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A multitude of languages are spoken in Canada. According to the 2006 census, English and French are the preferred language ("home language", or language spoken most often in the home) of 67.1% and 21.5%, respectively. English and French are recognized by the Constitution of Canada as "official languages." This means that all laws of the federal government are enacted in both English and French and that federal government services must be available in both languages.
Many Canadians believe that the relationship between the English and French languages is the central or defining aspect of the Canadian experience. Canada's Official Languages Commissioner (the federal government official charged with monitoring the two languages) has stated, "[I]n the same way that race is at the core of what it means to be American and at the core of an American experience and class is at the core of British experience, I think that language is at the core of Canadian experience."[1]
However, the official point of view gives only a partial perspective of Canada’s linguistic diversity. About 20% of Canadians (roughly 6.1 million people, most of whom are first-generation immigrants) have a language other than English or French as their first language or mother tongue[2]. Many immigrants and aboriginal Canadians use English or French more often than their native language, but nearly 3.5 of them continue to use a non-official language most often, when in home or social settings.[3] The five most widely-spoken non-official languages are Chinese (the home language of 2.6% of Canadians), Punjabi (0.9%), Spanish (0.7%), Italian (0.6%), and Dutch (0.6%). Aboriginal languages, many of which are unique to Canada, are spoken by less than one percent of the population, and are mostly in decline.
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The following are the top twenty languages spoken as a home language in Canada, shown as a percentage of total single responses:[4]
The following table details the population of each province and territory, with summary national totals, by language spoken most often in the home (“Home language”).
| Province/Territory | Total population | English | % | French | % | Other languages | % | Official Language(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ontario |
12,028,895 | 9,789,937 | 81.4% | 304,727 | 2.5% | 1,934,235 | 16.1% | English (de facto), French (de jure) |
 Quebec |
7,435,905 | 787,885 | 10.6% | 6,085,152 | 81.8% | 562,860 | 7.6% | French |
 British Columbia |
4,074,800 | 3,380,253 | 83.0% | 19,361 | 0.5% | 676,911 | 16.6% | English (de facto) |
 Alberta |
3,256,356 | 2,915,867 | 89.5% | 21,347 | 0.7% | 319,142 | 9.8% | English (de facto) |
 Manitoba |
1,133,515 | 997,598 | 88.0% | 20,515 | 1.8% | 115,398 | 10.1% | English (de facto), French (de jure) |
 Saskatchewan |
953,850 | 900,231 | 94.4% | 4,318 | 0.5% | 49,301 | 5.2% | English (de facto) |
 Nova Scotia |
903,090 | 868,408 | 96.2% | 17,871 | 1.9% | 16,811 | 1.9% | English (de facto) |
 New Brunswick |
719,650 | 496,850 | 69.0% | 213,878 | 29.7% | 8,913 | 1.2% | English, French |
 Newfoundland and Labrador |
500,605 | 494,695 | 98.9% | 740 | 0.1% | 5,170 | 1.0% | English (de facto) |
 Prince Edward Island |
134,205 | 130,270 | 97.1% | 2,755 | 2.1% | 1,175 | 0.9% | English (de facto) |
 Northwest Territories |
41,055 | 36,918 | 89.9% | 458 | 1.1% | 3,678 | 9.0% | English, French, Other aboriginal languages |
 Yukon |
30,195 | 28,711 | 94.8% | 578 | 1.9% | 985 | 3.3% | English, French |
 Nunavut |
29,325 | 13,120 | 44.7% | 228 | 0.8% | 15,950 | 54.5% | Inuktituk, English, French, Inuinnaqtun |
 Canada |
31,241,446 | 20,840,743 | 66.7% | 6,691,928 | 21.4% | 3,710,529 | 11.9% | English, French |
In 2006, just under 20.6 million Canadians spoke English at home. English is the major language everywhere in Canada except Quebec. In Quebec, English is the preferred language of only 10.5% of the population. Only 3.6% of Canada's English-speaking population resides in Quebec—mostly in Montreal. Most Canadians who use English, use a dialect that is more like the English spoken and written in the United States than Great Britain (British English).
In 2006, just over 6.6 million Canadians spoke French at home. Of these, 91.2% resided in Quebec. Outside Quebec, the largest French-speaking populations are found in New Brunswick (which is home to 3.5% of Canada’s francophones) and Ontario (4.4%, residing primarily in the eastern and northeastern parts of the province and in Toronto). Smaller indigenous French-speaking communities exist in some other provinces. For example, a vestigial community exists on Newfoundland's Port au Port Peninsula; a remnant of French occupation of the island.
