Racial Concentration.— Special examples of local racial concentration may be noted in the presence of Jews to the number of 27,948 in Montreal, 18,237 in Toronto and 9,023 in Win nipeg; of Germans to the number of 10,633 in Kitchener, 9,775 in Toronto, 8,912 in Winnipeg, 4,619 in Hamilton and 2,758 in Regina; and of Chinese and Japanese in Vancouver to the num ber of 3,559 and 2,036, respectively.
Aboriginal Population.— The aboriginal population of Canada, in points of numbers, is standing still. The latest census (1916) by principal tribes is given in Table V. There has been so much admixture by intermarriage at several of the government's Indian agencies that it is impossible to classify the present Indian population completely according to tribes, and the table accounts for only 72,509. There are, however, 106,511 Indians on the official records which differentiate the Canadian Indians according to linguistic stocks. Of these 59,222 are Algonkins, 13,747 Athabascan, 595 Haida, 12,142 Iroquois, 515 Kutenai, 9,888 Salisk 1,838 Siouan, 2,834 Tsimshian, 3,230 Kwalautl-Nootka (Wabaskau) and 2,500 nomads of British Columbia unclassified.
Negro The Negro is not a problem in Canada. All told, he numbers less than 17,000. More than three-fourths are divided between Nova Scotia and the southern counties of Ontario. The latter are descend ants mainly of fugitive American slaves, but the former came originally from Jamaica, a band of negro having been brought by the British government to construct the citadel of Halifax, whence they scattered over the neighborhood. Windsor, Ontario, has over a thousand negroes and Halifax 800, and these are the largest colonies.
Oriental The problem of the Oriental immigrant calls for special remark. Against the Oriental alone at a race has Can ada reared a barrier which is intended to pre vent ingress. In the case of the Chinese, a head tax of $50 was imposed as far back as 1885. In 1901 this was increased to $100, and in 1904 to $500. So many, however, have been the opportunities for profitable labor for the China man in Canada that after a couple of years' cessation 'the movement recommenced, and over 28,000 landed in Canada, paying over half a million dollars in head tax, between 1905 and 1915. In the case of the. Japanese, the matter
was less easy of adjustment: no such means could be employed against a proud and power ful nation, the ally of the mother country. An arrangement, however, was arrived at by nego tiations, and since 1907 the arrivals of Japanese have been voluntarily limited to a few hundred a year. The Hindu immigration presented a scarcely less embarrassing problem, owing to the inter-imperial relations of the two coun tries. In all cases, the policy of the Dominion was based on the same principle — the desire not to be overstocked by a people of lower standards of living, incapable of assimilation with European races. The employing class upon the has favored the freer admission of Orientals, but labor has resolutely set its face against it, and has thus far secured the backing of public opinion.
Population and Race and language go hand in hand. By the British North American Act, 1867, the Dominion has two official languages, English and French. The province of Quebec is likewise bilingual. With the growth of the French population in Ontario, an agitation has arisen for the exten sion of the privileges conferred upon the French tongue in the schools, and the door has been opened upon a persistent and disturbing controversy. No record of the language spoken by the people was taken at the 1911 census, but in 1901 there were 3,709,370 over five years of age able to speak English and 1,514,977 able to speak French. The number of French able to speak both languages has always exceeded that of the English similarly endowed. In 1901 it was 529,552, compared with 126,078 English able to speak French. There were in 1901 1,019,261 unable to speak English, 3,213,654 unable to speak French and 160,814 (chiefly Indians and recent immigrants) unable to speak either of the official languages.