Language in Canada
Encyclopedia
A multitude of languages are used in Canada
. According to the 2006 census, English and French are the mother tongues
of 58.8% and 23.2% of Canadians respectively. New Brunswick is the only Canadian province that has both English and French as its official languages. Quebec's official language is French. 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."
To assist in more accurately monitoring the two official languages, Canada's census
collects a number of demolinguistic descriptors
not enumerated in the censuses of most other countries, including home language, mother tongue, first official language and language of work.
Canada’s linguistic diversity extends beyond the two official languages. About 18% 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. Nearly 3.5 million Canadians continue to use a non-official language most often, when in home or social settings.
Canada is also home to many indigenous languages. Taken together, these are spoken by less than one percent of the population, and are mostly in decline.
”).
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census Profile of Federal Electoral Districts (2003 Representation Order): Language, Mobility and Migration and Immigration and Citizenship. (Figures combine single and multiple responses. Multiple responses for “French/English”, “French/Other” and “English/Other” were allocated with one-half of all respondents placed in either linguistic category. Multiple responses for English/French/Other” were allocated with one-third of all respondents being placed in each of the three categories.).
More Canadians know how to speak English than speak it at home. Since 1971, Knowledge of English has increased slightly and usage of English at home has remained relatively constant.
. 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). Overall, 69% of Canadians cannot speak French; outside of Quebec only 11% of Canadians report that they can have a conversation in French. 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 the "French Shore
" along the island's west coast.
The percentage of the population who speak French both by Mother tongue and home language has decreased over the past three decades. Whereas the number of those who speak English at home is higher than the number of people whose mother tongue is English, the opposite is true for Francophones. There are fewer people who speak French at home, than learned French after birth.
Ethnic diversity is growing in French Canada, but still lags behind the English-speaking parts of the country. In 2006, 91.5% of Quebecers considered themselves to be of either "French" or "Canadian" origin. As a result of the growth in immigration, since the 1970s, from countries in which French is a widely-used language, 3.4% of Quebecers indicated that they were of Haitian, Belgian, Swiss, Lebanese or Moroccan origin. Other groups of non-francophone immigrants (Irish Catholics, Italian, Portuguese, etc.) have also assimilated into French over the generations. The Irish, who started arriving in large numbers in Quebec in the 1830s, were the first such group, which explains why it has been possible for Quebec to have had five premiers
of Anglo-Irish ethnic origin: John Jones Ross
(1884–87), Edmund James Flynn
(1896–97), Daniel Johnson, Sr. (1966–68), Pierre-Marc Johnson
(1985) and Daniel Johnson, Jr. (1994).
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).
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".
Since the implementation of the Official Languages Act
in 1969, the percentage of bilingual Canadians has risen from about 13% to 17%. However the rate has leveled off since the 1996 census.
”, that stretches east from Quebec into northern New Brunswick and west into parts of Ottawa and northeastern Ontario. 63% of bilingual Canadians live in this region. 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.
Similarly, the rate of bilingualism in Quebec has risen higher, and more quickly than in the rest of Canada. In Quebec the rate of bilingualism has increased from 26% of the population being able to speak English and French in 1951 to 40% in 2006. In the rest of Canada (excluding Quebec) the rate has increased from 7% to 10% in the same time span. Taken together, bilingualism has risen from 12% to 17% for Canadians overall.
.
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. For example, within Quebec around 37% of bilingual Canadians are Francophones, whereas Francophones only represent 4.5% of the population outside of Quebec.
that are spoken nowhere else. There are 11 Aboriginal
language groups in Canada, made up of more than 65 distinct languages and dialects. 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.
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. In the Northwest Territories
, 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
. 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.
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
.
In the absence of state structures, academics usually classify Aboriginal peoples of Canada by region into "culture areas
", or by their Indigenous language family
.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census Profile of Federal Electoral Districts (2003 Representation Order): Language, Mobility and Migration and Immigration and Citizenship Ottawa, 2007, pp. 2, 6, 10.
which evolved within the Prairie Métis 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.
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.
, 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
. 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).
s and their own sign languages. The main sign language in Anglophone Canada is American 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 became available in the mid-Twentieth Century. It is still remembered by some elderly people, but moribund
.
(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.
(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.
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.
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 and the same conservatism holds true in Canadian English grammar, 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).
. 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.
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.
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.
, 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
.
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.
(also known as Bungy, Bungie, Bungay, and as the Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English which evolved within the Prairie Métis 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.
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.
