Bilingualism, 2006

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Abstract

Canada has two official languages, English and French. In 2006, about 17.4% of the population were bilingual, as they were able to conduct a conversation in both official languages. People living in Quebec reported the highest percentage of being bilingual. New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province in Canada, had the highest bilingualism rate among Anglophones (16.0%) outside Quebec. People living in Eastern Ontario and in the Greater Sudbury area also reported a higher rate of bilingualism compared to the other parts of Canada. For the rest of Canada, the rate of bilingualism varied among the provinces and territories. In some regions, the rate of bilingualism reached as high as 15%.

People living in Quebec had the highest percentage of the Canadian population who were able to conduct a conversation in both official languages of Canada. About 35.8% of Francophones in Quebec reported being bilingual. For Anglophones, it was about 68.9% whereas it was 50.2% for Allophones, whose mother tongue is neither English nor French. In Montréal, 53.8% of the people reported that they can carry on a conversation in both English and French, while in Gatineau, it was 63.0%.

In Ottawa, 37.2% of its population were bilingual. Cornwall in Eastern Ontario also showed a relatively high rate of bilingualism at 46.1%. About 14.0% of the residents in Kingston reported being bilingual, while the rate of bilingualism was around 9.3% in Toronto. The 2006 Census data showed that the majority of Francophones living outside of Quebec were bilingual. In the regions where Francophones tend to reside, the rate of bilingualism was also higher, for example, close to two-fifth (38.9%) and slightly over one-fourth (26.4%) of the population in Greater Sudbury and North Bay, respectively, reported being able to conduct a conversation in both English and French.

In New Brunswick, where Francophones made up 32.7% of the population, the rate of bilingualism was also high in the north-eastern region and in the two major cities: 48.1% in Moncton and 22.6% in Fredericton.

For the provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the three territories, the rate of bilingualism varied and reached as high as 15% in some areas. In Manitoba, the rate of bilingualism in a few municipalities reached as high as 50%.

The Daily is Statistics Canada's official release bulletin. The Daily for December 4, 2007, marked the public release of this census variable. Highlight tables allowing users to perform simple rank and sort functions with the data at various levels of geography are available for this variable here: Language Highlight Tables, 2006 Census. Technical notes for this variable can be found at Languages Reference Guide, 2006 Census.

More information on bilingualism could be found in the following publication: Statistics Canada, The Evolving Linguistic Portrait, 2006 Census, Catalogue no. 97-555-X2006001. Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from the Statistics Canada's Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at www.statcan.gc.ca, or its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.