The Integration of Visible Minorities in Contemporary Canadian Society

Abstract

Abstract. Using the 1991 Census Public Use Sample, this study examines the ethnic variations in education, occupation, and income and the connections between these dimensions of socioeconomic status. Some European groups have attained income parity even if their educational levels are much lower than the average of the total population. Though visible minorities tend to have a higher level of education, most of them are still under-represented in high status occupations and have incomes lower than what their educational and occupational achievements would merit. Blacks and South Asians suffer the most in income inequality. This study also reveals that various minority groups face different problems in their integration into Canadian society. Resume. A base des donnees d'echantillon du recensement 1991, nous examinons les variations entre groupes ethniques par rapport a l'education, le statut professionnel et le revenu. Certains groupes europeens ont atteint le revenu moyen de l'ensemble de la population en depit des desavantages considerables en education. Les groupes ayant un status de minorite visible ont des avantages en education, mais la plupart sont sous-representes aux plus hauts statuts professionnels et ils ont des revenus moyens inferieurs a ce que leur education et statut professionnel prediraient. Ceux de race noire et les asiatiques du sud ont les statuts les plus inferieurs. Cette etude indique que les divers groupes minoritaires font face a des differents problemes par rapport a l'integration dans la societe canadienne. Two hypotheses have been advanced to explain ethnic stratification in Canada. The first is the ethnically blocked thesis, introduced first in Porter's The Vertical Mosaic (1965), which considers ethnicity as an important factor in Canadian class structure. In this view, the socioeconomic achievement of members in an ethnic group is related to their entrance status when they immigrated to Canada. An entrance status inferior to that of the charter groups may be intensified by the ethnic affiliation of the members. Ethnic affiliation may restrain the status aspirations and achievement motivations of the members of the ethnic group. As a consequence, they may have limited educational qualifications and may find themselves in a segmented labour market (Blishen 1970; Porter 1975). This view has come under attack in the past two decades following some empirical studies. On the basis of the finding that ethnic occupational dissimilarity decreased over 1931-1971, Darroch (1979) questioned the assumption that the entrance status of an immigrant group may lead to permanent stratification linked to ethnicity. Some studies also indicate that any privileged position the charter groups may have historically had in the occupational structure was being effectively challenged by other European ethnic groups (Pineo and Porter 1985; Tepperman 1975: 149-152). Furthermore, some authors have suggested that simplistic claims of ethnic identity as a hindrance to social mobility must be rejected because the causal relationship between ethnic identity and social mobility is minimal or non-existent (Isajiw, Sever, and Driedger 1993). The second hypothesis, the discrimination thesis, attributes the inferior position of some ethnic minority groups to the socioeconomic structure of the society. In this view, unequal relations arise that systematically discourage and exclude some minorities from fully participating in mainstream society. For example, visible minorities may be put into an inescapable socioeconomic trap because of racial prejudice and discrimination such that access to the full range of job opportunities and other socioeconomic resources of the country may be limited for them. Often they are forced to stay at the periphery of the civic, political, and economic centres of society (Driedger 1989; Wiley 1967). Although passage of human rights legislation and official promotion of multiculturalism are aimed at eliminating structural discrimination in Canadian society, it is believed that discrimination persists in institutional settings and inter-personal relations. …