According to newly released linguistic census data, a quarter of Canadians now have a first language that is neither English nor French, compared to the past. record high.
These six charts, based on data from her 2021 Census from Statistics Canada, show the languages Canadians know how to speak and the languages they use at home. provide insight.
In Quebec, bilingualism increased her 1.9 percentage points since the 2016 census. This was an attempt to strengthen the French language in the province, especially among courts, businesses, and immigrants to the province,after Quebec adopted Bill 96 earlier this year.
According to the latest census data, knowledge of Inuktitut, Ojikri, and Nehyawewin (Plains Cree) is the highest among Canada's indigenous languages. Statistics Canada also showed a slight decrease in the number of Canadians who can speak indigenous languages.
However, officials have cautioned against comparing figures from previous census, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has limited their ability to accurately count First Nations and Indigenous communities. says. The agency also cited heatwaves and wildfires in British Columbia and northern Ontario as challenges during the census process. Statistics Canada says an accurate comparison won't be available until September.
Linguistic data provides a glimpse into Canada's diversity. You can calculate the linguistic diversity for each state using the Linguistic Diversity Index, which measures the probability that two of her random picks speak the same first language.
CBC News calculations show that Nunavut and Ontario have the highest index scores, while Newfoundland and Labrador have the lowest.
The number of Canadians who speak Mandarin, Punjabi or Spanish at home has seen the biggest increase since the 2016 Census, and these three languages are the most spoken languages in Canada. remains at the top of the list of informal languages in the world.
Several other languages have also increased since the last census. Haiti, for example, has 17 times more Creole-speaking Canadians than it did in 2016. Thousands of Haitian immigrants arrived in Canada in recent years due to the anti-immigration policies of the Trump administration in the United States. many are fleeing.
Tagalog, spoken primarily by Filipinos, is the most common informal language spoken at home in her three states and territories of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Yukon.
Mandarin Chinese, the official language of China, is most common in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
The number of people familiar with sign languages in Canada, including American Sign Language (ASL), has increased by about 1,000.
For example, in Saskatchewan,sign language interpreters were used for the first time A televised press conference provided updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. and more people were exposed. to language.