Language in Canada
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This article presents the current demolinguistics of Canada.
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Overview
- Population of Canada: 29.6 million (2001)
- Official languages: English and French (de jure)
- Majority group: Anglophone (59.3%)
- Minority groups: Francophone (22.7%), Chinese, Italian, German, Aboriginal languages
Note: The language by mother tongue is always used unless otherwise specified.
Demolinguistic descriptors
Mother tongue: The language spoken by the mother or the person responsible for taking care of the child is the most basic measure of a population's language. However, with the high number of mixed francophone-anglophone marriages and the reality of bilingualism and trilingualism, this description does not allow to fully determine the real linguistic portrait of Canada. It is, however, still essential, for example in order to calculate the assimilation rate.
Home language: This is the language most often spoken at home. This descriptor has the advantage of pointing out the current usage of languages. It however fails to describe the language that is most spoken at work, which may be a different language.
Knowledge of Official Languages: This measure describes which of the two official languages of Canada a person can speak informally. This relies on the person's own evaluation of his/her linguistic competence and can prove misleading. It was developed by Statistics Canada.
First Official Language Spoken: This is a composite measure of mother tongue, home language and knowledge of official language. It was developed by Statistics Canada.
Language composition
Of the 29.6 million citizens of Canada, 17.5 million are native English speakers, 6.7 million are native French-speakers and 5.2 million are native speakers of neither of Canada's two official languages.
Statistics Canada, 2001
- English 17,352,315
- French 6,703,325
- Chinese 853,745
- Italian 469,485
- German 438,080
- Punjabi 271,220
- Spanish 245,500
- Portuguese 213,815
- Polish 208,375
- Arabic 199,940
- Tagalog 174,060
- Ukrainian 148,090
- Dutch 128,670
- Vietnamese 122,055
- Greek 120,365
- Russian 94,555
- Persian 94,095
- Tamil 90,010
- Korean 85,070
- Urdu 80,895
- Hungarian 75,555
- Cree 72,800
- Gujarati 57,555
- Hindi 56,325
- Croatian 54,880
- Romanian 50,895
- Serbian 41,180
- Japanese 34,815
- Bengali 29,505
- Inuktitut 29,005
- Armenian 27,350
- Serbo-Croatian 26,690
- Somali 26,110
- Czech 24,790
- Finnish 22,405
- Ojibway 21,000
- Yiddish 19,295
- Turkish 18,675
- Danish 18,230
- Slovak 17,545
- Macedonian 16,905
- Khmer 15,985
- Lao 12,945
- Slovenian 12,800
- Hebrew 12,435
- Twi 11,070
Geographic distribution
The population of Canada being unequally distributed throughout a vast territory, a look at the population of each of its ten provinces and three territories is helpful. The following table details the population of each province and territory by mother tongue.
| Province/Territory | Total population | English | French | Other languages |
| Ontario | 11,285,550 | 8,079,500 (71.6%) | 493,630 (4.4%) | 2,672,080 (23.7%) |
| Quebec | 7,125,580 | 572,085 (8.0%) | 5,788,655 (81.2%) | 709,425 (10.0%) |
| British Columbia | 3,868,875 | 2,865,300 (74.1%) | 56,100 (1.5%) | 939,945 (24.3%) |
| Alberta | 2,941,150 | 2,405,935 (81.8%) | 59,735 (2.0%) | 469,225 (16.0%) |
| Manitoba | 1,103,700 | 863,980 (75.8%) | 44,775 (4.1%) | 219,160 (19.9%) |
| Saskatchewan | 963,150 | 825,865 (85.7%) | 18,035 (1.9%) | 117,765 (12.2%) |
| Nova Scotia | 897,570 | 834,315 (93.0%) | 34,155 (3.8%) | 26,510 (3.0%) |
| New Brunswick | 719,710 | 465,720 (64.7%) | 236,775 (32.9%) | 11,935 (1.7%) |
| Newfoundland | 508,075 | 500,065 (98.4%) | 2,180 (0.4%) | 5,495 (1.1%) |
| Prince Edward Island | 133,385 | 125,215 (93.9%) | 5,670 (4.3%) | 2,065 (1.5%) |
| Northwest Territories | 37,105 | 28,985 (78.1%) | 965 (2.6%) | 7,065 (19.0%) |
| Yukon | 28,525 | 24,840 (87.1%) | 890 (3.1%) | 2,700 (9.5%) |
| Nunavut | 26,665 | 7,370 (27.6%) | 400 (1.5%) | 18,875 (70.8%) |
Aboriginals
The 800 000 aboriginals of Canada (3%) speak 50 different languages. The most important languages still used are Cree, Inuktitut, Ojibway, Innu, and Micmac. A 1996 census revealed that about 67.8% of Aboriginals reported to be native English speakers. Nearly half (47%) of the Aboriginal population in Quebec reported an Aboriginal language as mother tongue, the highest proportion of any province.
Allophones
Languages other than the official languages are important in Canada, with 5,470,820 people listing a non-official language as a first language. Among the most important non-official first language groups are Chinese (853,745 first-language speakers), especially Cantonese (322,315); Italian (469,485); and German (438,080).
Francophones
The francophones of Canada numbered some 6.7 million individuals in 2001. 90% of francophones reside in Quebec. There are also French Canadian communities in North and Eastern Ontario and Southern Manitoba, as well as influential communities of Acadians in New Brunswick ,Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In addition to Canadian-born francophones, numerous French-speaking people from Haiti, Congo, Lebanon, Morocco, Rwanda, Syria, Algeria, France and Belgium have immigrated to Quebec and Francophone Ontario since the 1960s.
Constitutional basis of bilingualism
The principles of Bilingualism in Canada are protected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which establishes that:
- French and English are equal to each other as official languages;
- Debate in Parliament may take place in either official language;
- Laws shall be printed in both official languages, with equal authority;
- Anyone may deal with any court established by Parliament, in either official language;
- Everyone has the right to receive services from the federal government in his or her choice of official language;
- Members of a minority language group of one of the official languages if learned and still understood (i.e., French speakers in a majority English-speaking province, or vice versa) or received primary school education in that language has the right to have their children receive a public education in their language, where numbers warrant.
See also
External links
- Statistics Canada: Canadian Statistics: Population (http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/popula.htm#lan)
- The Atlas of Canada - English-French Bilingualism (http://atlas.gc.ca/site/english/maps/peopleandsociety/officiallanguages/englishfrenchbilingualism)
- 1996 Census: Aboriginal data (http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/980113/d980113.htm)
- Population autochtone du Canada (http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/amnord/cnddemo-POP1autoch.htm) (in French)