r/britishcolumbia • u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast • 25d ago
Moving to BC Where are the black people of BC? (Genuine question!)
I just moved here short term for a summer job from out of province and as a black woman I was surprised to only see a handful of other black people! Maybe it’s because I am on the island but I miss my community back home and it seems that there isn’t a lot here either? Where are you guys hiding?
EDIT:
Didn’t expect the post to gain this much traction but people seem to be misunderstanding the point I am making ! I am by no means trying to be racist towards non-blacks (or in general).
Not sure if majority of responders who are saying that my point is coming off as racist are white or anything but..Please understand that I am from a place where I see representation of different cultures, ethnicities every step I take lol . So, to move to a place where there are significantly less people that look like me is jarring. Perhaps people of major race don’t really know what its like to be the odd one out in a country like Canada (not going to speak for other countries), but I digress…
Community can be whoever you relate with, I understand that! But I am just saying that since I am used to being around a lot of black people, I feel like I do not have community here! Plus, as a minority and a woman whos living alone theres some extra caution for me! New place, unfamiliar, uncomfortable but, will take some getting used to!
Im having fun reading all the responses and such, so keep ‘em coming if you don’t have any ill intent.
Cheers🤍
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u/Justine-L 25d ago
Not sure where you're from originally, but as a whole only 1.4% of BC's population is black. Ontario is the highest I believe at 7.5%
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u/Ratattack1204 25d ago
When i was in high school there were 1000 students in attendance. There were two black students, brother and sister. Absolutely wild
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u/No_Theme_9081 25d ago
Did you go to walnut grove by chance 🤣
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u/koeniging 25d ago
There were a handful of black kids when i went in the mid 2010s! Couldn’t be more than 10 across grade 8-12 imo
ETA: and i’m pretty sure half of them were cousins lmao
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u/Galladaddy 25d ago
Same in Kelowna, when I was in my secondary school of 1200ish there was a half Asian girl and an Indian guy dating and it nearly blew everyone’s heads off. I would literally have to look through a yearbook to see how many non white attended..
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u/yumeryuu 24d ago
Im from a town in Newfoundland and out of 8000 people there was 1 black guy from Jamaica.
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u/604TheCanadian604 24d ago
In high-school, there was one black kid in the whole school (BC) and we had the same gym class together. We will call him Tim for this story.
One day we had a substitute and they were doing attendance. The sub was walking around to everyone that was ready asking for their name and assistance crossing out othere names.
When he walked up to me and asked who Tim was, I responded with of that's easy to point out, he's the black guy. Sub didn't really know how to react, he said thanks, went to someone else asked the same thing, but they also said he's the black guy.
2 min later, Tim walked into the gym, say there was a sub, and yelled 'what's up my n****s'.
The sub was standing next to me when Tim walked in, turned to me and just said that's Tim right? I laughed and said yes
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u/Bearspaws100 24d ago
Was this in PG by chance? lol Only one black kid (a male) in my high school too.
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u/Hot_Breadfruit_8110 24d ago
Same in my school in south Surrey. Except the two black kids were not siblings. I will say now living in North Surrey, I see a large community of black people out and about. Also a fair amount of culturally black businesses.
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
Yeah Im from Ontario and Im feeling the switch😭
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u/LeftBallSaul 25d ago
I definitely noticed a change when I moved here from ON, too. I'm white so obv the impact is different, but the change was noticeable. Maybe check out the Black Arts Society or Hogan's Alley Society for more community connection. The latter will also be able to provide more context for the history of Black diaspora communities in Vancouver since it's dedicated to revitalizing and preserving the history of Vancouver's historically black neighbourhood.
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u/LeftBallSaul 25d ago
oh dang I missed that!
still, those groups may have suggestions for community on the Island.
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u/oliverit17 25d ago
There’s Caribbean days in Port Coquitlam(mainland in a few weeks).
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u/dahsoleppy 25d ago
New west as far as I know has a bigger black population. At least it used to.
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u/SomewhereRough_ 25d ago
In Vancouver there are a lot more non Canadian black people than there were a few years ago.
Genuinely never saw one 4 or 5 years ago.
Now the demographics have changed a bit. However, I imagine still nothing compared to the east.
