Winterdiva

Visible minority. That really. We are seriously considering moving to Halifax area, particularly Bedford. Is Bedford ok for visible minorities?

What to expect? Please can anyone advice?

Former Lancastrian

Define visible minority? Now granted the normal response would be not white. Halifax has a large number of black persons but also has brown and others from various parts of the world. Me personally I wouldn't be too concerned as even visible minorities can be racist to other visible minorities.

According to the 2011 census, the ethnic originsof Halifax include: Canadian (38%), English (34%), Scottish (30%), Irish (25%), French (18%), German (12%), Dutch (4%), North American Indian (3%), and Welsh (2%). Respondents were able to choose more than one option. The city also has between 1,000 and 7,000 people with Italian, Polish, Lebanese, Chinese, African, East Indian, American, Norwegian, Spanish, Jewish, and Greek ethnicities, among others.
85% of the population is Christian, followed by 13% who have no religious affiliation. Less than 1% of the population is Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, or Sikh.

Siouxie

The 2016 Census profile may help to give you a better idea.

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-r...TABID=1&type=0

particularly the Immigrants by selected place of birth part and languages spoken

Grimnorth

Winterdiva

I know there have been a few postings on here about it. If you have not seen them perhaps have a look at Raindropsandroses posts. I cannot comment from personal experience but I have over 20 people working for me (Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford) who according to Statscan are visible minorities or BIPOC according to the last employer survey form. None of them have mentioned any issues, but I can ask if you want. We are a pretty close company, so if there was an issue even outside work someone would have mentioned it.

On a personal front I think people who are not originally from here encounter some of the same issues (Come From Away) but in the case of BIPOC people this can be interpreted as race driven.

Nova Scotia was the end of one of the slave railways out of the states during the civil war and as such has a large black community. Halifax is not huge but there is a good percentage of BIPOC people, some have lived here for generations.

Hope this helps.

theotherlebowski

My read of this would be that it's more likely to be a problem for a visible minority if they move to another country and resist integrating. Siloing themselves in a little slice of home community rather than reaching out and embracing their new home. nothing makes people more accepting of a different person than that person's willingness to involve themselves in their new culture.

Yes there will likely be stares (I grew up as a brown kid in the 70's/80's in a VERY white town in kent so i know what it's like to stand stand out) but if people feel that even if you look different you're just like them in how you live and behave, in the things you want for your life and family and community etc then they're likely to become more interested in your culture/ethnic background and accepting of you. it's when there's a clear divide of "we're like this and you're not" that sets up problems.

Never subsume who you are but realise that you're dropping yourself into their lives so you are the one who has to do the major adjustments to fit in with them.

scilly

One thing to remember is that every newcomer to any place may feel "out of place", and this can be even more true in the Maritimes (NS, New Brunswick, Newfoundland) when every newcomer is regarded as "come from away" ................. that applies to people from the next village 5 miles away, from another province, or from another country.

We all have to integrate ...... and I think it might be important for a person who is visible minority to realise that it isn't them particularly ............. it is not racist based as much as "not born here"

My daughter has lived in Halifax for over 20 years, moving there from British Columbia, so a real "come from away" ......... she married someone who had been born in Halifax, but few of his friends were still living in NS when he moved back. They both had to integrate, find new friends, new jobs .............. and love it now.

The fact that you speak English may well be a huge factor in settling down ............. think what it must be like for someone who doesn't speak English even though they are from Europe. That also labels them as a minority, though invisible.