The increasing diversity of Oakville

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The diversity of Oakville's 194,000 residents is increasing every year. In fact Oakville is more diverse than the province.  To support this increase, a number of changes are currently happening and will continue to happen.  These changes not only include infrastructure for the disabled, but also increasing language accessibility for our neighbours whose first language is not English.

In November 2017, Optimus Management Consulting delivered a report to the town about Oakville's diversity. It outlined how our community could become more inclusive. A staff report was presented to the Administrative Services Committee on January 22, 2018. The staff report is available on Oakville.ca.

So, what is diverstiy?

Diversity includes a range of attributes:

  1. Social
  2. Economic
  3. Racial
  4. Cultural
  5. Disability
  6. Geographic
  7. Sexual Orientation
  8. Gender orientation
  9. Religion

This is what Oakville looks like:

  1. 36 percent are immigrants
  2. 75 percent are native english/french speakers
  3. 31 per are visible minorities
  4. 15.5 percent have disabilities

Gender

  1. 52 percent are female
  2. 48 percent are male

Age

Error: these figures were derived from the staff report. 

  1. 19 percent under 14 years old
  2. 67 percent between 15 to 64 years old
  3. 17 percent 65 years old and over

Correction:

  1. 25% under 19 years old
  2. 38% between 20 to 49 years old
  3. 26% between 50 to 69 years old
  4. 11% 70 years and older

Family make-up

  1. 81 percent are married couples,
  2. 6 percent are common-law couples and
  3. 13 percent are single parent families.
  4. Average household income is $170,000
  5. 82% live in houses
  6. 55% of house-holds have children

Education

  • 66% have a post secondary education

Employment

  1. 68% are working
  2. 17% work in management
  3. 19% work in business, finance or administration
  4. 21% work in sales and service

This information was calculated from the Statistics Canada's 2016 census.

Every element that makes Oakville work has to be examined: Oakville Transit, Oakville Public Library, recreation and culture, human resources, and facilities and construction management. If changes are not made that will reflect our community, then part of our residents will feel isolated.  Accessibility makes a community feel inclusive.  In turn this creates a  healthy and vibrant community.

Town staff and councillors have a complicated task.  We need to consider carefully who is in public office. This year is an election year both provincially and municipally. Only 33 percent of Oakville residents voted, which is less than 50 percent of the eligible voters. We have seen what happens when people don't participate in democracy. Oakville is a great community. Let's make sure that it stays that way.