A/HRC/13/23/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. The independent expert on minority issues conducted an official visit to Canada between 13 and 23 October 2009. She visited the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec and held consultations with senior federal, provincial and territorial government representatives with responsibilities in the field of minority rights, antidiscrimination and equality. She held numerous meetings with non-governmental organizations, members of minority communities and academics and hosted forums for minority women. She thanks the Government of Canada and the provincial and territorial governments for their excellent cooperation, as well as the numerous non-governmental organizations, civil society groups and community representatives that provided valuable information and assistance. 2. Under the federal Employment Equity Act, “visible minorities” are defined as “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour”. The following groups are included in the visible minority population: Chinese, South Asians, blacks, Arabs, West Asians, Filipinos, Southeast Asians, Latin Americans, Japanese, Koreans and other visible minority groups, such as Pacific Islanders. 3. Canada has a total population of 31,241,030 according to 2006 census data. More than 5 million, or 16.2 per cent, are identified as visible minorities. The visible minority population increased by 27.2 per cent between 2001 and 2006, five times faster than growth for the population as a whole. Statistics Canada projections demonstrate that by 2017, one in five Canadians will be non-white or people of colour. In 2006, 95.9 per cent of visible minorities lived in a metropolitan area, the largest concentrations in Toronto (42.9 per cent of the total population), Vancouver (41.7 per cent) and Montreal (16.5 per cent). Three in 10 visible minorities were Canadian-born. 4. Canadians identifying as South Asian (including those of East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi origin), account for 1.3 million people, 24.9 per cent of the visible minority population, and 4 per cent of the total population. Chinese make up 24 per cent of the visible minority population (1.2 million people), and 3.9 per cent of the total population. Other large visible minority groups are: black1 (15.5 per cent of the visible minority population); Filipino (8.1 per cent); Latin American (6.0 per cent); Arab (5.2 per cent); Southeast Asian (4.7 per cent); West Asian (3.1 per cent); Korean (2.8 per cent); and Japanese (1.6 per cent). Methodology 5. The independent expert’s evaluation of minority issues in Canada is based on the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992) and other relevant international standards, from which she has identified four broad areas of concern relating to minorities globally. These are: (a) the protection of a minority’s survival, through the combating of violence against them and the prevention of genocide; (b) the protection and promotion of the cultural identity of minority groups and the right of national, ethnic, religious or linguistic groups to enjoy their collective identity and to reject forced assimilation; (c) the guarantee of the rights to nondiscrimination and equality, including ending structural or systemic discrimination, as well as the promotion of affirmative action when required; and (d) the guarantee of the right to 1 4 A total of 52 per cent of the blacks reported Caribbean origins; 42.4 per cent reported African origins. GE.10-11860