INVISIBLE MINORITIES

Visible minorities are concentrated in the former City of Hamilton and are all but absent in the municipality’s suburbs

AT WHAT POINT do visible minorities become invisible minorities?

It’s a pertinent, if uncomfortable, question when looking at the racial makeup of Hamilton’s suburbs.

To put it bluntly, parts of the city’s outer ring are overwhelmingly white.

Just 6 per cent of the people in Flamborough, for instance, are visible minorities. In Dundas, seven per cent of the population are visible minorities.

Nearly 3,900 people live in the rural area of Flamborough bounded by Middletown Road, Highway 8, Governor’s Road and Flamborough’s border with Brant County. Just 45 of those people are visible minorities, a rate that’s just barely above one per cent.

In the neighbouring Flamborough census tract bounded by Hwy. 8, the border with Wellington County, Gore Road and Middletown Road, there are 3,800 residents and just 55 of them are visible minorities — a rate of about 1.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, about a quarter of the people living on the Hamilton Mountain are visible minorities.

Overall, 14 per cent of the people in the five suburban communities of Stoney Creek, Glanbrook, Ancaster, Dundas and Flamborough are visible minorities, compared to 22 per cent of the people living in the former City of Hamilton. About three-quarters of Hamilton’s total visible minority population live in the former City of Hamilton.

“AT A SURFACE LEVEL we appear to be a welcoming inclusive place, but the conversation has to move beyond rhetoric and political points into meaningful actions,” said Yohana Otite, program manager for the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion. “The fact is visible minorities, whether born in Canada or outside, are more likely to be in poverty and experience discrimination.

“It shows we’re not there yet when it comes to inclusivity,” she added. “Also, visible minorities are less likely to see themselves represented in leadership, whether it’s at the city or in big institutions or the media.

“There should be a real effort to move toward true inclusion.”

Not all of Hamilton’s visible minorities are immigrants or refugees, but many of them are. The unequal distribution of visible minorities through the city is more a question of economic opportunities and economic barriers.

“What do these communities offer in terms of affordable housing or jobs, are they easy for commuting?” said Otite.

“From my experience, if you are an immigrant, especially a visible minority and you see a community where there isn’t a lot of diversity, you don’t necessarily want to go there because you don’t want your kids, for example, to go to a school where they’re the only one who is a visible minority because they will most likely experience discrimination.”

Otite, 39, emigrated from Ethiopia to Hamilton in 2007 to join her husband, who was already here.

She arrived in Canada with more advantages than some other immigrants. She has a master’s degree in literature and communications and she could speak English.

“So I didn’t have a problem navigating the system,” Otite said.

But she still faced challenges. Yohana is a shortened and Westernized version of her proper first name. She found when she was sending out résumés with her proper first name, she wasn’t getting any callbacks.

“You have to do that kind of tweaking,” Otite said. “I don’t like doing it but it’s kind of a survival thing.”

Spreading services around could help better integrate the city and its suburbs, Otite said.

“Most of the settlement services are located in the downtown area,” she said.

She also would like to see newcomers to Hamilton become politically integrated into the city.

“Newcomers should learn about our political system and how our democracy works early,” said Otite. “Even if they can’t vote right away, that engagement should start sooner.”

The proportion of visible minorities in Hamilton has more than doubled over the past 20 years, rising from 9 per cent to 19 per cent in 2016.

But Hamilton still lags far behind the rest of the province when it comes to the rate of visible minorities.

A visibly diverse city is actually a strength, said Otite.

“Having diversity has always been connected to positive outcomes,” she said. “By advancing equality and equity, a city like Hamilton can benefit from diversity, and the diverse skill sets that come with diverse cultures.”

“The fact is visible minorities, whether born in Canada or outside, are more likely to be in poverty and experience discrimination.”

YOHANA OTITE Program manager, Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion