2011 Census of Canada: Topic-based tabulations

Topic-based tabulation: First Official Language Spoken (7), Detailed Language Spoken Most Often at Home (232), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents of Canada and Forward Sortation Areas, 2011 Census ©

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About this tabulation

General information

Catalogue number :

98-314-XCB2011038

Release date :

February 5, 2013

Topic :

Language

Variables :

1. Geography Geographic Index
2. Age groups (17A)
3. Sex (3)
4. Detailed language spoken most often at home (232)
5. First official language spoken (7)

Note

Note: Population excluding institutional residents universe

The population excluding institutional residents includes Canadian citizens (by birth or by naturalization) and landed immigrants (permanent residents) excluding those who live in institutions (institutional collective dwellings). Canadian citizens and landed immigrants either: (1) have a usual place of residence in Canada; (2) are abroad either on a military base or attached to a diplomatic mission; or (3) are at sea or in port aboard merchant vessels under Canadian registry or Canadian government vessels. Since 1991, the target population also includes persons with a usual place of residence in Canada who are claiming refugee status, who hold study permits, or who hold work permits, as well as family members living with them; for census purposes, this group is referred to as non-permanent residents. The population universe does not include foreign residents.

Note: Forward sortation area

©This data includes information copied with permission from Canada Post Corporation.

The population, dwelling and household counts for a forward sortation area (FSA) are based on the first three characters of the postal codes* captured from the first page of the 2011 Census questionnaire. The same postal code* was assigned to all members of a given household to allow for the calculation of various census data.

The postal code* is captured for all households from the address information provided or accepted by the respondent on the front page of the census questionnaire. For the 2011 Census, held on May 10, 2011, some census questionnaires contained a pre-printed postal code* that the respondents could either accept or correct; however, other census questionnaires did not contain a pre-printed postal code* and respondents were asked to provide one by writing it on the questionnaire.

The postal code* provided by respondents may not be the same as the one assigned to their dwelling by Canada Post Corporation. For example, respondents may have given the postal code* of their mailing address, such as a post office location (as in the case of general delivery) or of a business location.

The postal codes* were processed through a series of operations including data capture, and edit and imputation. The edit operation consisted of identifying applicable, acceptable and invalid postal codes*. Postal codes* were determined to be applicable for the 2011 Census, if they appeared on Canada Post Corporation's Address Lookup File for May 2011, the month of the census. However, postal codes* provided by the respondents were considered acceptable if they were found in the file from Canada Post Corporation within the six months leading up to the census. This is consistent with the effort to represent the FSA and the postal code* whenever they could be considered as being in use at the time of the census. The imputation stage assigned applicable postal codes* where either no postal code* was reported or an invalid postal code* was provided.

While these processes allow census respondents to provide postal codes* of any category (for example, a commercial postal code* or a large volume receiver postal code*), analysis of census results has shown that this occurs only for a small number of households. If an FSA is not reported on the census questionnaire, as in the case of many business FSAs, it is not included in the census products or the Census Forward Sortation Area Boundary File. Where a postal code* is not frequently reported in a dissemination block, it may not be represented in the 2011 Census Forward Sortation Area Boundary File which is built from dissemination blocks. As a result, whereas 1,638 FSAs were reported in the 2011 Census, only 1,621 are represented in the boundary file.

All households that provided a postal code* with the same FSA were grouped to calculate FSA totals in census products. As a result, it is possible that households located in a particular province be included in an FSA found in another province. Therefore, calculating a provincial population, dwelling or household count by grouping FSAs will not necessarily yield the same count as the one provided in the provincial or territorial population, dwelling or household count tables.

*: Postal code is an official mark of Canada Post Corporation.

Note: First official language spoken

The definitions of first official language spoken and official language minority are outlined in the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations issued pursuant to the Official Languages Act (1988).

Information on first official language spoken is not collected directly from respondents. Rather, it is derived from three language variables on the census questionnaire: knowledge of official languages, mother tongue, and home language (language spoken most often at home). The first step in the derivation of this variable is to examine the respondent's knowledge of English and French. A person who speaks only English has English assigned as the first official language, while a person who speaks only French has French assigned. If the person can speak both English and French, then the mother tongue variable is examined. If the mother tongue is English, then English is the first official language spoken. The same procedure is used for French. Thus, a person who speaks English and French, and has French as mother tongue, would have French assigned as the first official language spoken.

If the respondent speaks both English and French, and indicates English and French as mother tongue, then the 'home language' variable is examined to assign the first official language spoken. In this circumstance, a home language of English would result in English being assigned as first official language spoken, while a home language of French would result in French being assigned as first official language spoken. Consequently, a person who speaks both English and French, has both official languages as mother tongue and English as home language, would have English assigned as first official language spoken.

When respondents can speak English and French, and have both languages as mother tongue and home language, they are assigned English and French as first official language spoken.

The official language minority is English in Quebec and French in all other provinces and territories. The size of the official language minority is determined by adding the minority population and half of the 'English and French' population. For example, in Ontario, the official language minority is the sum of those who have French as their first official language spoken and half of those who have English and French as first official language spoken.

For additional information, please refer to the 2011 Census Dictionary, Catalogue no. 98-301-X.

© This data includes information copied with permission from Canada Post Corporation.