THE SOCIETY

Population

In this section we attempt to provide a rough idea of the number of Blacks in Canada, as a whole, and in the province of B.C. Two types of data are included: official census statistics and unofficial population estimates. Bearing in mind the many pitfalls of enumeration — for example, problems of terminology such as “national origin, race, African, West Indian, Negro, coloured, Black”, subjective self-definitions and human biases, inadequate census-taking techniques, etc. — it is probable that most of the data presented under-estimates the real number of Blacks.

Update

In recent statistics, data has been captured based on the term “Visible Minority” which refers to whether a person belongs to a visible minority group as defined by the Employment Equity Act. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as ‘persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.’ The visible minority population consists mainly of the following groups: South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean and Japanese.

The statistics in the following tables for the years 2011 and 2016 are based on data provided based on the Visible Minority category “Black”.

Canada

Official Statistics from Census of Canada

Date of Census	Black Population	Total Population
2016	1,198,545	35,151,728
2011	945,665	33,476,688
1961	32,127	18,238,247
1951	18,020	14,009,429
1941	22,174	11,506,655
1931	19,456	10,376,786
1921	18,291	8,787,949
1911	16,994	7,206,643
1901	17,437	5,371,315
1891	Not given	4,883,239
1881	21,394	4,324,810
1871	21,496	3,689,257

Canada — Unofficial Estimates

Black Tiles in the Mosaic. Time. February 28, 1969, p. 10

“The 1961 Census counted 32,127 Negroes in Canada. However, the unofficial estimates of the Black population range as high as 80,000.”

Davis, M. & Krauter, J. The Other Canadians. op. cit. p. 40

The authors mention that in a February 6, 1967 article in the ‘Toronto Daily Star’, the Black population of Canada is estimated at being 125,000.

Winks, R. The Blacks in Canada. op. cit. pp. 493–494

“One may reasonably conclude that the total Negro population of the British North American provinces (including the West Coast) in 1860 was approximately 62,000 … in the 1960s there were at least 40,000 Blacks in Canada, including students from the West Indies and Africa.”

British Columbia

Official Statistics from Census of Canada

Date of Census	Black Population	Total Population
2016	43,500	4,664,058
2011	33,260	4,400,057
1961	1,012	1,692,082
1951	438	1,165,210
1941	Not given	817,861
1931	533	694,263
1921	249	264,046
1911	473	392,480
1901	532	178,657
1891	Not given	98,173
1881	274 (African)	49,459
1871	462	36,247

British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). Task Force on Racism Kit, Appendix 1, p. 1 (ICA)

Racial Minorities, Province of B.C. — Census 1971 Figures (provided by Statistics Canada)

Negro: 1,660

West Indian: 775

British Columbia — Unofficial Estimates

Black Community Survey. op. cit. p. 13

In 1971 the BCAACP made an ‘educated guess’ that there were 2,000 to 3,000 Blacks in British Columbia.

Kilian, C. Go Do Some Great Thing (1st edition). op. cit. p. 165

Kilian estimates that the Black population in B.C. in the late 1970s is probably ‘near 10,000.’

Kilian, C. Go Do Some Great Thing (2nd edition). op. cit. p. 143

In referring to the BCAACP Kilian writes: “Self-definition began in 1858 with the compilation of a list of 250 blacks in B.C.; a year later the ‘census’ expanded to 950.”

British Columbia

Official Statistics from Census of Canada

Cowichan

Norcross, E. The Warm Land. op. cit. p. 38

During the election of 1871, “the population of Cowichan consisted of 456 whites, 5 coloured, and 25 Chinese”.

Saltspring Island

Robson, E.B. Diaries, February 19 and 21, 1861

Robson states that 17 out of 21 houses in Ganges Harbour were occupied by “coloured families”.

Wilson, E.F. Saltspring Island B.C. op. cit. p. 24

Wilson estimates that out of a total population of about 470 in 1895 there were “40 coloured or Partly Coloured” people.

Vancouver — Official Census

Kilian, C. Go Do Some Great Thing (1st edition). op. cit. p. 165

Kilian reports that “in 1958, the census counted 2,800 (Blacks) in Vancouver alone.”

Vancouver — Unofficial Estimates

Kilian, C. Go Do Some Great Thing (1st edition). op. cit. p. 159

“A small Black community developed in the Strathcona district of Vancouver’s East End … which by 1914 probably numbered no more than 300.”

Sun. July 19, 1952, p. 15. Negroes Live Next Door.

The author of this article estimates the Black population of Vancouver as being about 700 at the time of writing.

Walhouse, Freda. Negroes in Vancouver. op. cit. p. 312

“A survey taken by the Association for the Advancement of Coloured People recorded in 1959 approximately 500 adult negroes in Greater Vancouver, about 300 of whom live within the city of Vancouver.”

Victoria — Official Census

Pilton, James W. Negro Settlement in British Columbia 1858–1871. op. cit. p. 238

The Census of Victoria and District for 1868 included 70 Black males and 57 Black females.

Victoria — Unofficial Estimates (1858 arrivals)

Colonist. September 9, 1923

S.J. Booth, a former member of the Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps, estimated that 600 Blacks arrived in Victoria.

Fawcett, E. Some Reminiscences of Old Victoria. op. cit. p. 215

Fawcett estimated that 800 Blacks arrived in Victoria.

Macfie, M. Vancouver Island and British Columbia. op. cit. p. 388

Macfie estimated that 400 Blacks arrived in Victoria.

Kilian, C. Go Do Some Great Thing (1st edition). op. cit. p. 168

In mentioning the Victoria Black People’s Society “founded in the 1970s”, Kilian estimates that there are “300 or more Blacks living in Victoria, its suburbs and the Gulf Islands.”

Yukon

“On the Trail of the Yukon’s Black Pioneers.” The Tyee, November 18, 2009, by Crawford Kilian

In this article Kilian writes: “99 Blacks lived in the Yukon in 1901. The 2006 census recorded 125.”