In addition to francophones of French-Canadian and Acadian origin, many francophones from Haiti, France, Belgium, Morocco, Lebanon and Switzerland have emigrated to Quebec since the early 1960s. As a result of this wave of immigration and the assimilation of many earlier generations of non-francophone immigrants (Irish, English, Italian, Portuguese, etc.), Canadian-born francophones of Quebec are of diverse ethnic origin. Five francophone Premiers of Quebec have been of British ethnic origin, as defined by Statistics Canada: John Jones Ross, Edmund James Flynn, Daniel Johnson, Sr., Pierre-Marc Johnson and Daniel Johnson, Jr.
The assimilation of francophones outside Quebec into the English-Canadian society means that outside Quebec, over one million Canadians who claim English as their mother tongue are of French ethnic origin. (1991 Census, ethnic origin and mother tongue, by province).
According to the 2006 census, 98% of Canadian residents are able to speak at least one of the country’s two official languages,[6] As well, at least 35% of Canadians speak more than one language. However, bilingualism in the two official languages is much less widespread; of these multilingual Canadians, less than a quarter (5,448,850 persons, or 17.4% of the Canadian population) are able to speak both the official languages.[7]
However, in Canada the terms "bilingual" and "unilingual" are normally used to refer to bilingualism in English and French. In this sense, nearly 83% of Canadians are "unilingual".
Knowledge of the two official languages is largely determined by geography. Prime Minister Stephen Harper once summarized the situation this way: “Canada is not a bilingual country. It is a country with two languages. And there is a big difference.” [8].
Nearly 95% of Quebecers can speak French, and 40.6% know how to speak English. In the rest of the country, 97.6% of the population is capable of speaking English, and 7.5% know how to speak French.[9] Because knowledge of English in Quebec is over five times higher, in percentage terms, than knowledge of French in the rest of the country, personal bilingualism is largely limited to Quebec itself, and to a strip of territory sometimes referred to as the “bilingual belt”, that stretches east from Quebec into northern New Brunswick and west into parts of Ottawa and northeastern Ontario. Thus, a majority of bilingual Canadians are themselves Quebecers, and a high percentage of the bilingual population in the rest of Canada resides in close proximity to the Quebec border.
As the table below shows, rates of bilingualism are much higher among individuals who belong to the linguistic minority group for their region of Canada, than among members of the local linguistic majority.
| Anglophones | Francophones | Allophones | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quebec | 66.1% | 36.6% | 50.4% |
| Rest of Canada | 7.1% | 85.1% | 5.7% |
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Canada is home to a rich variety of indigenous languages that are spoken nowhere else. There are 11 Aboriginal language groups in Canada, made up of more than 65 distinct languages and dialects.[11] Of these, only Cree, Inuktitut and Ojibway have a large enough population of fluent speakers to be considered viable to survive in the long term.[12] Two of Canada's territories give official status to native languages. In Nunavut, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun are official languages alongside the national languages of English and French, and Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in territorial government.[13] In the NWT, the Official Languages Act declares that there are eleven different languages: Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ.[14] Besides English and French, these languages are not vehicular in government; official status entitles citizens to receive services in them on request and to deal with the government in them.[12]
According to the 2006 census, less than one percent of Canadians (just over 250,000 individuals) know how to speak an aboriginal language. About half this number (129,865) reported using an aboriginal language on a daily basis.[12]
| Aboriginal language | No. of speakers | Mother tongue | Home language |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cree | 99,950 | 78,855 | 47,190 |
| Inuktitut | 35,690 | 32,010 | 25,290 |
| Ojibway | 32,460 | 11,115 | 11,115 |
| Montagnais-Naskapi (Innu) | 11,815 | 10,970 | 9,720 |
| Dene | 11,130 | 9,750 | 7,490 |
| Oji-Cree (Anishinini) | 12,605 | 8,480 | 8,480 |
| Mi’kmaq | 8,750 | 7,365 | 3,985 |
| Siouan languages (Dakota/Sioux) | 6,495 | 5,585 | 3,780 |
| Atikamekw | 5,645 | 5,245 | 4,745 |
