DCHP-2

visible minority DCHP-2 (November 2016)

• n. — Ethnicities

  an ethnic group that is visibly distinct from the predominant group.

  Type: 5. Frequency — Visible minority is a term used in the Canadian Employment Equity Act, passed in 1983 and amended in 1995. The Act defines visible minority as a group that is "non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour", and excludes Aboriginal people (see Justice Laws reference). The purpose of the Act is to provide equal opportunity for groups such as visible minorities and women that may be discriminated against in the workplace. However, in 2007, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticized the Canadian government for its use of the term, and suggested that it may be discriminatory by declaring, de facto, the "whites" implicitly as a default group (see CBC reference and the second 2008 quotation).
  Statistics Canada has not issued questions relating to visible minorities or ethnicity in the census since 2006, although their voluntary long-form census (National Household Survey) does. In 2011, the findings of the survey reported that 19% of respondents self-identified as part of the visible minority population (see Statistics Canada reference).
  Note that the term was long in use before its official adoption in the Employment Equity Act, but that it was more fluid, e.g. in the 1970 quotation visible minority expressly included Canadian First Nations members. Visible minority is used predominantly in Canada (see Chart 1).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "visible minority", which is marked "esp. Cdn".