Census 2016: the French in decline across Canada

ARCHIVAL PHOTO, QMI AGENCY

Christopher Nardi

Wednesday, August 2, 2017 08:41

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Wednesday, August 2, 2017 09:19

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OTTAWA | The French continued its free fall throughout Canada and even in Quebec, while the immigrant languages take up in the ranks, according to the latest data from the census 2016, Statistics Canada.

“The use of French retreating in the private sphere, both in Canada and Quebec”, said first Statistics Canada in a report unveiling the results of a language in the last census in 2016.

The fall is not huge, but it continues a trend that was already noticed during the census in 2011.

The population whose mother tongue is French increased from 22.0% in 2011 to 21.3% in 2016 in all of Canada, and 79.7% in 2011 to 78.4% for 2016 in Quebec.

Even the English is in fall, while the third-language take of the braid across the country.

“In a context of high immigration like in Canada, it is normal to see the relative weight of the official languages of English and French as the decrease while those who speak a third language options, take more space. The languages are slightly down across the country, including the French language in Quebec”, analysis Jean-François Lepage, sociologist and analyst at Statistics Canada.

The only exceptions to the rule are the canadian territories, where the francophone population is growing everywhere since 2011.

More English in Quebec

However, Quebec stands out from the rest of the country, because this is one of the only provinces where the population with English as mother tongue increased between 2011 (13.5 %) and 2016 (14.4 per cent).

In Canada, this population has been in decline for several years.

“To see a growth of the mother tongue in Quebec, it is an amazing phenomenon. One would have expected to see what is happening elsewhere in Canada, is a decrease, because there is a strong growth in third-languages. However, this is not what we see,” said Mr. Lepage.

Without surprises, this increase is seen mainly in the greater Montreal area.

But Mr. Lepage emphasizes that the phenomenon also occurs on a smaller scale in many other cities, such as Quebec city, Sherbrooke, and even the Saguenay.

Without having precise reasons for this increase, his hypotheses are a possible increase in arrivals at Quebec from other canadian provinces, in addition to an increase of immigrants, who already speak English.

In Quebec, the arab remains the immigrant language most spoken at home (213 055 persons) in 2016.

This population has experienced a drastic increase of 23.7% compared to 2011

Bilingualism is on the rise

However, all is not bleak for the French in the country.

In 2016, nearly one Canadian in five (18 %) said being able to speak French and English.

“It is a new summit for the French-English bilingualism in canadian history,” says the census report.

Moreover, the increase is not entirely due to the large number of Quebec francophones who learn English.

“There has been an increase in the rate of bilingualism in most of the provinces and territories […] This trend contrasts with that of the previous period. In fact, between 2006 and 2011, the rate of bilingualism had declined in all provinces except Quebec,” says Statistics Canada.

Population with French as a mother tongue in Canada
2011 : 22 %
2016 : 21,4 %

Population of French mother tongue in Quebec
2011 : 79,7 %
2016 : 78,4 %

The five immigrant mother tongues most widely spoken in Montreal, according to Statistics Canada

Montreal

Language

number

percentage

Arabic

181 440

18,0

Spanish

129 860

12,9

Italian

109 310

10,9

Creole languages

65 665

6,5

Mandarin

41 835

4,2

Other immigrant languages

478 935

47,6

Total

1 007 040

100,0

Population with French as first official language spoken

2011

2016

Newfoundland-and-Labrador

0,4

0,5

Île-du-Prince-Édouard

3,5

3,3

Nova Scotia

3,3

3,2

New Brunswick

Of 31.9

31,6

Quebec

85,5

84,7

Ontario

4,3

4,1

Manitoba

3,5

3,2

Saskatchewan

1,4

1,3

Alberta

2

2

British Columbia

1,4

1,4

Yukon

4,4

4,6

The North-West territories

2,6

3

Nunavut

1,5

1,8

Canada outside of Quebec

4

3,8