Cultures · region shelf 02 of 05
Africa in Ottawa.
The largest racialized group in this city is also the youngest and the fastest growing, and three of the ten places Ottawa's newest residents were born in are on this continent. This shelf has eight names on it and every article still to write.
Census 2021, Statistics Canada · eight names, eight unwritten articles
Shelf status
Every article on this shelf is open. The census tells us how large these communities are and how young; everything else on the page below comes from the communities themselves, and the first one to write to us goes first.
Shelf opened 28 August 2026 · the editor's inbox is open
What the census counts here.
Statistics Canada records a group called Black — 84,770 people in Ottawa, and that single category holds African and Caribbean origins together. The two lines below describe how young that group is and how fast it has grown, and the birthplace table under them is the part of it this shelf is about.
All figures · Census 2021, Statistics Canada
| Country of birth | Arrived 2016–2021 | Rank among those arrivals |
|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 1,785 | 5th |
| Burundi | 1,305 | 7th |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 1,055 | 8th |
Three of the ten countries that Ottawa's 2016–2021 arrivals were born in sit on this continent, and the group they join is the youngest in the city by more than eleven years. A community with a median age of 27.6 is a community of school runs, first apartments and Saturday leagues, and the encyclopedia is written for the people living all of that.
Census 2021, Statistics Canada · place of birth and age, city of Ottawa
The communities on this shelf.
Eight names to begin with, drawn from the birthplace tables above and from the roll-call of communities that already cook in this city. All eight articles are open, and the community that writes to us first goes next.
Stamps · every page on this shelf is still to be written
Every box on this strip: planned
A marked name has a draft you can read today · the rest wait on the community that writes first · a community missing from this shelf gets added the day it asks
Residents of Ottawa counted as Black
8.5% of the population in private households, and the largest racialized group in the city. The census holds African and Caribbean origins inside that one number, so the shelf below it and the Caribbean shelf on the index both draw from it.
Census 2021, Statistics Canada · racialized groups, city of Ottawa
What this page cannot tell you yet.
Ottawa's Somali, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Ghanaian populations each have a size, and the tables quoted above carry none of them. The category is one line for the whole group.
Stated gaps · each one names how it gets settled
Write your community's article.
Every name on this shelf is waiting for somebody inside that community to start.
Open now · the editor answers every letter
Five regions and one strand that cuts across all of them
The other shelves.
The largest group in the city.
Eight names stand on this shelf and every page behind them is blank. The first article here is written with whoever writes to us first, and it stays online long after the tents come down.