More Canadians are in inter-racial relationships, according to a new Statistics Canada report.
Canada had 289,400 mixed couples in 2006, up one-third from 2001. However, inter-racial partnerships still account for a small number of overall unions, at 3.9 per cent of couples in 2006, up from 3.1 per cent in 2001 and 2.6 per cent in 1991.
"The impact of mixed unions could be far-reaching in changing the dynamic and nature of Canada's ethnocultural diversity in future generations," Statscan said in a report released Tuesday.
As the country becomes increasingly diverse, the number of inter-racial marriages and common-law unions will continue to climb. Many believe the growing trend is evidence that multiculturalism is working in Canada because mixed unions - and biracial children - break down barriers on perhaps the most personal of levels.
Intermarriage is more far common among visible minorities born in Canada than those born elsewhere. Fifty-one per cent of second-generation Canadians (the children of immigrants) who identified as visible minorities were in a mixed union, compared to 12 per cent of immigrants. The rate was even higher among third-generation visible minorities, of whom 69 per cent were in racially mixed relationships.
Statistics Canada defines mixed unions as a couple comprised of either one visible minority and one non-minority or two members of different visible minority groups. Eighty-five per cent of mixed relationships were comprised of a visible minority and a non-minority.
Statscan said people in mixed unions were more likely to live in urban areas. In 2006, 5.1 per cent of all couples in cities were in inter-racial relationships, compared with 1.4 per cent of couples elsewhere. Vancouver had the highest proportion among metropolitan areas, with 8.5 per cent of couples in mixed relationships.
Mixed couples tend to be younger and have children living at home. As well, they are more likely to be highly educated - more than one in three people in mixed partnerships had a university degree, compared to one in five people in non-mixed couples.
The national statistics agency said Japanese were most likely to form relationships outside their ethnic group. About 75 per cent of the 29,700 couples in which at least one person was Japanese involved a pairing with a non-Japanese person, Statscan said. They were followed by Latin Americans and blacks.