Country of Birth of Parents and Ethnic Origins -- A Comparison of Reporting Patterns in the 2001 Census.

The 2001 Census of Canada has questions on the "Country of Birth of Parents" as well as the more traditional "Ethnic Origin." It has been suggested that, given the ambiguities in the ethnic origins data, they could be replaced by the country of birth of parents data. It is argued in this paper that such a decision would effectively create two classes of Canadians - True Canadians, who are primarily of Western European descent, and Immigrant Canadians, who are primarily from Southern Europe and the Third World. Specifically, the paper examines the historical continuity in the 1996-2001 ethnic origins data, the extent to which specific ethnic origins were reported by persons whose parents were born in Canada, the countries of birth of fathers and mothers, and the extent to which reported ethnic origins are associated with specific countries. Alternative data sources for some of the ethnic origins data from the Census are explored. The paper concludes with some of the ramifications for the Department of Canadian Heritage if country of birth of parents were to replace ethnic origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]