The official languages are:
(also known as "Bill 101") by Quebec's National Assembly
in August 1977, however, French became Quebec's sole official language. However, the Charter of the French Language enumerates a defined set of language rights for the English language and for aboriginal languages, and government services are available, to certain citizens and in certain regions, in English. As well, a series of court decisions have forced the Quebec government to increase its English-language services beyond those provided for under the original terms of the Charter of the French Language. Regional institutions in the Nunavik
region of northern Quebec offer services in Inuktitut and Cree.
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.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. According to the 2006 census, English and French are the mother tongues
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
of 58.8% and 23.2% of Canadians respectively. New Brunswick is the only Canadian province that has both English and French as its official languages. Quebec's official language is French. English and French are recognized by the Constitution of Canada
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in 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
Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, an office of the Canadian government, is responsible for achieving the objectives of, and promoting, Canada's Official Languages Act....
(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."
To assist in more accurately monitoring the two official languages, Canada's census
Census in Canada
The Census in Canada is a census that takes place every five years. The census is conducted by Statistics Canada. The census provides demographic and statistical data that is used to plan public services including health care, education, and transportation, determine federal transfer payments, and...
collects a number of demolinguistic descriptors
Demolinguistic descriptors used in Canada
A number of demolinguistic descriptors are used by Canadian federal and provincial government agencies, including Statistics Canada, the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Office québécois de la langue française to assist in accurately measuring the status of the country’s two official...
not enumerated in the censuses of most other countries, including home language, mother tongue, first official language and language of work.
Canada’s linguistic diversity extends beyond the two official languages. About 18% 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. Nearly 3.5 million Canadians continue to use a non-official language most often, when in home or social settings.
Canada is also home to many indigenous languages. Taken together, these are spoken by less than one percent of the population, and are mostly in decline.
Geographic distribution
The following table details the population of each province and territory, with summary national totals, by language spoken most often in the home (“Home languageHome language
Following a widely accepted definition by Valdes , a heritage language is a language that is acquired by individuals raised in homes where the dominant language of the region, such as English in the United States, is not spoken or not exclusively spoken...
”).
| 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% | Inuit language (Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun), English, French |
 Canada |
31,241,446 | 20,840,743 | 66.7% | 6,691,928 | 21.4% | 3,710,529 | 11.9% | English, French |
Home language: rates of language use 1971-2006
The percentage of the population speaking English, French or both languages most often at home has declined since 1986, the decline has been greatest for French. The proportion of the population who speak neither English nor French in the home has increased substantially. Geographically, this trend remains constant, as usage of English and French have declined in both English and French speaking regions of the country, but French has declined more rapidly both inside and outside of Quebec. The table below shows the percentage of the total Canadian population who speak Canada's official languages most often at home from 1971-2006.Use of English
In 2006, just under 20.6 million Canadians, representing 58% of the population, spoke English at home. English is the major language everywhere in Canada except Quebec, and most Canadians (85%) can speak English. In Quebec, English is the preferred language of only 13.4% of the population, but 46% of Québécois can speak English. Nationally, Francophones are five times more likely to speak English than Anglophones are to speak French - 44% and 9% respectively. Only 3.6% of Canada's English-speaking population resides in Quebec—mostly in Montreal.More Canadians know how to speak English than speak it at home. Since 1971, Knowledge of English has increased slightly and usage of English at home has remained relatively constant.
Use of French
In 2006, just over 6.6 million Canadians spoke French at home. Of these, 91.2% resided in QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Outside Quebec, the largest French-speaking populations are found in New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
(which is home to 3.5% of Canada’s francophones) and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
(4.4%, residing primarily in the eastern
Eastern Ontario
Eastern Ontario is a subregion of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies in a wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River...
and northeastern parts of the province and in Toronto). Overall, 69% of Canadians cannot speak French; outside of Quebec only 11% of Canadians report that they can have a conversation in French. Smaller indigenous French-speaking communities exist in some other provinces. For example, a vestigial community exists on Newfoundland's Port au Port Peninsula
Port au Port Peninsula
The Port au Port Peninsula is a peninsula in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Roughly triangular in shape, it is located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland.-Geography:...
; a remnant of the "French Shore
French Shore
The French Treaty Shore resulted from the 1713 ratification of the Treaty of Utrecht. The provisions of the treaty allowed the French to fish in season along the north coast of Newfoundland between Cape Bonavista and Point Riche. This area had been frequented by fishermen from Brittany since the...
" along the island's west coast.