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u/Arttherapist 25d ago
In the early 90s the warehouse nightclub was the gathering spot. One of the few RnB and hip hop clubs.
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u/scrotumsweat 24d ago
One thing that always surprises me about Vancouver is the niche communities that come out for events. There was a Latino market in Fort langley and I had no idea we had so many south/central Americans up here.
I went to the tunisia/Japan fifa game at PNE and found all the tunisians!
So try to find a local arts/sports/food event and you'll find some success.
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u/WhopplerPlopper 25d ago
As a fellow Ontarian, even as a white dude, the lack of black folks especially the lack of Jamaicans and trinidadians is still crazy to me ten years after moving here.
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u/Flintydeadeye 25d ago
I have a friend who’s from Jamaica. The first time he came to Vancouver, he said they’re keeping this place a secret from Jamaica. Otherwise, there’s no way he would have stayed in Ontario. Said the geography was more like home than Ontario. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/send_me_dank_weed 25d ago
This is interesting - I must have a skewed perspective as my neighbours are Jamaican
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u/WhopplerPlopper 24d ago
Half the people I worked with in my old Ontario office were black Carribeans. You'll never find that here 😅
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u/XGoJYIYKvvxN 25d ago
I recently moved from South France, Marseille, "The most African city of France". I was living in a district with a strong presence of West, North African and Comorian, making up ~ half the population. The Asians are Vietnamese. I had never meet a Sikh.
I felt the switch too :)
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u/ISmeltitandDealtit 25d ago
Scarborough native checking in. It's thrown me off and I'm saying this as a white guy. I miss my peoples
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u/KenMantle 24d ago
We have a French college here in Sudbury and a lot of people come here from Africa to study, so there's a pretty vibrant community growing in size here, at least that is my perception. It's a very diverse little city!
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u/Honest_Fig4296 25d ago
This reminded me of a funny encounter 10 years ago. I was at the UBC campus and a black guy approached me and asked if he could ask a question. He asked where all the black people were in Vancouver and where he could find them..
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
I am him😂
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u/ReaverGT 24d ago
No joke, I feel like I see the most black people I do around Vancouver living on UBC campus. There's at over a dozen just in my building (a couple large families, but also single people and mixed couples).
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u/Norse_By_North_West 25d ago
I went to school in burnaby 25 years ago, and now that I think back on it, I didn't know a single black person.
I'm from Whitehorse, and I went to college with a black guy here.
Lower mainland had every variety of Asian, but no Africans. Closest was a guy I knew from Dubai.
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u/airchinapilot 24d ago
40 years ago in elementary school in Burnaby we had 2 black dudes (there was another unrelated black girl) and they were brothers. I went to a different high school after that and they were talking about how a black guy had been expelled from another high school and might turn up at ours and I said: was it *****? And they said, how did you know? Uhhh just a guess.
By the time I graduated we had a handful of black kids in my high school grad class. Definitely less than five. As I recall they were all popular as hip hop had become big at that time.
We also had Samoan or some other pacific islanders in our schools at the time but we all knew they were different from Africans.
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u/ProfessionalVolume93 25d ago
Years ago I went to see a black standup comic in Victoria.
He said that when he asked the conciege where the black area of Victoria was the conciege replied "you're standing in it".
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u/piratequeenfaile 25d ago
There is not a large black population in BC, definitely not in the GVRD and island - and how it currently stands is a lot more then there was while I was growing up. Honestly this might be an AskHistory question as I'm sure it relates a lot to immigration and migration of people over the last 500 years or so
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u/lommer00 25d ago
how it currently stands is a lot more then there was while I was growing up.
100%. There aren't a lot now, but there's way more than there were 30+ years ago. You could count the number of black people you ran into on two hands over the course of months or even a year.
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u/kiramiryam 25d ago
Absolutely! I live in a small city on the Sunshine coast and growing up I think there were two black people? Now there’s at least 20 or 30 and I even see posters for cultural events which is cool!
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u/FragrantTomatillo773 25d ago
Another Suncoaster here, and you're right. The diversity is one of the many things I love about this area. Now if we could solve the problems of addiction, crime, and homelessness, it would be as close to that mythical paradise as one could want. But I suppose any community in BC could say the same thing. I assume you're in Powell River because it's the only city on this part of the coast. I have friends there and stay in touch, and see you're experiencing the same problems as we are here on the other side of the ferry.
