Diversity Profile of British Columbia, Third Edition
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DIVERSITY PROFILE of British Columbia Coordinated by Veenu Saini, Program Director Law Foundation of BC Fourth Edition November 2014 Diversity Profile of British Columbia Table of Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. iv Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... v I. Population and Population Change in Communities ......................................................................... 1 A. Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 3 B. Reader’s Guide to the Tables ........................................................................................................ 3 Table 1-1. Population of Regional Districts, 2011 Census ....................................................................... 6 Table 1-2. Population of Major Urban Areas, 2011 Census .................................................................... 7 Table 1-3. Population of Communities, 2011 Census .............................................................................. 8 Table 1-4. Communities with a Population of More Than 5,000 ............................................................ 22 II. Regional Diversity Profiles ............................................................................................................. 25 A. Overview .................................................................................................................................... 27 B. Reader’s Guide to Table 2-1 ....................................................................................................... 27 Table 2-1. Diversity Profile: Major Regions, 2011 ............................................................................... 31 Table 2-2. Diversity Profile: Regional Districts, 2011........................................................................... 37 III. Projected Population Change .......................................................................................................... 69 IV. Dimensions of Diversity .................................................................................................................. 75 A. Mobility, Migration and Immigration Statistics ......................................................................... 77 B. Selected Statistics of the Aboriginal-Identity Population ........................................................... 85 C. The Aboriginal Peoples Labour Force Survey, 2012 ................................................................. 89 D. Families, Households and Marital Status ................................................................................... 93 E. Religion ....................................................................................................................................... 95 F. Employment Incomes .................................................................................................................. 98 G. Visible Minorities ..................................................................................................................... 103 H. Immigrants and the Labour Market .......................................................................................... 105 I. Disabilities .................................................................................................................................. 108 V. Selected Economic Indicators ....................................................................................................... 115 A. BC Employment and Assistance Statistics ............................................................................... 117 B. Bankruptcies by Development Regions .................................................................................... 127 C. Regional Socio-Economic Index .............................................................................................. 130 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................... 133 A. The Limitations of the 2011 Census and National Household Survey (NHS) Data ................ 135 B. Differences between Census Counts and Population Estimates ............................................... 138 C. Census Definitions and Terminology ....................................................................................... 139 D. Maps of Communities in Regional Districts by Major Region ................................................ 144 Southwest ........................................................................................................................................ 145 Vancouver Island ............................................................................................................................. 150 Interior ............................................................................................................................................ 157 The North ........................................................................................................................................ 165 Preface The Law Foundation of BC (the Law Foundation) is a non-profit foundation created by legislation in 1969 to receive and distribute the interest on clients’ funds held in lawyers’ pooled trust accounts and maintained in financial institutions. The Law Foundation uses its income to benefit the public of BC by funding programs in five different areas—legal education, legal research, legal aid, law reform and law libraries. The Law Foundation’s mission is To advance and promote a just society governed by the rule of law, through leadership, innovation and collaboration. The Law Foundation’s vision is A society where access to justice is protected and advanced. The Law Foundation’s values are Integrity Respect Diversity Sustainability In March 2001, the Law Foundation struck a Diversity Committee with a mandate to identify goals and objectives in the area of diversity and to develop an action plan as a means of welcoming and affirming diversity. In June 2002, the Law Foundation adopted the following statement on diversity: The Law Foundation recognizes the diversity of the people of British Columbia and endeavours to be responsive to the diverse public of British Columbia in its workforce, board and grant making. This Diversity Profile was first developed in response to the Diversity Committee’s request for demographic information for British Columbia that shows the population diversity in each geographic region, so that the Law Foundation and others have a clear idea of how each element of the definition of diversity is reflected in the province. Most of the data in the 2002 edition was from Statistics Canada’s 1996 census of Canada. The second edition, published in 2003, incorporated data from the 2001 census. The third edition (2009) incorporated data released in the 2006 census, and this current edition, from the 2011 census. The Law Foundation’s working definition of diversity is as follows: Diversity includes age, different abilities, socio-economic level, education, ethnicity, language, family, gender, marital/relationship status, race, religion, work experience, geographic size and location, and sexual orientation. The Diversity Profile provides information on these areas of diversity, and is a resource that the Law Foundation can use to fulfill its mission. The Law Foundation hopes that this profile will encourage funded groups and others to be more responsive to the diverse communities they serve. DIVERSITY PROFILE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | Fourth Edition, November 2014 iii Acknowledgements The Law Foundation thanks Carol McEown and David Baxter, who authored the third edition. The current edition updates much of the content written by them. The Law Foundation gratefully acknowledges their continued assistance, support and guidance. Thank you also to the staff at Urban Futures Institute, BC Stats and Statistics Canada’s Vancouver office for their assistance. Veenu Saini, November 2014 iv DIVERSITY PROFILE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA | Fourth Edition, November 2014 Introduction The purpose of this report is to help readers understand the shape and structure of BC’s population using the Law Foundation’s definition of diversity. The information in this report can be used by individuals and organizations to develop a greater understanding of the diversity of our communities and to form new initiatives or review current programs. The report starts with a section on population and population change using data from the 2011, 2006 and 2001 censuses of Canada. The size and density of communities and their growth or decline in population and population share provide a basis from which one can consider diversity within our population. Section II provides demographic detail on the elements of diversity as defined by the Law Foundation (see page iii), again drawn from the 2011, 2006 and 2001 censuses of Canada. The data is provided for the province as a whole, for the four major regions established by the Law Foundation for planning purposes, and then for the 29 regional districts that make up the major