The percentage of the population who speak French both by Mother tongue and home language has decreased over the past three decades. Whereas the number of those who speak English at home is higher than the number of people whose mother tongue is English, the opposite is true for Francophones. There are fewer people who speak French at home, than learned French after birth.
Ethnic diversity is growing in French Canada, but still lags behind the English-speaking parts of the country. In 2006, 91.5% of Quebecers considered themselves to be of either "French" or "Canadian" origin. As a result of the growth in immigration, since the 1970s, from countries in which French is a widely-used language, 3.4% of Quebecers indicated that they were of Haitian, Belgian, Swiss, Lebanese or Moroccan origin. Other groups of non-francophone immigrants (Irish Catholics, Italian, Portuguese, etc.) have also assimilated into French over the generations. The Irish, who started arriving in large numbers in Quebec in the 1830s, were the first such group, which explains why it has been possible for Quebec to have had five premiers
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
of Anglo-Irish ethnic origin: John Jones Ross
John Jones Ross
John Jones Ross, PC was born in Quebec City, Canada. He was the son of a Scots-Quebecer merchant, George McIntosh Ross, and his French-Canadian wife Sophie-Éloïse Gouin.-Province of Canada Assembly:...
(1884–87), Edmund James Flynn
Edmund James Flynn
Edmund James Flynn was a Canadian politician and the tenth Premier of Quebec.-Background:Flynn, the son of Jacques Flynn and Elizabeth Tostevin, was born at Percé on November 16, 1847. He studied law at the Université Laval in Quebec City from 1871 to 1873, obtaining his degree with distinction. On...
(1896–97), Daniel Johnson, Sr. (1966–68), Pierre-Marc Johnson
Pierre-Marc Johnson
Pierre-Marc Johnson, , is a Quebec lawyer, physician and politician. He was the 24th Premier of Quebec from October 3 to December 12, 1985.- Early background :...
(1985) and Daniel Johnson, Jr. (1994).
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).
Bilingualism and multilingualism versus French-English bilingualism
According to the 2006 census, 98% of Canadian residents are able to speak at least one of the country’s two official languages, As well, at least 35% of Canadians speak more than one language. Bilingualism in the two official languages is much less widespread; of these multilingual Canadians, less than half (5,448,850 persons, or 17.4% of all Canadians) are able to speak both the official languages.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".
Since the implementation of the Official Languages Act
Official Languages Act
Official Language Act or Official Languages Act may refer to:* the Official Languages Act passed in Canada to enshrine official bilingualism* the Official Language Act passed in Quebec to ensure that French retained its primary status...
in 1969, the percentage of bilingual Canadians has risen from about 13% to 17%. However the rate has leveled off since the 1996 census.
Geographic distribution of French-English bilingualism
Nearly 95% of Quebecers can speak French, and 45% 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. 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 beltBilingual belt
The bilingual belt is a term for the portion of Canada where both French and English are regularly spoken.The term was coined by Richard Joy in his 1967 book Languages in Conflict, where he wrote, "The language boundaries in Canada are hardening, with the consequent elimination of minorities...
”, that stretches east from Quebec into northern New Brunswick and west into parts of Ottawa and northeastern Ontario. 63% of bilingual Canadians live in this region. 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.
Similarly, the rate of bilingualism in Quebec has risen higher, and more quickly than in the rest of Canada. In Quebec the rate of bilingualism has increased from 26% of the population being able to speak English and French in 1951 to 40% in 2006. In the rest of Canada (excluding Quebec) the rate has increased from 7% to 10% in the same time span. Taken together, bilingualism has risen from 12% to 17% for Canadians overall.
French-English bilingualism is highest among members of local linguistic minorities
It is very uncommon for Canadians to be capable of speaking only the minority official language of their region (French outside of Quebec or English in Quebec). Only 1.5% of Canadians are able to speak only the minority official language, and of these most (90%) live in the bilingual beltBilingual belt
The bilingual belt is a term for the portion of Canada where both French and English are regularly spoken.The term was coined by Richard Joy in his 1967 book Languages in Conflict, where he wrote, "The language boundaries in Canada are hardening, with the consequent elimination of minorities...
.