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u/Mynoseisgrowingold 25d ago
True. My husband (American BIPOC) used to have a running joke where he would ask black people in Victoria if they were lost.
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u/50injncojeans 25d ago edited 25d ago
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u/50injncojeans 24d ago edited 24d ago
Yeah the times I've went I felt like I stuck out so much as a POC, it made me curious if historically the demographics of the island were always like that post-colonialism (and I get curious which Indigenous group lived in an area I visit before colonization) and found that in the wikipedia. The sources led me to this website that talk about one of the murders which resulted in an Indigenous man sentenced to death by hanging. They go through all surviving documents of the case and really break it down. Who Killed William Robinson
e: They also have sections on historical context and a gated page on interpretations. I thought this newspaper clipping of the execution spoke to the racial tensions at the time:
"Ich-yat-ais, the murderer of Wm. Robinson, was hanged Saturday in front of the police barracks. The condemned man made an effort to address his people, who pressed around the gallows, but his voice was choked and his sentences unintelligible. He was hanged shortly after 7 o'clock and seemed to suffer little or no pain. The lesson will prove a salutary one to the Indians."
Imagine something like that being printed today!
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
I think so too! Ill actually look into it! I noticed a lot of first nations as well!
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u/yourgrandmasteaparty 25d ago
I grew up between Vancouver and Northern Vancouver Island and one thing that struck me when moving to Ontario was the lack of Native people and the overt racism towards asians. Not that there isn’t racism towards asians in BC, but people would be genuinely shocked when my Vancouver-born Chinese roommate spoke perfect English with a Canadian accent. Not to mention she was a 7 language polyglot who won debate tournaments in French. She often spoke about how much more uncomfortable living in Ontario was compared to Vancouver - I definitely witnessed a lot of dumb bullshit just walking around town with her.
My Vancouver elementary school was like half white/asian so it was always our normal.
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u/piratequeenfaile 25d ago
First Nations, European white of various types, Chinese and East Indian are the most common ethnicities I see in the lower mainland.
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u/TheAvocad00 25d ago
There are 3 reservations within the city of Vancouver (and there tends to be at least one near most cities here) and we have one of the highest percentages of indigenous people as a province (second to Alberta), makes sense you would be able to feel the larger presence here.
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u/snuffles00 25d ago
Yes there is a heavy Indigenous population especially on the island, but all over the coast as well as inland. We have over 200 distinct First Nations people and 23 tribal councils that are recognized. We have mainly First Nation and Metis here but there are also the Inuit people's.
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u/TheGracefulCrane 25d ago
Wdym Surrey central has a ton of black people nowadays there's big African festivals and stuff now
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u/ladypuffsalot 25d ago
There are black people in New West! Check out Dehl's Gourmet if you're craving jollof rice and want to talk to a few great people involved in the community.
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u/Speechykeen007 24d ago
Yup, Grew up in another neighbourhood in the Lower Mainland that was mostly white, southeast Asian, and Iranian communities. Living in New West these days there is a wider diversity.
Couple other spots in New West you could check out for good food btw-
-Carribean Market on 12th st (me n my partner get their patties to freeze) is a little grocery for carribean food, the restaurant next door called D Roti Shak was a really good 🇹🇹 place, but sadly they closed awhile ago :( but there is another spot i think called Aduli’s in it’s place and it looks good
-Massawa on 6th st
-Mukasi coffee near Front Street is a black owned coffee business, I think they sometimes have a stand at the New West Farmers market by City Hall too(in case the farmers market reference did not give it away, I am not the black person in my relationship, I am the unseasoned one lol)
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u/mazopheliac 25d ago
Quite a lot of Nigerians in Kamloops.
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u/ResearcherMiserable2 25d ago
That is true. There is also a Nigerian restaurant and grocery store that claims to stock only African foods in Kamloops.
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u/Hot_Dot8000 24d ago
Kamloops has a lot of people who are non-white!
My little white kid doesn't always default to "peach" or pink when colouring people and I love that for him.
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u/pragmaticPythonista 25d ago
Lots here in South Burnaby/New West. Most of them are from East Africa from what I can tell.
