Schooling in English-language schools in Quebec in 2021: Maps and key facts
Released: 2024-05-14
Today, Statistics Canada is releasing the booklet "Maps and key facts on schooling in English-language schools in Quebec, 2021," which presents results at the municipal (census subdivision) and regional (census economic region) levels.
The 2021 Census results revealed that more than three-quarters (76.2%) of the 230,080 children aged 5 to 17 years who were eligible for instruction in English in Quebec in 2021 were attending or had attended an English-language primary or secondary school in Canada. However, the booklet released today shows that this proportion varied across regions and municipalities.
On Montréal Island, more than four in five eligible children attended an English-language school in 2021 or had attended one in the past
In Quebec, Montréal Island is the region with the highest proportion of eligible children who were attending or had attended an English-language school in Canada in 2021 (81.5%). Nord-du-Québec (78.2%), Laval (77.2%) and Estrie (76.9%) are other regions with a high proportion of eligible children who were attending or had attended an English-language school.
The regions that had a smaller proportion of children eligible for instruction in English who were attending or had attended an English-language school in Canada in 2021 were Laurentides (66.4%), Lanaudière (65.3%), Bas-Saint-Laurent (59.8%) and Abitibi-Témiscamingue (57.9%).
Almost one-quarter of eligible children who had never attended an English-language school in 2021 lived in Lanaudière, Laurentides or Outaouais
In 2021, 36.0% of school-aged children who were eligible for instruction in English in Quebec were on Montréal Island, where the participation rate in English-language schools was higher than the average. By comparison, this region comprised 28.0% of eligible children in Quebec who had never attended an English-language school.
The Lanaudière, Laurentides and Outaouais regions together represented 16.7% of children eligible for English education in Quebec in 2021. Given that participation in English-language schools was lower than average in these regions, they had nearly one-quarter (23.0%) of eligible children in Quebec who had never attended an English-language school.
Chart 1
Regional distribution of eligible children according to schooling in English-language schools, Quebec, 2021
In some municipalities, all eligible children attend an English-language school
In some municipalities with a small number of children eligible for instruction in English, all these children attended an English-language school in Canada in 2021 or had attended one in the past. Examples of these municipalities include Namur in the Outaouais region, Howick in Montérégie, Hope Town in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region and Val-Joli in Estrie.
In municipalities with at least 1,000 eligible school-aged children, the participation rate in English-language schools in 2021 was highest in Hampstead (92.6%) on Montréal Island, followed by Côte-Saint-Luc (87.3%), also on Montréal Island, and Saint-Lazare (87.0%) in Montérégie. In contrast, this rate was lowest in Mirabel (55.7%) in the Laurentides, followed by Mascouche (63.7%) and Terrebonne (64.6%) in Lanaudière.
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Note to readers
The results presented in the booklet released today are based on data from the 2021 Census of Population published in the table "Instruction in the minority official language of eligible school-aged children, by eligibility criterion, age group and level, 2021."
In this release, school-aged children are defined as children aged 5 to 17 years on December 31, 2020. They were born between 2003 and 2015. The term "region" refers to census economic regions, also known as administrative regions in Quebec.
The participation rate in English-language schools and the proportion of children who attended an English-language school reflect the percentage of school-aged children eligible for instruction in English living in Quebec in 2021 who were attending or had attended an English-language primary or secondary school in Canada for at least one year. It may have been in the municipality where the eligible child lived at the time of the 2021 Census or elsewhere in Canada.
In the 2021 Census results, eligibility for instruction in English at the primary or secondary levels in Quebec is based on the criteria in section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Children are eligible to attend English-language schools when they have at least one parent who attended an English-language primary school in Canada, or the child or their sibling attended an English-language primary or secondary school in Canada. The information in this booklet does not account for the criterion of parents' Canadian citizenship.
The census results are a statistical operationalization of the concept of children eligible for instruction in the minority official language, which has certain limitations. The issue of eligibility is ultimately a legal matter that requires a case-by-case analysis. For more information on this concept and its limitations, consult the Instruction in the Minority Official Language Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2021.
Data from the 2021 Census on schooling in English-language schools of eligible children in Quebec are part of Statistics Canada's data ecosystem on instruction in the minority official language.
Products
The booklet Maps and key facts on schooling in English-language schools in Quebec, 2021, which is part of the Ethnicity, Language and Immigration Thematic Series (89-657-X) is now available.
The Languages Statistics portal provides the most recent data, analyses and references on languages in Canada.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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