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. For example, within Quebec around 37% of bilingual Canadians are Francophones, whereas Francophones only represent 4.5% of the population outside of Quebec.
| Anglophones English Canadian An English Canadian is a Canadian of English ancestry; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadian. Canada is an officially bilingual state, with English and French official language communities. Immigrant cultural groups ostensibly integrate into one or both of these communities, but... |
Francophones | Allophones Allophone (Quebec) In Quebec, an allophone is a resident, usually an immigrant, whose mother tongue or home language is neither English nor French. The term is also sometimes used in other parts of Canada. The term parallels Anglophone and Francophone, which designate people whose mother tongues are English and... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Quebec Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.... |
66.1% | 36.6% | 50.4% |
| Rest of Canada | 7.1% | 85.1% | 5.7% |
Outside Quebec, French language continuity is low
The language continuity index represents the relationship between the number of people who speak French most often at home and the number for whom French is their mother tongue. A continuity index of less than one indicates that French has more losses than gains – that more people with French as a mother tongue speak another language at home. New Brunswick has the highest French language continuity ratio, but still registers more losses than gains. British Columbia and Saskatchewan have the lowest ratio and thus the lowest retention of French. From 1971 to 1996 the overall ratio for French language continuity outside of Quebec declined from 0.73 to 0.64. Declines were the greatest for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland.| Province/Territory | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick |
0.92 | 0.93 | 0.93 | 0.92 |
| Ontario |
0.73 | 0.72 | 0.63 | 0.61 |
| Nova Scotia |
0.69 | 0.69 | 0.59 | 0.57 |
| Prince Edward Island |
0.60 | 0.64 | 0.53 | 0.53 |
| Manitoba |
0.65 | 0.60 | 0.49 | 0.47 |
| Yukon |
0.30 | 0.45 | 0.43 | 0.46 |
| Northwest Territories |
0.50 | 0.51 | 0.47 | 0.43 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador |
0.63 | 0.72 | 0.47 | 0.42 |
| Alberta |
0.49 | 0.49 | 0.36 | 0.32 |
| Saskatchewan |
0.50 | 0.41 | 0.33 | 0.29 |
| British Columbia |
0.30 | 0.35 | 0.28 | 0.29 |
Aboriginal languages
Canada is home to a rich variety of indigenous languagesIndigenous languages of the Americas
Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...
that are spoken nowhere else. There are 11 Aboriginal
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
language groups in Canada, made up of more than 65 distinct languages and dialects. Of these, only Cree
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
, Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
and Ojibway
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...
have a large enough population of fluent speakers to be considered viable to survive in the long term.
Two of Canada's territories give official status to native languages. In Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
, Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
and Inuinnaqtun are official languages alongside the national languages of English and French, and Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in territorial government. In the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
, the Official Languages Act declares that there are eleven different languages: Chipewyan
Dene Suline language
Dene Suline or Chipewyan is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada. It is a part of the Athabaskan family...
, Cree
Cree language
Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
, English, French, Gwich’in
Gwich’in language
The Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. In the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort...
, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun
Inuvialuktun
Inuvialuktun, or Western Canadian Inuit language, Western Canadian Inuktitut, Western Canadian Inuktun comprises three Inuit dialects spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by those Canadian Inuit who call themselves Inuvialuk .Inuvialuktun is spoken by the Inuit of the Mackenzie River delta...
, North Slavey
Slavey language
Slavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status....
, South Slavey
Slavey language
Slavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status....
and Tłįchǫ
Dogrib language
Dogrib, the English translation of the indigenous name ' , is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the First Nations Tłı̨chǫ people of the Canadian territory Northwest Territories...
. 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.
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
Home language
Following a widely accepted definition by Valdes , a heritage language is a language that is acquired by individuals raised in homes where the dominant language of the region, such as English in the United States, is not spoken or not exclusively spoken...
.
In the absence of state structures, academics usually classify Aboriginal peoples of Canada by region into "culture areas
Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas is based upon cultural regions, geography, and linguistics. Anthropologists have named various cultural regions, with fluid boundaries, that are generally agreed upon with some variation...
", or by their Indigenous language family
Indigenous languages of the Americas
Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...
.
- Arctic cultural areaInuitThe Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
- (Eskimo–Aleut languages) - Subarctic culture area - (Na-Dene languagesNa-Dené languagesNa-Dene is a Native American language family which includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. An inclusion of Haida is controversial....
- Algic languagesAlgic languagesThe Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada...
) - Eastern Woodlands (Northeast) cultural area - (Algic languagesAlgic languagesThe Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada...
and Iroquoian languagesIroquoian languagesThe Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native American language family.-Family division:*Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press....
