The Chinese Canadian National Council has expressed concern over what it says appears to be a “significant undercount” of Chinese Canadians in the 2011 National Household Survey, the results of which were released today (May 8).

According to a CCNC media release, the numbers of ethnic origin and visible minority Chinese people identified in the 2011 study are too low to accurately represent the reality of Canada’s ethnic makeup.

Comparing the 2011 data to the 2006 census, CCNC notes that the number of ethnic origin Chinese people living in Canada reportedly only increased by 141,070, and the number of visible minority Chinese only grew by 108,135.

“These figures are low when compared to just the immigration figures for 2006 to 2011 where the number of immigrants from source country China alone was at least 144,292,” the release continues. “Such a shortfall would require an implausible scenario where births, deaths and emigration act as an offset.”

CCNC Executive Director Victor Wong is quoted suggesting the government’s methodology for collecting data could be improved.

“An undercount serves to seriously undermine various public policy, economic and social initiatives,” he said. “CCNC had joined numerous groups to warn the Government against their reckless decision to tamper with the long-form methodology back in 2010.”

The National Household Survey is a voluntary assessment that serves as a replacement of the mandatory long-form census, which was scrapped by the Conservative government three years ago.

Today’s report on the 2011 data was published by Statistics Canada. It found that 6.8 million foreign-born residents comprising 20.6 percent of the population now call Canada home.