jackiewalters

I am a black woman with children of mixed race, my husband is blond haired and blue eyed, we visited Canada and went to Lumby and Calgary and you know what? I did not see one person of colour once I stepped out of the airport!! now you may think me strange, but the one thing about the UK is its multi cultural society so you can imagine I thought it strange that I did not see any other people of colour no matter what culture. I think having children of mixed race we continue to bring them up in a mixed environment as they are used to that.

We are moving to Kelowna because my husband has a job there, please do not take offence for me asking as I have been searching and searching for a thread which would answer my question but no joy, I just do not want my kids to grow up in an environment where people will make an issue of the colour of their skin. It has never been an issue in the UK. I hear the Canada is a wonderful place to raise your children, and I just want to put the question out there and then forever hold my peace.

Many thanks

Elaine B.

I guess it really depends where you move to. I've lived in Toronto and Montreal and both places have a very diverse population, it's one of the things I miss now that I'm back living in a small town in Northern Ireland.

dbd33

Quite. Toronto has very many mixed-race couples, most of my children's school friends were "beige". Rural Canada has no cultural diversity and very little tolerance. Kelowna, I dunno. I think there's cause for concern.

fledermaus

The people I know here, Peterborough and surrounds are "tolerant", but I see plenty of more rural people who might not be, redneck bubba types. We need someone with experience to comment on Kelowna.

retsujou

Howdy.

You will find that in the GTA there are many dark coloured people of very different origin. Be that the Caribbean, Africa or the USA. You will find that on the west-coast that is not so much the case. For example Vancouver is dubbed lovingly by the locals as Hongcoover because there is such a large Asian (I include India in this) population.

I have _never_ lived in Kelowna but my fiancees parents live in Vernon so I have shopped in Kelowna and driven through it many times. When I was there going about my business I have not once seen a darker coloured individual. Maybe that is a little indicator to the mix you will get. I am somehow sure though, that it should not be an issue at all

Tracie107

I am mixed race - hubby is white with a now bald head I have a 4yr old who looks very white with blonde hair.......... I always get asked if he is my son or am I a child minder!! This will always lead into a long conversation about canada, the weather, playdates etc.

I live in Kelowna and my god I have seen quite a few black people here and in the summer I stopped counting (I always though I was the only one)!! I love it here and have not come across one ounce of racisim or any other problem. I have found everyone more then helpful and always wanting a chat.

Give me a shout when you arrive we'll get together for a good ole chin wag

Almost Canadian

Did you open your eyes whilst in Calgary?

Whilst Calgary is not as "different coloured" as, say, Birmingham, England, there are loads of Blacks, Asians, Europeans and I have never heard anyone take issue with the colour of someone's skin over here - they are way too polite and non-confrontational.

dbd33

And yet Calgary is like Atlanta or Jackson, one of those places you cannot get a black person to go for work. Granted that says more about the perceptions of black computer people toward those cities than it does about the cities themselves but these reputations tend not to be entirely accidental.

Almost Canadian

Maybe. I have never tried to hire a Black IT person in Calgary so am not qualified to respond to that. But......

If the OP did not see anything but white people in Calgary, as the post implies, they couldn't have opened their eyes. I believe that approximately 10% of Calgary's population is Chinese. I don't have any stats though and I am not inclined to search for them

dbd33

My guess is that 15 or 20 years ago Calgary was genuinely redneck and the reputation dates from then, just as, in some quarters, the perception of Toronto as Hogtown, a conservative religious place, lingers despite no longer being quite accurate.

Danny B

It's a shame Rich007 is banned as he is a Kelowna local and could probably give you an honest answer.

I live in Kamloops (about 2hrs) from Kelowna and that was the very first thing that I noticed when I arrived, where are all the black people? I can honestly say that since July 07 I have only ever seen 3 black people in Kamloops.

My Wife is from SE Asia, we have mixed race kids, it's never been a problem for us. A lot of the locals thought she was Native at first

Steve_P

Approximately 25% of the population of Calgary are visible minorities.

Chinese apparently only make up about 6.2%

"Black" persons make up approximately 2% of the Calgary population.

Calgary Economic Development: Demographics

Almost Canadian

Cheers Steve - it would appear the minorities are not that "visible"

fledermaus

So the OP's eyes weren't closed after all?

Cassie 10000

With regards to Edmonton I would say yes it is a Mutli-Cultural city. Our city was the capital of Culture in 2007 (I think) Edmonton welcomes people from all different backgrounds as its another excuse for a festival.


I've pulled this information for you off Edmonton Wiki, a seperate website.

Visible minorities[1] Population Percent

Total visible minorities 165,465 22.9

Chinese 45,305 6.3
South Asian 38,225 5.3
Black 20,000 3.1
Filipino 18,245 2.5
Arab 11,205 1.6
Southeast Asian 10,635 1.5
Latin American 8,650 1.2
Multiple visible minorities 4,940 0.7
Korean 3,440 0.5
West Asian 2,690 0.4
Japanese 1,845 0.3
Other visible minority 1,255 0.2