A/HRC/13/23/Add.2 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 8 March 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirteenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right to Development Report of the independent expert on minority issues* Addendum Mission to Canada** (13 to 23 October 2009) Summary Canada is a society open to and accepting of cultural, religious and linguistic differences, where minorities can express their identities, speak their languages and practise their faiths freely. Canada has an impressive constitutional and legislative framework in the area of equality and non-discrimination at the federal and provincial and territorial levels and numerous policy initiatives to promote multiculturalism. However, significant and persistent problems affect persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, who are people of colour or of particular religious beliefs. Many feel that the Government has failed to respond adequately to their problems or to devise meaningful and enforceable solutions. Rapid demographic changes have created new demands for deeper levels of disaggregation of data to keep pace with shifts in the economic and social status of specific minority communities. Certain minority communities, such as black Canadians, feel strongly that the catch-all terminology of “visible minorities” under which their data is captured leads inevitably to the neglect of their specific identities and situations and has served to obscure and dilute the differences and distinct experiences of respective minority groups. Unpacking the visible minority data is a first essential step towards the recognition * Late submission. ** The summary is being circulated in all official languages. The report itself, contained in the annex, is being circulated in the language of submission only. GE.10-11860 (E) 150310