) - Plains cultural areaPlains IndiansThe Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
- (Siouan–Catawban languages) - Northwest Plateau cultural area - (Salishan languagesSalishan languagesThe Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
) - Northwest Coast cultural areaIndigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest CoastThe Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
- (Haida languageHaida languageThe Haida language is the language of the Haida people. It contains seven vowels and well over 30 consonants.-History:The first documented contact between the Haida and Europeans was in 1774, on Juan Pérez's exploratory voyage. At this time Haidas inhabited the Queen Charlotte Islands, Dall...
, Tsimshianic languagesTsimshianic languagesThe Tsimshianic languages are a family of languages spoken in northwestern British Columbia and in southern Alaska on Annette Island and Ketchikan. About 2,170 people of the ethnic Tsimshian population in Canada still speak the Tsimshian languages; about 50 of the 1,300 Tsimshian people living in...
and Wakashan languagesWakashan languagesWakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca....
)
| Aboriginal language dialects | No. of speakers | Mother tongue First language A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity... |
Home language Home language Following a widely accepted definition by Valdes , a heritage language is a language that is acquired by individuals raised in homes where the dominant language of the region, such as English in the United States, is not spoken or not exclusively spoken... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cree Cree language Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana... |
99,950 | 78,855 | 47,190 |
| Inuktitut Inuktitut Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada... |
35,690 | 32,010 | 25,290 |
| Ojibwe Ojibwe language Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems... |
32,460 | 11,115 | 11,115 |
| Montagnais-Naskapi (Innu) | 11,815 | 10,970 | 9,720 |
| Dene Suline Dene Suline language Dene Suline or Chipewyan is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of central Canada. It is a part of the Athabaskan family... |
11,130 | 9,750 | 7,490 |
| Oji-Cree (Anishinini) Oji-Cree language The Severn Ojibwa or the Oji-Cree language is the indigenous name for a dialect of the Ojibwe language spoken in a series of Oji-Cree communities in northern Ontario and at Island Lake, Manitoba, Canada... |
12,605 | 8,480 | 8,480 |
| Mi’kmaq Mi'kmaq language The Mi'kmaq language is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 9,100 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States out of a total ethnic Mi'kmaq population of roughly 20,000. The word Mi'kmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' ; the adjectival form is Míkmaw... |
8,750 | 7,365 | 3,985 |
| Siouan languages (Dakota/Sioux) Sioux language Sioux is a Siouan language spoken by over 33,000 Sioux in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth most spoken indigenous language in the United States or Canada, behind Navajo, Cree, Inuit and Ojibwe.-Regional variation:... |
6,495 | 5,585 | 3,780 |
| Atikamekw Atikamekw language The Atikamekw language , a dialect of Cree, is the language of the Atikamekw people of southwestern Quebec. It is spoken by nearly all the Atikamekw, and therefore it is among the indigenous languages least threatened with extinction according to some studies... |
5,645 | 5,245 | 4,745 |
| Blackfoot Blackfoot language Blackfoot, also known as Siksika , Pikanii, and Blackfeet, is the Algonquian language spoken by the Blackfoot tribes of Native Americans, who currently live in the northwestern plains of North America... |
4,915 | 3,085 | 3,085 |
| Tłįchǫ or Dogrib Dogrib language Dogrib, the English translation of the indigenous name ' , is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the First Nations Tłı̨chǫ people of the Canadian territory Northwest Territories... |
2,645 | 2,015 | 1,110 |
| Algonquin Algonquin language Algonquin is either a distinct Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe dialect. It is spoken, alongside French and to some extent English, by the Algonquin First Nations of Quebec and Ontario... |
2,685 | 1,920 | 385 |
| Carrier Carrier language The Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier is the usual English name. People who are referred to as Carrier speak two related languages. One,... |
2,495 | 1,560 | 605 |
| Gitksan | 1,575 | 1,175 | 320 |
| Chilcotin Chilcotin language Chilcotin is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia by the Tsilhqot’in people.... |
1,400 | 1,070 | 435 |
| North Slave (Hare) Slavey language Slavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status.... |
1,235 | 650 | 650 |
| South Slave Slavey language Slavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status.... |
2,315 | 600 | 600 |
| Malecite Malecite-Passamaquoddy language Malecite–Passamaquoddy is an endangered Algonquian language spoken by the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy peoples along both sides of the border between Maine in the United States and New Brunswick, Canada. The language consists of two major dialects: Malecite, which is mainly spoken in New... |
790 | 535 | 140 |
| Chipewyan | 770 | 525 | 125 |
| Inuinnaqtun | 580 | 370 | 70 |
| Kutchin-Gwich’in (Loucheaux) Gwich’in language The Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. In the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort... |
570 | 355 | 25 |
| Mohawk Mohawk language Mohawk is an Iroquoian language spoken by around 2,000 people of the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada . Mohawk has the largest number of speakers of the Northern Iroquoian languages; today it is the only one with greater than a thousand remaining... |
615 | 290 | 20 |
| Shuswap Shuswap language The Shuswap language, known to its speakers as Secwepemctsín , is the traditional language of the Shuswap people of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern interior of British Columbia between the Fraser River and the Rocky Mountains... |
1,650 | 250 | 250 |
| Nisga’a | 1,090 | 250 | 250 |
| Tlingit Tlingit language The Tlingit language ) is spoken by the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada. It is a branch of the Na-Dené language family. Tlingit is very endangered, with fewer than 140 native speakers still living, all of whom are bilingual or near-bilingual in English... |
175 | 0 | 0 |
Pidgins, mixed languages, & trade languages
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
Michif (also known as Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif and French Cree) is a mixed languageMixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
which evolved within the Prairie Métis community. It is based on elements of Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
, Ojibwa
Ojibwa
The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...