| Blackfoot | 4,915 | 3,085 | 3,085 |
| Tłįchǫ or Dogrib | 2,645 | 2,015 | 1,110 |
| Algonquin | 2,685 | 1,920 | 385 |
| Carrier | 2,495 | 1,560 | 605 |
| Gitksan | 1,575 | 1,175 | 320 |
| Chilcotin | 1,400 | 1,070 | 435 |
| North Slave (Hare) | 1,235 | 650 | 650 |
| South Slave | 2,315 | 600 | 600 |
| Malecite | 790 | 535 | 140 |
| Chipewyan | 770 | 525 | 125 |
| Inuinnaqtun | 580 | 370 | 70 |
| Kutchin-Gwich’in (Loucheaux) | 570 | 355 | 25 |
| Mohawk | 615 | 290 | 20 |
| Shuswap | 1,650 | 250 | 250 |
| Nisga’a | 1,090 | 250 | 250 |
| Tlingit | 175 | 0 | 0 |
In Canada as elsewhere in the world of European colonization, the frontier of European exploration and settlement tended to be a linguistically diverse and fluid place, as cultures using different languages met and interacted. The need for a common means of communication between the indigenous inhabitants and new arrivals for the purposes of trade and (in some cases) intermarriage led to the development of hybrid languages. These languages tended to be highly localized, were often spoken by only a small number of individuals who were frequently capable of speaking another language, and often persisted only briefly, before being wiped out by the arrival of a large population of permanent settlers, speaking either English or French.
Michif (also known as Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif and French Cree) is a mixed language which evolved within the Prairie Metis community. It is based on elements of Cree, Ojibwa, Assiniboine and French. Michif is today spoken by less than 1,000 individuals in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and North Dakota. At its peak, around 1900, Michif was understood by perhaps three times this number.
In the 16th century, a Basque pidgin developed in coastal areas along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Strait of Belle Isle as the result of contact between Basque whalers and local aboriginals.
In British Columbia, Yukon and throughout the Pacific Northwest a pidgin language known as the Chinook Jargon emerged in the early 19th Century which was a combination of Chinookan, Nootka, Chehalis, French and English, with a smattering of words from other languages including Hawaiian and Spanish.[15] Certain words and expressions remain current in local use, such as skookum, tyee and saltchuck, while a few have become part of worldwide English ("high mucketymuck" or "high muckamuck" for a high-ranking and perhaps self-important official).
Canada is a diverse mix of many Deaf cultures and their own sign languages. The main sign language in Anglophone Canada is American Sign Language. According to the Canadian Association of the Deaf, there are approximately 3.1 million Deaf people who use ASL.
Maritime Sign Language is a language from the BANZSL Language Family. It was used to educate the Deaf in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island before ASL showed up in the mid-Twentieth Century. It is still remembered by some elderly people, but moribund.
The major sign language of the Deaf in Quebec and other major Canadian cities is Quebec Sign Language (LSQ). In some major cities, American Sign Language is also used. Although approximately 10% of the population of Quebec is deaf or hard-of-hearing, it is estimated that only 50,000 to 60,000 children use LSQ as their native language.
Inuit Sign Language (also called Inuktitut Sign Language or Eskimo Sign Language) is used by the deaf Inuit peoples in northern Canadian territories and other Arctic Circle countries. Little is known about its history or signers.
Scottish Gaelic was spoken by many immigrants who settled in the Maritimes and Glengarry County, Ontario. Scottish Gaelic was spoken predominantly in New Brunswick's Restigouche River valley, central and southeastern Prince Edward Island, and across the whole of northern Nova Scotia--particularly Cape Breton Island and a few speaks in Ontario primarily Glengarry County.
While the Canadian Gaelic dialect has mostly disappeared, regional pockets persist. These are mostly centred on families deeply committed to their Celtic traditions. Nova Scotia currently has 500-1000 fluent speakers, mostly in northwestern Cape Breton Island.
There have been attempts in Nova Scotia to institute Gaelic immersion on the model of French immersion. As well, formal post-secondary studies in Gaelic language and culture are available through St. Francis Xavier University, Saint Mary's University, and the Gaelic College.
In 1890, a private member's was tabled in the Canadian Senate, calling for Gaelic to be made Canada's third official language. However, the bill was defeated 42-7.
