Did you know that... According to the 2001 Canada Census: Canada's Aboriginal population is now 4.4% of the whole, up from 3.8% in 1996. This is the second highest percentage of Aboriginal citizens in the world, behind New Zealand. Almost half, or 49%, of this population now live in urban areas, up from 47% in 1996. The proportion of foreign-born Canadians is at its highest in 70 years - though it still does not match the record high levels which prevailed during the first quarter of the last century. Canada's intake of immigrants has represented less than 1% of its total population through the nineties, while it hovered around 5% between 1911 and 1913. Nonetheless, at 18%, Canada's proportion of foreign-born citizens is the second highest in the world, topped only by Australia's 22%. In Toronto, which has received almost half of Canada's newest immigrants, about 44% of the population was born outside Canada. The vast majority of recent immigrants are visible minorities, and as such contribute to the changing makeup of Canadian society. Almost 60% of immigrants in the last ten years have come from Asia, and nearly 20% from the Caribbean, Central and South American, and Africa. Canada's visible minority population reached four million in 2001, a three-fold increase over 1981. In some urban areas, the impact is striking: Vancouver and Toronto both have 37% visible minority populations, with the largest group being Asian. Montreal is at the national average, with 13.4% visible minorities. There, because of an emphasis on French-speaking immigrants, the ethnic makeup is also different, with Blacks and West Asian groups leading. Close to 94% of immigrants settle in urban areas, compared to 64% of the total population. In short, Canada is becoming an "increasingly diverse country." SOURCE:  Canadian Council on Social Development. This website: Copyright © 2003 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher or the previous publisher of original republished materials.