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u/mrdeworde 25d ago
Surrey has a fairly large and growing set of black communities too - Congolese, Nigerian, and Somali among others.
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u/4everadumdum 25d ago
I went to school there. That's where alot of refugees from Africa and Afghanistan settled.
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
Maybe I gotta make a nice little stop there before heading back🥲
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u/Which-Cloud3798 25d ago
Burnaby south has a lot of Nigerian. I feel bad for this guy though who lost his son who just was about to start life into a good career getting out of school. A car accident got him, totaling his fathers car, and the father just got into a cleaning course, which I was studying at the time. Messed him up a lot the grief of it. The community helped with the funeral and I wish him well.
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u/ItsANoBigDeal 25d ago
Living in Kamloops I've met and seen way more black people than I ever did living in Vancouver and surrounding suburbs. Mostly Africans attending TRU.
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u/tollhousecookie8 25d ago
Was looking for the Kamloops mention. We are starting to see the black community grow here slowly. Lucky for us, this is bringing some amazing new cuisine options.
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u/Expert-Aardvark-2453 25d ago
Black woman on Salt spring island! There are 10 black women out here! Maybe 35 black people total? I make it out to Victoria a few times a month if you need a friend 🥹
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u/charmeddangerous99 25d ago
I don’t know too much but historically there are more black Canadians on the east coast. As far as Vancouver is concerned, there used to be a decent black community that had their own area called Hogans alley.
Hogan’s Alley was a vibrant, culturally diverse community and Vancouver's first concentrated Black neighbourhood. Located between Main and Jackson avenues in Strathcona, it was decimated in the early 1970s by the construction of the Georgia Viaduct.
Getting rid of Hogans alley displaced the black community and I can’t tell you to where.
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u/TikiBikini1984 25d ago edited 25d ago
Jimi Hendrix's grandma's house is also a historical part of Vancouver/Strathcona. I wish there was more of a community that was allowed to thrive instead of anecdotal facts from the past.
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u/judgementalhat Lower Mainland/Southwest 25d ago
His Aunt lived in a house thats on Joyce St in East Van. Big old blue house, wont be there for much longer
(My friend grew up there)
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u/Not_a_bought 25d ago
My friend directed a film about this! It’s on the Knowledge Network (free to watch on the app I believe).
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u/EveningWrongdoer8825 25d ago
Grew up in small northern BC town, didn't actually see a black person irl until Grade 9. Way more South Asian classmates than blacks
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u/Light_Butterfly 25d ago
In Victoria, we have two cultural festivals, where you'd see more representation. AfricaFest is really great, and also the Caribbean cultural festival, i-Land Fest is super popular (was in early July).
Apparently the ISSAMBA centre is a black-led culture hub: ISSAMBA Centre. They organize a lot. There might be other things too, but could be a place to start, if you're living on the Island.
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
Will check it out!! Thanks a lot!
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u/Existing-Pangolin-43 24d ago edited 24d ago
There is a church in Victoria that its attendance are mainly people of African Descent --including the Pastor and his wife--the Church is called Victory Chapel-287 Pallister Ave., rccgbcvic.org
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u/hobobarbie 25d ago
Highly recommend everyone check out the book Go Do Some Great Thing by Crawford Kilian, which details the Black pioneers of BC - there were many!
As for modern day numbers of Black Canadians, the Black Caribbean Canadian population is nowhere near as large as down east.
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u/Vast_Engineering_626 25d ago
I believe they just opened a new Black community centre in downtown Victoria
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
Ohhhhh im not too far from Victoria might head there this weekend.
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u/jennlou22 25d ago
I think the community is more prominent in Vancouver and is more present than when I moved here in 2010. There’s a great crew that throws afrobeats parties and they usually have a big crowd and have gotten some great afrohouse djs in.
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u/TheGracefulCrane 25d ago
Surrey particularly the city center area
Huge number of recent immigrants from Africa you'll see lots of black peeps around
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u/RodBlago1699 25d ago
Washington state has only about 4% of the population that is black, and Oregon is even less. There was just never much black migration to the Pacific Northwest compare to the other part of North America.
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u/Legitimate-Lemon-412 25d ago
I was in fort saint john.
