Canada's Ethnocultural Mosaic, 2006 Census: Canada's major census metropolitan areas

Ottawa - Gatineau: Visible minorities accounted for 16% of the total population

Ottawa - Gatineau is a census metropolitan area that cuts across two provinces and encompasses the city of Ottawa on the Ontario side and the city of Gatineau on the Quebec side, in addition to several surrounding municipalities.

In 2006, 16.0% of the population in Ottawa - Gatineau belonged to a visible minority group. This was on par with the national level of 16.2%. Ottawa - Gatineau's visible minority population was tied with Windsor's for the second highest proportion of visible minorities in Ontario, after Toronto (42.9%).

The largest visible minority group in Ottawa - Gatineau was Black, who made up 4.0% of the total population in the census metropolitan area. Four in 10 Blacks were Canadian-born. Slightly over one-third (36.8%) were immigrants who arrived in Canada since 1991.

Chinese, estimated at 32,400, was the second largest visible minority group; they accounted for 2.9% of Ottawa - Gatineau's total population. It was followed by the Arab visible minority group, which made up 2.5% of the census metropolitan area's population. About two-thirds of Chinese and Arab residents in Ottawa - Gatineau were born outside of Canada.

Canadian, reported alone or with other ancestries by 419,800 individuals, was the most frequently reported ethnic origin. It was followed by French (291,700) and English (219,500).

French was the second largest group on the Quebec side of the Ottawa ‑ Gatineau census metropolitan area while English was the second largest group on the Ontario side of the border.

Other common ancestries of the residents of Ottawa - Gatineau included Irish, Scottish, German, Italian, North American Indian, Chinese and Polish.

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