How common is racism in Canada?
In the 2002 Statistics Canada Ethnic Diversity Survey, the majority of Canadians (93%) aged 15 and over said that they had never, or rarely, experienced discrimination in the past five years because of their ethno-cultural characteristics. However, 7%, or an estimated 1.6 million Canadians aged 15 and over, said they had experienced discrimination or unfair treatment in the past five years sometimes or often because of these characteristics. One-in-five (20%) people aged 15 and over who were part of a visible minority, or an estimated 587,000 people, said they felt that they had experienced discrimination or unfair treatment sometimes or often in the five years prior to the survey because of their ethnicity, culture, race, skin colour, language, accent or religion.
