Languages

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: A data visualization product (interactive dashboard) highlighting the Indigenous languages spoken in Canada. Indicators include: those who can speak an Indigenous language, those who have an Indigenous language as a mother tongue, the Indigenous languages spoken at home, as well as silent and active speakers of an Indigenous language. The indicators are broken down by different levels of geography.

Description: This fact sheet offers a summary of content changes for the 2026 Census specific to the following topics: languages and language of instruction. The tested changes for each topic are explained, along with the resulting approach for 2026.

Description: This infographic provides insights into the use of Inuktut among Inuit in Nunavut. It is based on data from the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Survey and includes key statistics on Inuktut use, such as exposure to the language and the importance of understanding Inuktut.

Description: Using language-related data from the 2021 Census of Population, this infographic provides insights into the knowledge and use of Inuktut in Nunavut. Findings include results about language spoken at home, language used at work, mother tongue and knowledge of languages across the territory.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This report is part of a series on Indigenous language families in Canada, using data from the 2021 Census of Population. It provides an overview of the vitality, acquisition and use of Indigenous languages that belong to the Algonquian language family. The following languages are covered: Blackfoot, Atikamekw, Cree languages, Innu (Montagnais), Naskapi, Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqewi (Malecite), Anicinabemowin (Algonquin), Oji-Cree and Ojibway languages. Maps within each report show selected communities with speakers for various Indigenous languages, providing a regional perspective on the extent to which these languages are spoken across Canada.

Description: This report is part of a series on Indigenous language families in Canada, using data from the 2021 Census of Population. It provides an overview of the vitality, acquisition and use of Indigenous languages that belong to the Athabaskan language family. The following languages are covered: Dakelh (Carrier), Dane-zaa (Beaver), Dene, n.o.s., Gwich'in, Slavey-Hare languages, Kaska (Nahani), Tahltan, Tlicho (Dogrib), Tse'khene (Sekani), Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin), Tsuu T'ina (Sarsi), Tutchone languages, Wetsuwet'en-Babine and Tlingit. Maps within each report show selected communities with speakers for various Indigenous languages, providing a regional perspective on the extent to which these languages are spoken across Canada.

Description: This report is part of a series on Indigenous language families in Canada, using data from the 2021 Census of Population. It provides an overview of the vitality, acquisition and use of Indigenous languages that belong to the Inuktut (Inuit) language family. The following languages are covered: Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun and Inuktitut. Maps within each report show selected communities with speakers for various Indigenous languages, providing a regional perspective on the extent to which these languages are spoken across Canada.

Description: This report is part of a series on Indigenous language families in Canada, using data from the 2021 Census of Population. It provides an overview of the vitality, acquisition and use of Indigenous languages that belong to the Iroquoian language family. The following languages are covered: Cayuga, Mohawk and Oneida. Maps within each report show selected communities with speakers for various Indigenous languages, providing a regional perspective on the extent to which these languages are spoken across Canada.

Description: Official language of daycare and reasons for attending, by elementary school language and type of program, age group and gender, for Canada, Quebec, Canada outside Quebec, by provinces and select regions, among sub-populations of children in a minority official language situation, 2022.

Description: Preference for daycare in the minority official language, by elementary school language and type of program, age group and gender, for Canada, Quebec, Canada outside Quebec, by provinces and select regions, among sub-populations of children in a minority official language situation, 2022.

Description: Frequency of using the minority official language in public, by language in which the person is most at ease to speak, ease of using the minority language in the community, official languages spoken at home, gender, age group and immigrant status, among adults in the official language minority population, 2022.

Description: Language spoken in public in various situations, by official language in which the person is most at ease to speak, official languages spoken at home, gender, age and immigrant status, among adults in the official language minority population, 2022.

Description: This interactive dashboard allows users to visualize the breakdown of speakers of some of the most frequent languages spoken in Canada in 2021 by age group, generation status, place of residence and languages spoken at home.

Description: Languages used by the business or organization in providing services or performing activities over the last 12 months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, fourth quarter of 2025.

Description: Percentage of employees required to be bilingual in English and French, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, fourth quarter of 2025.

Description: The number of students in regular Indigenous language programs and Indigenous language immersion programs in public elementary and secondary schools.

Description: Enrolments in regular second language programs (or core language programs), French immersion programs, and education programs in the minority official language offered in private or independent elementary and secondary schools, by type of program, grade and sex.