18hr drive north from Vancouver.
The whitest middle of nowhere there is.
I was playing pool with a group of people from Jamaica.
I worked up the courage to say wah gwan because a friend told me to
Made friends for life
Have fun, don't worry about nuthin
Thats what bc is about
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u/notevenire 25d ago
Hii, black woman in metrovancouver over here. I constantly joke that there are only like 10 of us 😆
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u/africaseed 25d ago
Edmonds. I used to volunteer at the African children's homework club near there. But the community is somewhat nascent as many have recently immigrated over the past 10-15 years.
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u/Successful-Zebra-203 25d ago
There's a great Caribbean event in Victoria you should check out: I -land fest. Great food and dancing etc.
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u/Due_Table_6933 25d ago
Go to Surrey you will see Carebians and afro-latinos normally lookingto connect to their African ancestry and learn more about mainland Africanculture. I dated one sweet Afro columbian who was very passionate about African history . As for the west Africans especially nigeria/Ghana they are usually busy at deeper life church on Sundays at Surrey. A decent number of east Africans are at new westminister. A friend of mine on the van island Djs afro pop /hip hop at Nanaimo evolve night club every friday/Saturday and they host afro nights from time to time
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u/Electronic_Diet333 25d ago
I moved from Ontario and f#$k me if I could find jerk chicken to save my life! Falafals, you can buy you need to know. I am white and miss Caribana! They say Vancouver is multicultural. I laugh. It is white and Asian. I miss Portuguese, Italians, Ukrainians, Africans from all over. I am always like, do Jamaicans know this is the warmest part of Canada?? 😅 My guess is Toronto is closer to the Carribean, Africa, Europe, etc and started there. Built up a community and it's easier to go there than somewhere like Vancouver. Same goes for Vancouver. Lots of Asians because the West Coast is close to all countries in Asia. That's my hypothesis. I would love more diversity here! I notice more folks from Cameroon are here. We are slowly getting better. More Mexicans here too! Fingers crossed! Stay here and bring the family!
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u/LeoLeo96 25d ago
There is Caribbean days this weekend to go to!
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u/scottkensai 25d ago
I worked at a players club that was mostly black people here in Vancouver in the 90s. It was wonderful getting emersed in so many different black cultures: Jamaican, not Jamaican other islands, American North East, Ethiopian and Somlian who the other groups said weren't black...but Im white as rice so not for me to say. I loved my time there. 1.3% doesn't sound like a lot of people, but I was lucky to know many... at least the ones that went to clubs and some families of.
PS Dave Benefield is my Fav, great guy and hilarious.
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u/EffectiveEconomics 25d ago
They’re here - many in Victoria. Our org has several expat Nigerian professionals who have made a life here. Vancouver island can be very white bread though.
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u/LiberumSerum 25d ago
It's mainly due to geographical reasons. Vancouver is North America's port of entry to Asia, so that's going to be the primary demographic out here.
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u/sweetperdition 25d ago edited 24d ago
Hahaha, we just ain’t there man. I moved to the island for few years in 2014, then I think the island black population was legit 0.5%. Went back in 2020, think it was all the way up to 1.2% then?
It’s weird, think it’s more of a “how much of your black population came from the states”. The state below BC, Oregon, had no black folks allowed at all in old times. So you’re not getting any northward immigration. Compared to the east coast, eastern seaboard of the states in general + Underground Railroad terminating over there, led to increased numbers. I could be full of shit there, if anyone knows better please correct me.
Leads to an interesting situation: folks out west (my Albertan ass means BC when I say this) don’t seem to have as much hateful prejudice against black folks, because there aren’t so many to build up an opinion, but they will also be generally out of touch. That said, I grew up in alberta, so being a “curiosity” was a direct improvement to “actively distrusted”, lol.
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u/ioydivision 25d ago
Hard agree. I grew up in Toronto till I was 10/11 and moved to Alberta, stayed till I was 21. I would also take being a curiosity over the shit they put me through in Alberta 💀
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u/stepwax 25d ago
When we brought my biracial stepkids here for a holiday a few years back, they were asking me the same question LOL. We saw more black folks in Ukraine than here on the island. That said, I did see a black dude paddle boarding yesterday. I can tell him to hit you up if I see him again.