, Assiniboine
Nakota
The term Nakota is the endonym used by the native peoples of North America who usually go by the name of Assiniboine , in the United States, and of Stoney, in Canada....
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Michif is today spoken by less than 1,000 individuals in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
and North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
. At its peak, around 1900, Michif was understood by perhaps three times this number.
Basque pidgin
In the 16th century, a BasqueBasque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
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.
Chinook Jargon
In British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
and throughout the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
a pidgin language known as the Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...
emerged in the early 19th Century which was a combination of Chinookan
Chinookan
Chinook refers to several native amercain groups of in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, speaking the Chinookan languages. In the early 19th century, the Chinookan-speaking peoples lived along the lower and middle Columbia River in present-day Oregon and Washington...
, Nootka, Chehalis
Chehalis (tribe)
The Chehalis people are a native people of westernWashington state in the United States. They should not be confused with the similarly named Chehalis First Nation of the Harrison River in the Fraser Valley area of British Columbia....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, with a smattering of words from other languages including Hawaiian
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Certain words and expressions remain current in local use, such as skookum
Skookum
Skookum is a Chinook jargon word that has come into general use in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.The word skookum has three meanings:# a word in regional English that has a variety of positive connotations;...
, 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).
American Sign Language
Canada is a diverse mix of many Deaf cultureDeaf culture
Deaf culture describes the social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values and shared institutions of communities that are affected by deafness and which use sign languages as the main means of communication. When used as a cultural label, the word deaf is often written with a...
s and their own sign languages. The main sign language in Anglophone Canada is American Sign Language
American Sign Language
American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
.
Maritime Sign Language
Maritime Sign LanguageMaritime Sign Language
Maritime Sign Language , is a sign language, derived from British Sign Language, formerly used in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Canada...
is a language from the BANZSL Language Family. It was used to educate the Deaf in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, and Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
before ASL became available in the mid-Twentieth Century. It is still remembered by some elderly people, but moribund
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
.
Quebec Sign Language
The major sign language of the Deaf in Quebec and other major Canadian cities is Quebec Sign LanguageQuebec Sign Language
Quebec Sign Language, known in French as Langue des signes québécoise , is a sign language used in Canada. Most LSQ users are located in Quebec, but a few are scattered in major cities in the rest of the country....
(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
Inuit Sign LanguageInuit Sign Language
Inuit Sign Language , or Eskimo Sign Language, is an indigenous sign language used by both the deaf and the hearing in Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic, including Nunavut and perhaps northern Quebec and Nova Scotia...
(also called Inuktitut Sign Language or Eskimo Sign Language) is used by the deaf Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
peoples in northern Canadian territories and other Arctic Circle countries. Little is known about its history or signers.
Canadian Gaelic
Scottish GaelicScottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
was spoken by many immigrants who settled in the Maritimes
Maritimes
The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada, which also includes the...
and Glengarry County, Ontario
Glengarry County, Ontario
thumb|right|Glengarry located within OntarioGlengarry County , an area covering , is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is historically known for its settlement of Scottish Highlanders due to the Highland Clearances.Glengarry was founded in 1792 by Scottish loyalists, mainly from...
