# Ethnic self-identification By [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly), 2016-08-21 assimilation, canadian, census-data, ethnicity, identity, immigration, self, self-identification, uncategorized --- How do you self-identify in terms of ethnicity? I was having a discussion last night with a few friends about ethnic self-identification. In a multicultural city like Toronto where more than half of the population was born elsewhere, it’s an interesting topic. For new immigrants, I can understand that there often remains a strong connection to the home country and culture.  However, for subsequent generations, the attachment seems to manifest itself and wane (which I think is a natural tendency) in a variety of different ways. I am sure it partially depends on how determined the parents are to preserve the lineage vs. fully assimilate. In any event, it’s a somewhat subjective phenomenon. The best [data I could find](http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/hlt/97-562/pages/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Data=Count&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=3&Display=All&CSDFilter=5000#Notes) on this is from the 2006 Canadian census (I couldn’t find anything similar from the 2011 census). However, the question on the census was not about ethnic self-identification, per se, but rather how each respondent would classify [the ancestry of their parents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_origins_of_people_in_Canada#cite_note-statcan1-3). There were a total of [31,241,030 responses](http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/hlt/97-562/pages/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Data=Count&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=3&Display=All&CSDFilter=5000#Notes). Some people gave a single response and some people selected multiple ethnic origins, which was allowed. In total, 10,066,290 people selected “Canadian.” Roughly 1/3 of the country. However, only 5,748,725 selected it as a single response. So only about 18.4% of respondents identified their parents as being _only_ Canadian. The remaining group of people who selected Canadian also selected some other ethnic origin. The reason I pick out this stat is because – to answer my own question at the beginning of this post – I would self-identify as being only Canadian. I feel no emotional attachment to any other country. I would never support any other country at the Olympics and I would never fight for any other country. In terms of my background, my father wasn’t born here and so I am 1st/2nd generation on that side, depending on how you [define 1st generation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrant_generations). However, on my mother’s side, I would be 3rd/4th generation Canadian. How do you self-identify? There’s no right or wrong answer here. --- *Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly/ethnic-self-identification)*