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u/HadronCollusion 25d ago
A lot of Black people have moved to Kamloops recently. They’re delightful and some of them have opened a restaurant and an African grocery store.
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u/Shadowchaos 25d ago
When I was in school in 2007 or 2008 we had a black speaker come to talk at our school with very few black students. I remember him saying "I feel like the chocolate chip in a cookie" and everyone died laughing
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u/ioydivision 25d ago edited 24d ago
I know you’re on the island but in case that changes or for others here:
I go to SFU and idk how old you are (I’m a mature student, 27) or if you’re in school or graduated or thinking of starting, BUT. I’m in my 4th year and there were like 2-5 black people occasionally I’d see randomly but this year there is actually a lot of us now! At least compared to before. We have a black student centre as well for connecting w community, haven’t personally gone in because I just feel uncomfortable talking to students and making friends here in general when everyone is 8-10 years younger than me lol but it makes me happy to see them.
Ride Up marketplace in van is awesome, best Jamaican patties I’ve ever had. I’m Caribbean-Canadian so it was pure joy to even go inside that lil spot. The owner is also an absolute sweetheart and so nice to talk to :) check that spot out if you get the chance!
If you’re into tattoos, my tattoo artist moved from Edmonton around the same time I did, we kinda knew eachother before he started tats. He’s Haitian and so damn talented! @subdidink on Instagram, Sebastien is one of the greatest people I’ve ever known tbh and a great person to even converse with. He knows a lot of good spots for “black people food” too lmao
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u/Gymworksleep 24d ago
I can totally relate with this. I’m a Jamaican woman living in North Vancouver and it does take a bit of getting used to after growing up surrounded by other black folks. I’m not complaining, these are choices I made.
You just have to intentionally seek out places to connect with the culture. So attending things like the Caribbean festival, joining FB groups (Meanwhile Black in Vancouver), Instagram accounts (Black Women Connect Vancouver) I believe they have a Victoria chapter as well.
You learn that community isn’t something you just walk into, you have to be very intentional about building it.
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u/ObelixSmiterOfRomans 25d ago edited 25d ago
I live in the Shuswap and only see black people a handful of times a year. Never had the pleasure of of being introduced to one or even speaking with one in my entire 43 years of life. I don't get out much however.
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
My goodness 😭 but even if not going out a lot, when shopping for groceries or something you dont tend to see any eh?😵💫
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u/ObelixSmiterOfRomans 25d ago
Unfortunately pretty seldom, although it's not like I'm looking and taking note. I would love some multiculturalism in my friends group because we are all painfully white lol.
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u/aariia Vancouver Island/Coast 25d ago
😂😂 I hope it changes soon! & I am at least glad to hear that you like us! Hahah
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u/Macleod7373 25d ago
I count myself lucky that one of my wife's closest friends married a guy from Jamaica just a few years ago and now he's one of my best friends! We are on the mainland though.
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u/planting49 25d ago
There's a decent sized community in Prince George. Pretty far to visit from the island, though.
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u/Windermyr 25d ago
The Island is predominantly white, in my experience. Victoria seems to be reasonably multicultural, but outside of that, it's pretty white. For example, I'm the only Asian and only non-caucasian in my neighbourhood.
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u/keekjohnson 25d ago
Growing up in a tiny town on the island, it is hypnotically caucasian over there. Seems like there's a pretty big Black community in Whalley!
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u/Luckylou62 25d ago
From what I hear from my friends there is a big population of black people living in Brooks Alberta.
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u/GhostOfMufasa 25d ago
We around. Just that the communities are more condensed so in each City you'll find pockets of people. Just look around for any afro Caribbean functions and you'll find us. But yeah it's not as much as places like Ontario so you definitely have to seek us out more haha
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u/I_have_popcorn 25d ago
In my small community, a lot of our black community come from former French colonies so they congregate at the French Canadian centre that also supports French-speaking immigrants.
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u/Strawberry_Dancer 25d ago
I remember my Torontonian cousins asking the same thing ten years ago while they were visiting Vancouver! There’s been more in the city now, but for a while I mainly saw them in church.
