Ethnic and cultural origins, 2021 Census

A mosaic of reported origins

No single origin describes the country.

In the 2021 Census of Population, 36.3 million people in private households answered the question about their ethnic or cultural origins. Canada’s Mosaic maps those answers at the smallest geography Statistics Canada publishes, colouring each dissemination area by the blend of origins reported in it.

A person may report more than one origin, so the shares in an area can total more than 100 percent. Point at any area to read what its residents reported, or search a place or a single origin.

123 of the 243 origins mapped here are the most-reported answer in at least one area of the country.

• 243 origins are mapped here, from the 250 most frequently reported origins published in the Census Profile.
• 57,932 dissemination areas cover the country. 55,499 of them show a colour; the rest are suppressed, hold too few responses to display, hold no residents, or are reserves with no 2021 count published.
• 1.6 origins were reported per person, on average, because more than one may be given. The 250 published origins were reported 56.7 million times.
• Forty-seven stories move the map to places where the reported origins change sharply.
• Colours are blended from the ethnic or cultural origins reported in each area. Related origins share a region of the palette.