Description: A data visualization product (interactive dashboard) highlighting the Indigenous languages spoken in Canada. Indicators include: those who can speak an Indigenous language, those who have an Indigenous language as a mother tongue, the Indigenous languages spoken at home, as well as silent and active speakers of an Indigenous language. The indicators are broken down by different levels of geography.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This article looks at how the unique circumstances of 2021 that drove the increase in working from home affected English- and French-speaking workers differently in the Montréal metropolitan area and how commuting flows in this region differ by language profile.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This report explores the statistical and analytical potential of information on the language-related characteristics of occupations provided by the Occupational and Skills Information System (OaSIS). OaSIS is an information system developed by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) which provides detailed information on occupations. The report identifies and explores a series of descriptors of occupations related to skills, work activities and work contexts that have a language- or communication-related aspect. These descriptors of occupations are used to enrich data from the 2021 Census.

Description: Retaining and recruiting young skilled workers are important for any community, but perhaps even more so for communities where the main language spoken is a minority official language. This article informs the issue by calculating the share of youth who grew up in a province and eventually obtained a postsecondary education, but who left to work in another part of the country (termed “skill loss”). Likewise, the article also looks at young postsecondary graduates who entered a province to work, as a share of that province’s initial population of homegrown young postsecondary graduates (termed “skill gain”).

Description: This series of regional maps shows the number of school-aged children eligible to primary and secondary instruction in English in Quebec by census subdivision, and the proportion of these children who attend or have attended an English-language school in Canada. All the information provided comes from the 2021 Census of Population and the 2022 Open Database of Educational Facilities.

Description: This analysis compares the investment efforts of official language minority (OLM) owned businesses depending on whether they are located in a rural or urban area. The study is based on a model that uses a seemingly unrelated regression equation (SURE) system estimator to simultaneously assess the impact of determinants that explain the investment of businesses in rural and urban areas and to statistically test the differences between the two areas.

Description: This series of provincial, territorial and regional maps shows the number of school-aged children eligible to primary and secondary instruction in French in Canada outside Quebec by census subdivision, and the proportion of these children who attend or have attended a French-language school in Canada. All the information provided comes from the 2021 Census of Population and the 2022 Open Database of Educational Facilities.

Description: This article provides a profile of official language minority owned businesses who received federal business innovation and growth support to better understand their demographics and business characteristics, including the age and gender of the owners, the business size and its revenues, the geography of operations, the level of support received, and the distribution of businesses across industries.

Description: This article offers an initial in-depth analysis of participation in French immersion programs in Canada outside Quebec, based on 2021 Census data. This analysis examines factors that may be related to availability of French immersion programs and choosing of these programs. In addition, it looks at the possible links between schooling in a French immersion program and English–French bilingualism as well as the use of French at home or at work in adulthood.

Description:

This reference guide provides information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS). This guide contains definitions and explanations of concepts, classifications, data quality and comparability to other sources. Additional information is included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the NHS.

Description:

Readers will find a complete analysis of factors affecting the comparability of Language results between the censuses in the Methodological Document on the 2011 Census Language Data.

Description:

This guide focuses on the following topic: Language. Provides information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2011 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts, talks about changes made to the 2011 Census, data quality and historical comparability, as well as comparison with other data sources. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description:

This guide focuses on the following demographic variables: First official language spoken, Home language, Knowledge of non-official languages, Knowledge of official languages, Language of work, and Mother tongue.

Provides information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2006 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts, data quality and historical comparability. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description: These guides provide information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2006 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description:

This guide focuses on the following demographic variables: First official language spoken, Home language, Knowledge of non-official languages, Knowledge of official languages, Language of work, and Mother tongue.

Provides information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2006 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description: These guides provide information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2006 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description:

This report discusses various aspects of the quality of data on mother tongue, language spoken at home, knowledge of language and language at work. In the 2001 Census questionnaire, there are five questions on these four language categories. These questions, complemented by questions on ethnicity, religious affiliation and immigration, provide an opportunity to study linguistic and cultural characteristics of Canadians. These questions on languages are designed to collect the demolinguistic data. Demolinguistics, a subdiscipline of demography (not of linguistics), involves the demographic analysis of data on languages. Such analysis is useful for our understanding of, for instance, the linguistic diversity of Canadians, the evolution of language groups, or the transmission of mother tongue between generations. For each of the four categories of language questions mentioned above, the report describes briefly the procedures of data collection, some aspects of coverage, the processing stages of the data verification operation and the procedures used for editing and imputing the language variables. Finally, a description on how the data were evaluated will be presented.

Description:

This paper presents the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) coding structure for the variables on country of birth, mother tongue and ethnic background.

Description: This survey is designed to collect information on official language programmes offered in independent elementary and secondary schools. Data for language program funding, as well as a full address of all independent schools for funding purposes, are provided to the Department of Canadian Heritage.