. Scottish Gaelic was spoken predominantly in New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
's Restigouche River valley, central and southeastern Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, and across the whole of northern Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
--particularly Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
and a few speaks in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
primarily Glengarry County
Glengarry County, Ontario
thumb|right|Glengarry located within OntarioGlengarry County , an area covering , is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is historically known for its settlement of Scottish Highlanders due to the Highland Clearances.Glengarry was founded in 1792 by Scottish loyalists, mainly from...
.
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
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
.
There have been attempts in Nova Scotia to institute Gaelic immersion on the model of French immersion
French immersion
French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which a child who does not speak French as his or her first language receives instruction in school in French...
. As well, formal post-secondary studies in Gaelic language and culture are available through St. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University is a post-secondary institution located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The school was founded in 1853, but did not offer degrees until 1868. The university has approximately 5000 students.-History:...
, Saint Mary's University
Saint Mary's University (Halifax)
Saint Mary's University is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. The school is best known for having nationally lead programs in Business, Astronomy and International Development Studies as well, one of the best football and Men's hockey programs in Canada .The campus is situated in Halifax's...
, and the Gaelic College
Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts
The Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts is a Canadian educational institution located in the community of St...
.
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.
Franglais and Chiac
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 phenomenon is more common in the Eastern half of the country where there is a greater density of Francophone populations. FranglaisFranglais
Franglais , a portmanteau combining the French words "français" and "anglais" , is a slang term for an interlanguage, although the word has different overtones in French and English....
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 and the same conservatism holds true in Canadian English grammar, even in Quebec City.
One interesting example of is Chiac, popularly a combination of Acadian French
Acadian French
Acadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...
and Canadian English
Canadian English
Canadian English is the variety of English spoken in Canada. English is the first language, or "mother tongue", of approximately 24 million Canadians , and more than 28 million are fluent in the language...
, but actually an unmistakable variety of French, which is native to the Maritimes
Maritimes
The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada, which also includes the...
(particularly New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
which has a large Acadian population).
Newfoundland Irish
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 dialectNewfoundland Irish
Newfoundland Irish is an extinct dialect of the Irish language specific to the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It was very similar to Munster Irish, as spoken in the southeast of Ireland, due to mass immigration from the counties Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Cork.-Irish settlement...
. 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.
Welsh language
Some WelshWelsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
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
Welsh settlement in Argentina
Y Wladfa refers to the Welsh settlement in Argentina, which began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut Province in the far southern region of Patagonia...
migrated to Canada from Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
after the 1982 Falkland Islands War. Welsh-Argentines are fluent in Spanish as well as English and Welsh.
Acadian French
Acadian FrenchAcadian French
Acadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...
is a unique form of Canadian French
Canadian French
Canadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...
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
Maritimer English
Canadian Maritime English or Maritimer English is a dialect of English spoken in the Maritime provinces of Canada. Quirks include the removal of pre-consonantal sounds, and a faster speech tempo...
dialect.
Canadian Ukrainian
Canada is also home to Canadian UkrainianCanadian Ukrainian
Canadian Ukrainian is a variety of the Ukrainian language specific to the Ukrainian Canadian community descended from the first two waves of historical Ukrainian emigration to Western Canada.Canadian Ukrainian was widely spoken from the beginning of Ukrainian...
, a distinct dialect of the Ukrainian language
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
, spoken mostly in Western Canada by the descendants of first two waves of Ukrainian settlement in Canada
Ukrainian Canadian
A Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. In 2006, there were an estimated 1,209,085 persons residing in Canada of Ukrainian origin, making them Canada's ninth largest ethnic group; and giving Canada the world's third-largest...
who developed in a degree of isolation from their cousins in what was then Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Doukhobor Russian
Canada's DoukhoborDoukhobor
The Doukhobors or Dukhobors , earlierDukhobortsy are a group of Russian origin.The Doukhobors were one of the sects - later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a "way of life" - known generically as Spiritual Christianity. The origin of the Doukhobors is...
community, especially in Grand Forks
Grand Forks, British Columbia
-Schools:Schools in the region are operated by School District 51 Boundary which has its main office in Grand Forks but also serves Midway, Greenwood, Beaverdell, and Rock Creek....
and Castlegar
Castlegar, British Columbia
Castlegar is the second largest city in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located within the Selkirk Mountains at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers. It is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy fueled by forestry, mining and tourism...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, has kept its distinct dialect
Doukhobor Russian
The Doukhobors are a Christian sect who in 1899 established a number of commune-style settlements in Western Canada. They have brought with them a Southern Russian dialect of their communities of origin, which over the following decades underwent some changes under the influence of the Canadian...
of Russian. It has a lot in common with South Russian dialects, showing some common features with Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. This dialect's versions are becoming extinct in their home regions of Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
where the Doukhobors have split into smaller groups.
