Differences in Neighborhood Qualities among Racial and Ethnic Groups in Canada
Authors: Fong Eric , Gulia Milena 
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the neighborhood qualities of major ethnic groups in Canada. Using data drawn from the 1991 census 2B file and special tabulations requested from the Statistics Canada, we found that the British, northern Europeans, and western Europeans live in neighborhoods with desirable social qualities without paying higher costs, even after controlling for socioeconomic status, immigration period, and generations. On the other hand, we also found that southern Europeans, Asians, and Blacks live in neighborhoods with less desirable social qualities, despite paying expensive housing costs. In particular, most neighborhood qualities of Blacks are consistently seen as least desirable.

Neighborhood qualities vary among major racial and ethnic groups in Canada. Compared to other groups, the British, northern Europeans, and western Europeans are living in neighborhoods with better social environments without paying the cost of living in neighborhoods with expensive housing. Southern Europeans, Asians, and Blacks clearly are living in neighborhoods with less desirable social environments, even when living in areas with expensive housing. In particular, the neighborhood qualities of Blacks are consistently seen as the least desirable. However, there are not the extreme spatially disadvantaged conditions for Blacks in Canada that there are in the United States. This may reflect the sociohistorical differences between Blacks in the two countries. Most Blacks in Canada immigrated after 1970, whereas Blacks in the United States have suffered from poverty, segregation, and the deliberate construction of ghettos for many years earlier.

The results further show that although neighborhood qualities of each group improve when educational levels rise and when they have been in Canada longer, the differences among groups do not decrease. In addition, the data show a consistent pattern that, although the British and other older immigrant groups do not pay a higher cost for housing, they continue to live in neighborhoods with better social environments. This pattern remains the same even when we consider the population that is Canadian‐born. The regression results suggest that the consistent difference in neighborhood qualities among groups may relate to the process that minorities, especially Blacks, are less able to translate their socioeconomic resources into better neighborhood qualities.

This study clearly shows the undeniable fact that there are persistent patterns of differences in neighborhood qualities in Canada. This stable hierarchy of neighborhood qualities may in turn strongly affect the opportunities of different groups and their future achievements. The aspirations and expectations of children living in neighborhoods with higher percentages of unemployed residents and families on welfare will definitely be affected.

The findings of this study also point out that race and ethnicity play an important part in organizing Canadian society. Although groups in general improve their neighborhood qualities with socioeconomic achievements, the patterns of differences in neighborhood qualities remain. Race and ethnicity strongly affect the social well‐being of groups in Canadian society through the unequal distribution of residential locations.

The study has suggested several directions for future research. First, there should be further study of the reasons why southern Europeans, in comparison to other European groups, live in less desirable neighborhoods. The census data employed in the current research may not be able to disentangle factors affecting the neighborhood qualities of southern Europeans. Future research could determine how much their neighborhood qualities reflect the result of involuntary or voluntary segregation. In addition, future research should employ multilevel analysis to study how segregation levels of various racial/ethnic groups at the city level relate to their socioeconomic achievements, which in turn affect their residential patterns.