Blacks in Canada - Kinship, Marriage and Family

Traditional patterns of family organization have, to a certain extent, been retained by the first generation of Caribbean Migrants. Single-mother-headed households are still fairly Common, especially among the working class. In the middle-class migrant population, legal marriage and nuclear families predominate. In all Caribbean migrant groups, regardless of class status, a significant incidence of marriage or relationship failure is apparent; this is probably related to the stress of migrating to a predominantly White host society. The marriage and family organization of descendants of the earlier Black settlers is, in most respects, similar to that of the mainstream society.