category) “were indeed nonwhite, but their separate classification was more than a matter of keeping neat statistics. An identity was being selected for a group considered inferior” (Glazer 57). This conclusion is supported by the fact that other, more recent, immigrant groups, such as Jews and the Irish, have subsequently become assimilated, and thus ethnic distinctions are less distinct but blacks are still sharply distinguished from other minorities or subgroups (Glazer 61). As such Jean-Louis Rallu and his colleagues argue that.
Ethnic categories can be useful to dominant groups…as classification tools to maintain privileges and systems of racial segregation. Classification, therefore, aims to determine hierarchical statuses that stipulate who has or does not have political and civil rights, as [in the case of] ethnic selectivity in Canadian immigration policies. Censuses are therefore used to count, classify, organize into a hierarchy, and control. (533).
The use the example of Canada in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, at which point the racial issue was included in an immigration policy that aimed to exclude certain groups such as blacks and Asians; racist criteria that were not eliminated until the 1960s (Rallu et al. 535).
Discussion
Nathan Glazer (64) opines that the current activity of counting and differentiating people by race and ethnicity does not merely record what exists, but is instead a product of choices made primarily by the dominant groups as well as by those that are dominated. In this way, these racial and ethnic groups are socially constructed, meaning that they have a significance based on what is accorded to them by society, separate and apart from any empirical ‘reality.’ In terms of what exists ‘in reality,’ Keita et al. (S18) argue that human biological variation is not structured into races, supporting the idea that ‘race’ is socially constructed and even within this social construction, the demographic units used to describe people on census forms do not represent races as classically understood in anthropology. As an alternative to race, they argue that there are terms that describe the demographic makeup of a population more adequately, including ancestral, biocultural, bioethics, and ethnographical because they invite examination of the criteria for classification.
Carl James and Bethan Lloyd (11) argue that race is not only socially constructed but is also a lived experience. For this reason, they argue that data on race should be collected distinctly from the state on culture groupings since for example, people that are racially Asian can also be ethnically Indian, Chinese, etc., and members of all racial groups can be born and raised across the world. According to Keita et al. (S19), terms such as ‘Arab’ are complex from a historical perspective, for example, Syrian and Shurwa Arabs vary in terms of biology and culture but are still included under a single label. This is echoed by According to James and Lloyd (28), who argue:
…concealed in the constructed ‘visible minority’ Census category are the lived experiences of these Canadians for whom such conceptualization and operationalizing of ‘race’ tend to further marginalize and render almost invisible and meaningless their individuality, diversity, and agency. These aspects of human quality and existence must be taken into account if the respective needs, concerns, issues, and aspirations of minority Canadians are to be effectively and equitably addressed as the Multiculturalism and Employment Equity Acts articulate.
This diversity within groups is also noted by Keita et al. (S18) and is behind their proposal that group studies should be based on the specific ancestral histories of individuals, as this may be different from self-reported groups and also because groups have multiple ancestral origins. As such they encourage thorough descriptions of different subgroups and their particular histories. Within Canada James and Lloyd (11) argue that “the diversity that is to be found among the members of Black communities [should be made explicit]; too often, compared with the other racialized groups, Blacks tend to be seen and dealt with as a homogeneous group of people.” Similarly, Glazer (56) notes that the ‘Hispanic’ category in the USA includes a vast array of Spanish speakers from the Caribbean, and South and Central America. However, disaggregation is important because
…giving attention to inter-and intra-community diversity is critical if equitable opportunities and access are to be provided to community members by federal, provincial, and municipal policies that direct programming and frontline practice. (James and Lloyd 11).
Disaggregating the ‘blacks’ in Canada based on settlement history, the birthplace of current residents, age, sex, education, and income achievement, James and Lloyd can show that the differences affect the lived experiences of African Canadians. For example, they discuss the under-education of African Canadians, arguing that this may be explained by research indicating that black high school students tend to be stereotyped as not-academically-inclined and, therefore, they are neither encouraged nor assisted to work to their educational potential. When this is combined with data on sex and generational differences, support is provided for the argument that overall under-education of African Canadians in places like Halifax is the consequence of many generations’ experience of systemic racism in school in places such as Halifax where 91% of the black population are the third generation Canadians. This is less pronounced in Toronto and Calgary, where there is a greater proportion of newer immigrants, indicating that “variations and differences in the experiences of Blacks must be taken into account in developing educational policies, practices, and programs that would speak to them” (James and Lloyd 23).
Conclusion
James and Lloyd point out that Canada’s black population is ethnically, culturally, economically diverse. This also applies to all the ethnic groups in the country, including whites. Thus instead of lumping people into large groups, James and Lloyd argue that:
…our practice should be to disaggregate the visible minority data to give attention to the particular and differing characteristics of each group and to particular and differing needs, issues, concerns, and aspirations that arise from these characteristics. (11)
Thus, if indeed the point of collecting ethnicity data in Canada’s census is to tackle inequality and discrimination, then this data has to be collected in a way that makes it useful (which may mean that references to ‘race’ should be excluded) and must be disaggregated so that the makeup of different cultural groups can be fully appreciated.
Works Cited
Glazer, Nathan “American Diversity and the 2000 Census.” Ethnicity, Social Mobility, and Public Policy: Comparing the US and UK. Eds. Glenn Loury, Tariq Modood, and Steven Teles. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. 50-65.
James, Carl, and Bethan Lloyd. “Differentiating the ‘Other’/Disaggregating ‘Black’: On the Diversity of African Canadian Communities.” Navigating Multiculturalism: Negotiating Change. Ed. Dawn Zinga. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006. 10-32.
Keita, S., Kittles, R., Royal, C. et al. “Conceptualizing Human Variation.” Nature Genetics Supplement 36 (2004): S17-S20.
Rallu, Jean-Louis, Victor Piché, and Patrick Simon. “Demography and Ethnicity: An Ambiguous Relationship.” Demography: Analysis and Synthesis, A Treatise in Population, Volume 1. Eds. Graziella Caselli, Jacques Vallin, and Gillaume Wunsch. Burlington, MA: Academic Press, 2006. 531-550.