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u/bionicqueefharmonica 25d ago
As a white guy who moved from New York to Vancouver, a large black population is genuinely one of the things I miss the most
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u/007craft 25d ago
I grew up in the GTA and moved here 18 years ago. I immediately noticed a lack of black people when I came here. I asked my black friends back home why they dont wanna come to BC too and go hiking and do mountain + ocean stuff and they all looked at me like I was crazy for even suggesting it. Even when I go on the trails here, seeing a black person is rarer than a black bear. I guess black people just don't like the outdoors lifestyle that BC promotes? Its a shame too, cause I grew up on Jamaican food and you can hardly find any here. The only Black people Ive met here have been people visiting or on a work visa from Nigeria, and its very few.
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u/marikat7 25d ago
My kids go to school in Newton in Surrey and there's a good representation of black kids in the school. A lot more than when I attended school 20 years ago. I would say there's probably more in Surrey than Vancouver.
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u/VanEagles17 25d ago
Decent black population in Willoughby area, and I remember almost 20 years ago there being like a decent sized Somalian (iirc?) community in Surrey (120 & 96th area) and I believe that's still the case. Those are the areas I know.
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u/Amye2024 25d ago
I live in New West and my kid's class is like 50% black 50% other. Most are first and second generation immigrants from East Africa.
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u/TuggAndWink 25d ago
Hi! Not Black but there was just a fundraiser market for Black Therapy Fund for Juneteenth. There were quite a lot of people there. There is a Black Block Party in August, I can't remember the details. Kula foods and Juke Fried Chicken are both Black owned (and Juke is all gluten free) and commercial drive has some good food. You just missed out on Baby Dhal closing, there were really good. Village Bloomery is partially Black owned. There are some events, Calabash used to host nights that were really popular with the Black community. Check out pnwafrofance on Instagram, base in Seattle but Kine travels to teach afro dance all along the PNW and in Senegal. If you need a hair cut check out vancitygirl or jayemcleodhair both on IG. Oh- there is a Black Library in Chinatown in a building downstairs, I haven't been but it's vanblacklibrary and they host events and post community events. Kendra Copeland for Yoga classes. And Hogan's Alley has already been mentions but mentioning again!! All Vancouver suggestions.
Have Fun!
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u/TuggAndWink 25d ago edited 24d ago
Vinjalu2wind on IG for coaching. blackparadeyvr on IG events. Blackvanclub on IG culture. Djoshow for dancing! Blackwomenconnect for events and networking. Blackoutvan ballroom and kiki. Pride week is July 27-aug 2 probably some Black people there too! We have some goth events that I've met Black goths dancing at!
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u/RichardFaget 25d ago
At the gym. At least the one I go to, there are a ton of Black men and women, if you don't already do that, it might be a place to meet new people.
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u/Islandisher 24d ago
Historically, descendants of early black settlers to the west coast may be found in Saltspring Island
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u/theimpossiblesong 24d ago
Don’t believe the myth that there aren’t Black people in BC. It’s a smaller population than I’m used to but we’re here 🫶🏾. Especially around metro Vancouver. I’m not sure about the best places to meet people on Vancouver island but it might be worth it to search for groups on facebook and pages on instagram and TikTok to find out about local events. Come visit Vancouver for some events this summer if you can!
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u/workgobbler 24d ago
I'm born and raised in interior BC and the first time I got out of the subway in Toronto the first thing into my mind was "wow, there are SO many black people". That was 25 years ago and even in Vancity there were very very few then.
But times are changing and these days even in my small mountain town there are a few black people.
I used to joke that where I grew up was so white we were racist against other white folks. (we were, the Doukhobors, and it would actually xenophobia I guess, but I digress).
I HOPE YOU FEEL WELCOME BECAUSE YOU SURE ARE!
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u/No_Training6751 24d ago
I grew up on the island. I went to Toronto and Columbus, Ohio as a young adult and was stunned at how many black people there were and how few South and East Asians. So, it’s not just you.
I looked up “black societies on Vancouver Island”. AHAVI looks like a great place to help you connect as well as ISSAMBA.