Bungee
The meagerly documented Bungee languageBungee language
Bungi is a creole of Scottish English strongly influenced by Orcadian, Gaelic, Cree and Ojibwe, and spoken by the Red River Métis in present-day Manitoba, Canada...
(also known as Bungy, Bungie, Bungay, and as the Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English which evolved within the Prairie Métis community. It is influenced by Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
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.
Official bilingualism
Main articles: Official bilingualism in Canada, and Official bilingualism in the public service of CanadaOfficial bilingualism in the public service of Canada
Because Canada has, for over two centuries, contained both English- and French-speakers, the question of the language used in the administration of public affairs has always been a sensitive issue....
Language policy of the federal government
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
Bilingualism in Canada
The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada" according to Canada's constitution...
are protected in sections 16
Section Sixteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Section Sixteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the first of several sections of the Charter dealing with Canada's two official languages, English and French...
to 23
Section Twenty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Section Twenty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the section of the Charter that constitutionally guarantees minority language educational rights to French-speaking communities outside Quebec, and, to a lesser extent, English-speaking minorities in Quebec...
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
of 1982 which establishes that:
- French and English are equal to each other as federal official languages;
- Debate in Parliament may take place in either official language;
- Federal laws shall be printed in both official languages, with equal authority;
- Anyone may deal with any court established by Parliament, in either official language;
- Everyone has the right to receive services from the federal government in his or her choice of official language;
- Members of a minority language group of one of the official languages if learned and still understood (i.e., French speakers in a majority English-speaking province, or vice versa) or received primary school education in that language has the right to have their children receive a public education in their language, where numbers warrant.
Canada's Official Languages Act
Official Languages Act (Canada)
The Official Languages Act is a Canadian law that came into force on September 9, 1969, which gives English and French equal status in the government of Canada. This makes them "official" languages, having preferred status in law over all other languages...
, first adopted in 1969 and updated in 1988, gives English and French equal status throughout federal institutions.
Language policies of Canada's provinces and territories
Officially bilingual or multilingual: New Brunswick and the three territories
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:
- New BrunswickNew BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
: English and French. New Brunswick has been officially bilingual since the 1960s. The province's officially bilingual status has been entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms since the 1980s. - Northwest TerritoriesNorthwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
: Chipewyan, CreeCree languageCree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...
, English, French, Gwich’inGwich’in languageThe Gwich’in language is the Athabaskan language of the Gwich’in indigenous people. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. In the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada, it is used principally in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort...
, Inuinnaqtun, InuktitutInuktitutInuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
, InuvialuktunInuvialuktunInuvialuktun, or Western Canadian Inuit language, Western Canadian Inuktitut, Western Canadian Inuktun comprises three Inuit dialects spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by those Canadian Inuit who call themselves Inuvialuk .Inuvialuktun is spoken by the Inuit of the Mackenzie River delta...
, North SlaveySlavey languageSlavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status....
, South SlaveySlavey languageSlavey is an Athabaskan language spoken among the Slavey First Nations of Canada in the Northwest Territories where it also has official status....
and Tłįchǫ or DogribDogrib languageDogrib, the English translation of the indigenous name ' , is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the First Nations Tłı̨chǫ people of the Canadian territory Northwest Territories...
. - NunavutNunavutNunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
: English, Inuit language (Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun) and French. - YukonYukonYukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
: English and French.
Officially French-only: Quebec
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 LanguageCharter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
(also known as "Bill 101") by Quebec's National Assembly
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
in August 1977, however, French became Quebec's sole official language. However, the Charter of the French Language enumerates a defined set of language rights for the English language and for aboriginal languages, and government services are available, to certain citizens and in certain regions, in English. As well, a series of court decisions have forced the Quebec government to increase its English-language services beyond those provided for under the original terms of the Charter of the French Language. Regional institutions in the Nunavik
Nunavik
Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec...
region of northern Quebec offer services in Inuktitut and Cree.
De facto English only, or limited French-language services: the other eight provinces
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
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....
, 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.
External links
- Ethnologue report for Canada
- Statistics Canada: Canadian Statistics: Population
- The Atlas of Canada - Mother tongue
- The Atlas of Canada - English-French Bilingualism
- 1996 Census: Aboriginal data
- Population autochtone du Canada (in French)
- Linguistic maps of Canada with 50 indigenous languages
- Language Portal of Canada