In , these three provinces comprised By comparison, these provinces comprised However, most bilingual people live in Quebec. In , Quebec was the province of residence of In , this proportion was In Canada, the number of bilingual people rose from 5.
Proportionally speaking, this population grew by 7. In Quebec, there were almost 3. This is an increase of 7. This represents The bilingual population of New Brunswick increased 1.
In relative terms, the provinces with the largest increases in their bilingual population are Alberta Relatively significant increases were also observed in Yukon Therefore, the English—French bilingual population rose from 9, people in to 10, people in in all the Canadian territories.
In , people with French as their mother tongue single responses represented In , the bilingualism rate for people with an other mother tongue Note 2 was For people with English as their mother tongue, the bilingualism rate was 9. This is an increase of 0. Between and , the increase in English—French bilingualism in Canada was primarily attributable to people with French as their mother tongue. Moreover, the increase in bilingualism was largely concentrated in Quebec. Quebec was still the main driver of bilingualism growth in Canada between and However, the portion of the growth attributable to the other provinces and territories increased from All mother tongue groups also contributed to the growth of bilingualism.
In , the population with English as its mother tongue single responses had , more bilingual people than in This equals The remainder of the growth in bilingualism is attributable to people who reported more than one mother tongue.
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Join the conversation Create account. Already have an account? Montreal Quebec driving increase in Canada's bilingualism rate, census figures show New census numbers for language in Canada show bilingualism is at an all-time high at 18 per cent nationwide.
Young Quebecers were the most likely to remain bilingual once they learned the two languages. Almost all Quebec youth — 94 per cent — who were bilingual in remained bilingual 10 years later. Elsewhere in Canada, about one-third of youth who were bilingual in were no longer bilingual 10 years later. World Canada Local. Full Menu Search Menu. Close Local your local region National. Search Submit search Quick Search. Comments Close comments menu. This study uses data from the and censuses of population, as well as integrated census data from and , to examine the characteristics associated with English—French bilingualism among Canadian children and youth who were aged 5 to 17 in The study also examines the factors associated with the acquisition and retention of English—French bilingualism among children and youth in Quebec and in Canada outside Quebec.
In Canada, institutional bilingualism governs and defines communications between the federal government and the general population. Furthermore, all citizens have the right to use English or French in any parliamentary debates and business and within the federal public service. While institutional bilingualism is legally well established, English—French bilingualism is not a prerequisite for individual Canadian citizens, since they can—in theory—receive services in the official language of their choice.
Note However, according to various studies that evaluated the pros and cons of individual bilingualism, being bilingual is an asset, be it for children, youth or adults. Associations have been made between bilingualism and other cognitive results, such as being more attentive, Note getting better grades and achieving a higher level of education. Note In Canada, English—French bilingualism is associated with better employment opportunities and better salaries.
Despite the conclusions drawn from these studies, several methodological debates persist in the literature, particularly concerning the techniques and data used. Note Specifically, according to some people who claim that bilingualism in itself is not the reason behind these better outcomes, individuals who are or become bilingual are more likely to have other characteristics that are not measured by surveys, such as better cognitive abilities prior to becoming bilingual or higher socioeconomic status.
Therefore, it is these bilingualism-related traits—rather than bilingualism itself—that lead to better outcomes. Few people dispute the notion that being proficient in two or more languages gives an individual an advantage. Although the federal government and its institutions recognize that individual English—French bilingualism is not mandatory, they encourage and promote it in various ways.
The Action Plan for Official Languages —, which outlines the details and costs of significant government investments in the enhancement of official languages in Canada from to , sets out specific objectives for increasing individual English—French bilingualism over the next 20 years. Specifically, this plan aims to increase the English—French bilingualism rate from Note To achieve this objective, a greater number of Canadians need to successfully learn and become proficient in their second official language.
Furthermore, individuals who become bilingual must maintain their ability to communicate in both official languages over time. The challenges in this regard appear to be significant, particularly among youth and young adults living outside Quebec whose mother tongue is English.
For these youth, the capacity to hold a conversation in French is often associated with having taken a French immersion program or mandatory second language training in elementary or high school. However, many Anglophone children and teenagers who were bilingual in English and French lose their ability to hold a conversation in French after they complete their education. Note This lower bilingualism retention level has a significant impact on the overall development of English—French bilingualism in Canada outside Quebec.
Demographic projections and existing studies do not provide information about the retention and acquisition of English-French bilingualism in Canada.
The goal of this study is to fill that gap using data from the and censuses of population and integrated census data from and —a new dataset that makes it possible to compare the responses a sample of respondents provided as part of the Census with those they provided as part of the Census.
This dataset can be used to directly estimate the proportion of children and youth who have lost proficiency in their second official language as they have grown older, as well as the proportion who have acquired the second official language. Note These data reveal various individual and contextual characteristics associated with the retention of English—French bilingualism over time e.
In particular, this study provides answers to the following questions: 1 What are the characteristics associated with English—French bilingualism in among children and youth who were aged 5 to 17 in ? Given the regional variations in English—French bilingualism, analyses were conducted separately for two regions—Quebec and Canada outside Quebec.
Generally speaking, there has been an increase in English—French bilingualism in Canada over the past decades.
The proportion of Canadians who are proficient enough in their second official language English or French to hold a conversation has risen from This increase has not occurred at the same pace across the country. While bilingualism nearly doubled in Quebec from English—French bilingualism has continued to grow in Canada over the past 10 years, primarily in Quebec.
Given this trend, it is not surprising that the English—French bilingualism rate varied from province to province. In , Quebec had the highest English—French bilingualism rate The English—French bilingualism rate in the most populated Canadian provinces was lower than the overall national rate: The language projections show a widening gap in the long term between the English—French bilingualism rate in Quebec, which is on the rise, and the English—French bilingualism rates in other provinces, which are either stagnant or in decline.
In addition to the differences between provinces, there are notable differences between the English—French bilingualism rates of individuals whose mother tongue is French and those whose mother tongue is English or a language other than English or French. These results are explained in part by the fact that people in minority language groups Anglophones in Quebec and Francophones in the rest of Canada are more likely to communicate with people in the majority language group.
Differences were also noted between age groups, with the youngest group being more likely to be proficient in both official languages.
These are the ages when youth attend elementary or high school. Children and youth are the people most likely to spur growth in the overall English—French bilingualism rate in Canada in the long term. As people grow older, they are less likely to learn a second language. Children and youth often have more learning opportunities and sometimes have a greater ability to acquire language skills than older individuals. Some signs suggest that there has been an increase in English—French bilingualism rates among recent child and youth cohorts in Canada.
This has been observed in Quebec in particular, but also in the rest of Canada. In Canada outside Quebec, the English—French bilingualism rate for 5- to year-olds rose from This increase in bilingualism among children and youth was recorded for all age groups Chart 1 , although it occurred at the same time as a decline in overall bilingualism in Canada outside Quebec from
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