A portmanteau language which is said to combine English and French syntax, grammar and lexicons to form a unique interlanguage, sometimes ascribed to mandatory basic French education in the Canadian anglophone school systems. While many Canadians are barely conversant in French they will often borrow French words into their sentences. Simple words and phrases like "c'est quoi ça?" (what is that?) or words like "arrête" (stop) can alternate with their English counterparts. This phenomena is more common in the Eastern half of the country where there is a greater density of Francophone populations. Franglais can also refer to the supposed degradation of the French language thanks to the overwhelming impact English Canadian has on the country's Francophone inhabitants, though many linguists would argue that while English vocabulary can be freely borrowed as a stylistic device, the grammar of French has been resistant to influences from English[16] and the same conservatism holds true in Canadian English grammar[17], even in Quebec City. One interesting example of is Chiac, popularly a combination of Acadian French and Canadian English, but actually an unmistakable variety of French, which is native to the Maritimes (particularly New Brunswick which has a large Acadian population).
Some of the original immigrants to Newfoundland were native speakers of Irish, who passed on a version of their language to their children. As a result, Newfoundland became the only place outside Europe to have its own Irish dialect. Newfoundland was also the only place outside Europe to have its own distinct name in Irish: Talamh an Éisc, which means 'land of the fish'. The Irish language is now extinct in Newfoundland.
Some Welsh is found in Newfoundland. In part, this is as a result of Welsh settlement since the 17th century. Also there was an influx of about 1,000 Patagonian Welsh migrated to Canada from Argentina after the 1982 Falkland Islands War. Welsh-Argentines are fluent in Spanish as well as English and Welsh.
Acadian French is a unique form of Canadian French which incorporates not only distinctly Canadian phrases but also nautical terms, English loan words, linguistic features found only in older forms of French as well as ones found in the Maritimer English dialect.
Canada is also home to Canadian Ukrainian, a distinct dialect of the Ukrainian language, spoken mostly in Western Canada by the descendants of first two waves of Ukrainian settlement in Canada who developed in a degree of isolation from their cousins in what was then Austria-Hungary, the Russian Empire, Poland, and the Soviet Union.
Canada's Doukhobor community, especially in Grand Forks and Castlegar, British Columbia, has kept its distinct dialect of Russian. It has a lot in common with South Russian dialects, showing some common features with Ukrainian. This dialect's versions are becoming extinct in their home regions of Georgia and Russia where the Doukhobors have split into smaller groups.
The meagerly documented Bungee language (also known as Bungy, Bungie, Bungay, and as the Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English which evolved within the Prairie Metis community. It is influenced by Cree and Scots Gaelic. Bungee was spoken in the Red River area of Manitoba. In 1989, at the time of the only academic study ever undertaken on the language, only six speakers of Bungee were known to still be alive.
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.
Official language minority: Based on first official language learned, but placing half of the people equally proficient in both English and French into each linguistic community; it is used by the Canadian government to define English- and French-speaking communities in order to gauge demand for minority language services in a region.
English and French have equal status in federal courts, Parliament, and in all federal institutions. The public has the right, where there is sufficient demand, to receive federal government services in either English or French. Immigrants who are applying for Canadian citizenship must normally be able to speak either English or French.
The principles of bilingualism in Canada are protected in sections 16 to 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982 which establishes that:
Canada's Official Languages Act, first adopted in 1969 and updated in 1988, gives English and French equal status throughout federal institutions.
New Brunswick and Canada's three territories have all given official status to more than one language. In the case of New Brunswick, this means perfect equality. In the other cases, the recognition sometimes amounts to a formal recognition of official languages, but limited services in official languages other than English.
The official languages are:
Until 1969, Quebec was the only officially bilingual province in Canada and most public institutions functioned in both languages. English was also used in the legislature, government commissions and courts. With the adoption of the Charter of the French Language by Quebec's National Assembly in August 1977, however, French became the sole official language of the government of Quebec. However, the French Language Charter also provides certain rights for speakers of English and aboriginal languages and most government services are available in both French and English. Regional institutions in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec offer services in Inuktitut and Cree.
Most provinces have laws that make either English or both English and French the official language(s) of the legislature and the courts, but may also have separate policies in regards to education and the bureaucracy.
For example, in Alberta, English and French are both official languages of debate in the Legislative Assembly, but laws are drafted solely in English and there is no legal requirement that they be translated into French. French can be used in some lower courts and education is offered in both languages, but the bureaucracy functions almost solely in English. Therefore, although Alberta is not officially an English-only province, English has a higher de facto status than French. Ontario and Manitoba are similar but allow for more services in French at the local level.
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