Census in Brief
English, French and official language minorities in CanadaCensus in Brief
English, French and official language minorities in Canada Update of the 2016 Census language data

Introduction

In a context of large‑scale immigration and broad linguistic diversity, the relative weight of English and French is likely to decline, especially in the private sphere. According to data from the 2016 Census of Population, the number of people in the Canadian population with an “other” mother tongue^{Note 1} has increased, while the relative share of the population with English or French as a mother tongue has decreased.

Nevertheless, English and French—the country’s two official languages—continue to play an important role in the lives of Canadians: they are the languages of convergence and integration into Canadian society.

However, the situation of French differs from English. Data on knowledge of official languages, languages spoken at home and first official language spoken (FOLS) indicate a decline in the relative weight of French in Canadian society. Conversely, English is seeing a bit of an upswing, particularly in Quebec.

The number of French speakers is on the rise

In 2016, 29.8% of Canadians reported being able to conduct a conversation in French, which is down from 2011 (30.1%). However, over the same period, the number of people who could conduct a conversation in French rose by 400,000 to nearly 10.4 million people in 2016.

In Quebec, 94.5% of the population reported being able to conduct a conversation in French in 2016, which is similar to the proportion from the 2011 Census (94.4%). In numbers, this represented just over 7.6 million individuals in 2016.

Outside Quebec, the proportion of Canadians who reported being able to conduct a conversation in French remained relatively stable between 2011 and 2016, with an increase of 157,035 people.

A decline in French in the private sphere

In 2016, close to 8.2 million Canadians, or 23.4% of the population, reported speaking French at home.^{Note 2} This proportion is down from 23.8% in 2011.

Across Canada, there was a decrease in the number and proportion of Canadians who reported speaking only French at home. French is increasingly spoken with another language, an observation that was primarily seen in Quebec—where most of the country’s French speakers reside—and, to a lesser extent, in the other provinces and territories.

Decline in the demographic weight of the French‑mother‑tongue population

The number of people in Canada whose mother tongue is French is on the rise. However, on account of the linguistic diversification created by immigration, their relative weight is on the decline. This was observed in 2016 both in Quebec and all over Canada.

In Canada outside Quebec, the number of people whose mother tongue is French increased by 8,400 between 2011 and 2016 to 1,074,985. This growth is primarily attributable to individuals who reported having French and English as their mother tongue. Conversely, in 2016, fewer people reported having only French as their mother tongue than in 2011.

French as the first official language spoken is increasing mostly in Quebec

The “first official language spoken”^{Note 3} is used to determine whether individuals with an “other” mother tongue adopt English or French. It helps to determine the place of Canada’s official languages within a broad diversity of languages and is also an indicator of how immigrants of all origins integrate linguistically into Canadian society.

The number of people with French as their first official language spoken (FOLS) rose from 7.7 million in 2011 to 7.9 million in 2016. However, this increase was observed primarily in Quebec. Outside Quebec, the official language minority population rose from 1,007,585 in 2011 to 1,024,200 in 2016, an increase of 16,615 people. The relative weight of the French minority population outside Quebec fell 0.2 percentage points from 4.0% in 2011 to 3.8% in 2016.

The trends vary from province to province. The French FOLS population saw its numbers and proportions decline in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba, and rise in number in the other provinces. In Ontario and Saskatchewan, this increase coincided with a drop in the relative weight of the official language minority. The relative weight of the French minority population remained stable in Alberta and British Columbia. Finally, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, the official language minority grew in both number and proportion.

The ability to conduct a conversation in English is up

In 2016, 30 million Canadians reported being able to hold a conversation in English, an increase of 1.6 million people from 2011. In terms of proportion, it rose from 85.6% in 2011 to 86.2% in 2016.

In Quebec, 49.1% of the population reported being able to conduct a conversation in English in 2016, up 1.9 percentage points over 2011. This proportion represented 4 million people in 2016.

Outside Quebec, the proportion of Canadians who reported being able to hold a conversation in English remained relatively stable between 2011 (97.5%) and 2016 (97.4%). However, this corresponded to an increase of 1.35 million English speakers, for a total of 26 million in 2016.

English increasingly spoken with other languages at home

The proportion of Canadians who reported speaking English at home increased from 74.0% in 2011 to 74.5% in 2016, up 0.5 percentage points. In numbers, this means that close to 26 million Canadians spoke English at home in 2016.

However, the proportion of Canadians who reported speaking only English at home fell from 58.0% in 2011 to 56.8% in 2016. English is spoken more and more with other languages.

In Canada outside Quebec, the proportion of the population who reported speaking English at home remained stable at 91.2%. However, the proportion who spoke only English at home fell almost two percentage points. This decrease was offset by a similar increase in the use of English along with another language.

In Quebec, two in three people who spoke English at home also spoke another language. In 2016, 19.2% of the population reported speaking English at home, up from 2011 (18.3%). An increase was observed among people who spoke English and another language.

The demographic weight of the English‑mother‑tongue population is down

Large‑scale immigration has also led to a decrease in the demographic weight of the English‑mother‑tongue population across Canada. A decline was also recorded in all provinces.

In Canada outside Quebec, the English‑mother‑tongue population represented 72.9% of the entire population in 2016, down 1.1 percentage points in spite of an increase of over 750,000 people.

In Quebec, the population with English as their mother tongue grew in number. There were 718,990 people with English as their mother tongue in Quebec in 2016, compared with 700,405 in 2011. The percentage of the population with English as a mother tongue was 8.9% in 2016, compared with 9.0% in 2011.

The population with English as its first official language spoken is rising in Quebec

In Quebec, the number and proportion of individuals whose first official language spoken is English increased. The official language minority grew from 1,058,250 people in 2011 to 1,103,480 people in 2016, an increase of 45,230. Moreover, the relative weight of the minority was 13.7% in 2016, compared with 13.5% in 2011.

Additional information

Additional analyses on language can be found in The Daily of August 17, 2017, and in the Census in Brief articles entitled English–French bilingualism reaches new heights, Catalogue no. 98‑200‑X2016009, and Linguistic diversity and multilingualism in Canadian homes, Catalogue no. 98‑200‑X2016010.

Additional information on language can be found in the Highlight tables, Catalogue no. 98‑402‑X2016005; the Data tables, Catalogue nos. 98‑400‑X2016045 to 98‑400‑X2016079 and 98‑400‑X2016343 to 98‑400‑X2016345; the Census Profile, Catalogue no. 98‑316‑X2016001; and the Focus on Geography Series, Catalogue no. 98‑404‑X2016001.

An infographic entitled Immigrant languages in Canada, 2016 Census of Population also illustrates some key findings on immigrant languages in Canada.

For details on the concepts, definitions and variables used in the 2016 Census of Population, please consult the Dictionary, Census of Population, 2016, Catalogue no. 98‑301‑X.

In addition to response rates and other data quality information, the Guide to the Census of Population, 2016, Catalogue no. 98‑304‑X, provides an overview of the various phases of the census, including content determination, sampling design, collection, data processing, data quality assessment, confidentiality guidelines and dissemination.

Acknowledgments

This report was prepared by Jean‑François Lepage of Statistics Canada’s Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, with the assistance of other staff members of that division and the collaboration of staff members of the Census Subject Matter Secretariat, Census Operations Division, and Communications and Dissemination Branch.