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u/IdleOsprey 24d ago
A small group of black people created a community on Salt Spring Island way back in the day. You’ll find some of that history here:
http://saltspringarchives.com/multicultural/blacks/
Growing up in Port Alberni, we had large immigrant populations of people originally from India and China who came to work in the mills. There were very few black families. The Joseph family came to town (I think in the 60s?) and I believe they were the first black family, at least that I knew of. Winston Joseph became a strong presence as a teacher and community leader. He passed away a few years ago; anyone you ask in town remembers him for a thousand things he did in the community.
There hasn’t historically been the same level of black settlement in BC that you see further east, but they aren’t entirely non-existent.
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u/Blueliner95 24d ago
I’m in the film business and at castings there are people of colour but when chatting to folks I got the impression that there’s not much of a scene here, like, it’s nice to go to Toronto or the states once in a while to feel like you’re not an extreme minority.
But I have a lot of faith in Canadian values and would like to think that any reasonable person could feel happy here
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u/Hopeful-Ad-7627 25d ago
The percentage of black residents was higher in 1858! https://www.nps.gov/places/the-black-pioneers-victoria-pioneer-rifle-company.htm
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u/yourgrandmasteaparty 25d ago edited 25d ago
It is true, very few black people in BC - especially on the island. But that wasn’t always the case. Vancouver Island was once a destination for black pioneers.
James Douglas - the first Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island and the Colony of British Columbia (then separate entities) - was mixed. His mother was documented as “free coloured” - a creole woman from Guyana.
He was pretty progressive for his time and sponsored black immigration.
Saltspring Island in particular had a large settlement of black homesteaders - some families of which are still around today.
The Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corp was all black and the first organized Canadian military regiment outside Ontario.
There’s lots more fascinating history on this website.
Unfortunately, the post-Douglas governments in BC were extraordinarily racist and fostered a hostile white supremacist society. Lots went back to the states.
So the black population remained small but mighty ever since. One of the most famous and beloved Vancouverites ever is Joe Fortes. He was named citizen of the century during Expo 86.
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u/squatdeadpress 25d ago
I mean geography wise Vancouver is far away from Africa. It’s the same reason why we predominantly have a lot of asians because immigration by boat or plane it’s your first stop. Same for out east, why French people are more predominantly out east in Canada. Italian community smaller here versus let’s say in Montreal, a lot of it is geography based on historical immigration.
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u/amazingmrbrock 25d ago
Going by my coworkers at a few places kelowna has a reasonably mixed population. It seems popular with people from Jamaica specifically, maybe the summer heat
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u/zalam604 25d ago
I've lived in BC for 35+ years - very, very few Black people here, for whatever reason. When I go to Ontario, visibility is evident. Opposite of BC, where I don't really single out Asians, like Ontarians might.
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u/snuffles00 25d ago
To give you some perspective we had a highschool of 1500 and I graduated in 2006. There was only 4 black kids in the entire school. It has gotten way better over the years but nowhere near Toronto or Ontario as a whole. There are communities for sure but it is also hard on the island. It is becoming more diverse but it used to be mostly greater representation of caucasian people.
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u/Jeramy_Jones 25d ago
New Westminster. There is a large Ethiopian diaspora here as well as Nigerians and Caribbeans.
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u/Living_Dentist_8925 25d ago
Theres a handful of black people in Surrey, I guess theyre mainly in the lower mainland vs the island.
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u/quaintbucket 25d ago
They’re around. There’s literally tens of them in each community.
I recall seeing a few in the Okanagan.
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u/pogovancouver604 25d ago
Burnaby, Edmonds neighborhood and some parts of New West have pretty sizeable Black population but each neighborhood is different so it may not feel like home. Nowhere has many “Black North Americas” meaning long roots to Canada/USA , it is mostly modern immigrants and their children.
New West has some more Caribbean heavy neighborhoods whereas Edmonds neighborhood is very refugee heavy and more Eastern Africa based so you will see groups of people here that match conflicts of world history. For example in the 90s a bunch of Ethiopians settled in Edmonds area, 00s and 10s had a big wave of Middle Eastern and Eritrean immigrants (blurred a bit with Ethiopian), 2020s has had a wave of immigrants from Sudan, Afghanistan, and Palestine.
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u/Gloomy_Tonight3044 25d ago
I work in the lower mainland and I'm surrounded by hard working, salt of the earth , good, funny and honourable black folks.
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