Thank you for your question which often puzzles a lot of people . The check box for visible minorities is often added to enable employers to “balance” their profile of employee’s especially within larger companies. They are often keen to have a workforce that reflects the area where they are. It would be unusually for them to have targets but the information could be used by the HR department to identify if a certain group were under represented in their work force and if so why. It could also be used for general statistical purposes.
Visible minority refers to whether a person belongs to a visible minority group as defined by the Employment Equity Act and, if so, the visible minority group to which the person belongs. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour”. The visible minority population consists mainly of the following groups: Chinese, South Asian, Black, Arab, West Asian, Filipino, Southeast Asian, Latin American, Japanese and Korean.
Unless you meet the definition as outlined by the Employment Equality Act then I would leave this box blank. It should not impact on you being employed as employers would be looking at your experience, skills and qualifications primarily.