[ZeroGravitas]

> The US was 3% hispanic in 1960 and 84% white.

Maybe the hispanic people were younger, and had more children (I believe the facts back me up here)? Maybe their religion encouraged this? Maybe hispanic immigrants wanted to go to a nation that already had 3% hispanic population and that was geographically closer to their home nation? Maybe they could trace their family roots over the border?

You appeared to making a relative claim about US and Canadian immigration policy? I thought you were implying that if Canada had an immigration policy like the USA then it would also have 12% black population and that because it doesn't then it's somehow bad and/or cheating?

You'd have to estimate what percentage of African immigrants would have made it into the USA (in the years it wasn't illegal of course) and then substract some kind of modifier similar to the Hispanic immigration, where African immigrants may wish to move somewhere where there already were people who looked like them. And then compare those numbers to see whether Canada was really being exclusionary towards Africans relative to the USA.

[adventured]

> I thought you were implying that if Canada had an immigration policy like the USA then it would also have 12% black population

I was implying Canada would have far more black people today than a mere 2.x% of its population, if its immigration policy wasn't extremely exclusionary. There is a six fold gap in that percentage with the US. There is a ~15 fold gap in the hispanic percentage.

I would like to see you explain how the Americas can be ~72% hispanic, while Canada is 1.x% hispanic, while the US has allowed in vast Latin American immigration over the last 60 years, if it's not due to Canada being anti-diversity. The touted diversity premise doesn't make any sense given the demographic facts of Canada and the facts about its immigration policies.

If Canada is pro-diversity, why aren't the hispanic numbers dramatically higher given the context in the rest of the Americas? Why doesn't Canada abandon its regressive skill & education based immigration system and allow in millions of Latin American immigrants?

[ZeroGravitas]

I thought we'd established that lots of African-American's ancestors were brough here as slaves? Saying the Canadian rate is 6 times less is meaningless without accounting for that starting state (and the impacts it has on later immigration).

Something like 60% of hispanics in the US are originally from Mexico, which shares a border with the USA. You keep bringing up other latin American countries as if geographical distance means nothing when people choose to emigrate. I would guess that even in these days of transatlantic flight, it's still probably the number 1 factor in migration.

The next two chunks after Mexico are Puerto Rico and Cuba, both of which have unique relationships with the USA that don't apply to Canada. One being part of the USA and the other being basically invited in as part of a political battle with Cuba & Russia.

You don't seem to even be trying to present evidence to support this argument of yours.

[adventured]

> Something like 60% of hispanics in the US are originally from Mexico

Since you want to talk about borders. The question then is, since the US borders Canada, why hasn't Canada seen vast immigration from and through the US, from poor black and hispanic communities, that would obviously benefit massively from Canada's strong society safety net and universal healthcare system? Why aren't millions of hispanics choosing to pass right through the US and immigrating into Canada?

The US has somewhere around 13 to 15 million undocumented immigrants. Why don't they just pass through the US and seek citizenship in Canada, given the obvious upside (Canada's social system would benefit poorer people far more than anyone else)?

They can't. Canada's immigration policy won't allow it. That's the crux of the discussion that you can't avoid.

People will risk life and limb to go from Syria to Germany (about the same distance as Mexico to Canada). Millions of poor Latin Americans immigrated into California over 40 years, and eg NY is about 28% hispanic, but your premise is that Canada is just too far away because it doesn't border Mexico. That's absurd and it poorly attempts to evade the real problem: Canada will not allow in large amounts of low skilled, low education immigration because of its immigration policies, and the US by contrast has historically. That's an unavoidable fact backed up by immense immigration data. I find it incredible you're even attempting to counter argue that, it's a direct result of the system that is in place in Canada right now.

Your 60% figure is close. There are around 70 million hispanics in the US, including the large undocumented immigrant population (equal to 40% of Canada's entire population). Of that, at least 33 to 35 million have origins in Mexico:

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/05/01/a-demographic-portrait...

> Saying the Canadian [black population] rate is 6 times less is meaningless without accounting for that starting state

Canada's black population percentage is extremely meaningful. The six fold gap between the US and Canada, indicates exclusion, as the poorest demographic in the US is black people. They are the worst off, and would logically be the most likely to want to immigrate for a better life, which surely Canada's admittely superior social safety net and healthcare system would provide. And yet Canada is seeing almost non-existent poor black immigration from the US (hint: Canada won't allow it, because it uses a skill & education restriction system on immigration). The US black population is larger than Canada's entire population, which makes the point extremely well.

[gruez]

>People will risk life and limb to go from Syria to Germany (about the same distance as Mexico to Canada). Millions of poor Latin Americans immigrated into California over 40 years, and eg NY is about 28% hispanic, but your premise is that Canada is just too far away because it doesn't border Mexico.

most of the countries (eastern europe) between syria and germany are pretty poor, so going to germany makes sense because there's a significant increase in wealth. meanwhile canada is about as rich as the US. so what are you getting by risking another border crossing into canada? free healthcare (which you can't get because you're not a legal resident)?