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: This fact sheet gives an overview of the situation of French in Nunavut in 2021. First, it provides information on the changes in the number and proportion of people in the population who can conduct a conversation in French, whose first official language spoken is French, whose mother tongue is French, who speak French at home or use French at work. Next, it presents information on French-language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, on French spoken among recent and established immigrants, as well as on the mobility and place of birth of individuals whose first official language spoken is French. Additional data on these topics can be found in the appendix.

The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the Census of Population. To learn more about census concepts and the historical comparability of data, please refer to the 2021 Census of Population Languages Reference Guide and the Instruction in the Minority Official Language Reference Guide.

Description: This Census in Brief article focuses on First Nations people, Métis and Inuit who reported being able to conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language in the 2021 Census of Population. This article examines changes in the number of speakers by language and region. It also examines trends in mother tongue speakers of Indigenous languages and those who learned an Indigenous language as a second language.

Description: This technical note discusses the choice of the population of reference (employed persons or persons with recent work experience) for census statistics on language of work. It presents the rationale behind Statistics Canada’s change of approach for the dissemination of 2021 Census data.

Description: A series of infographics produced for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), presenting statistics on the number and characteristics of official language minority businesses and owners, for the regions represented by each of Canada's Regional Development Agencies (RDA).

Description: This fact sheet offers an overview of the situation of the French language in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2021, along with certain trends observed since 1991. It provides information on the changes in the number and proportion of people in the population who can conduct a conversation in French, whose first official language spoken is French, whose mother tongue is French, and who speak French at home or use French at work. In addition, it contains information on French-language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, on French spoken among recent and established immigrants, as well as on the mobility and place of birth of individuals whose first official language spoken is French. This fact sheet is based on data from the 1991 to 2021 censuses of population, together with the 2011 National Household Survey.

Description: This fact sheet offers an overview of the situation of the French language in Prince Edward Island in 2021, along with certain trends observed since 1991. It provides information on the changes in the number and proportion of people in the population who can conduct a conversation in French, whose first official language spoken is French, whose mother tongue is French, and who speak French at home or use French at work. In addition, it contains information on French-language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, on French spoken among recent and established immigrants, as well as on the mobility and place of birth of individuals whose first official language spoken is French. This fact sheet is based on data from the 1991 to 2021 censuses of population, together with the 2011 National Household Survey.

Description: This fact sheet offers an overview of the situation of the French language in Nova Scotia in 2021, along with certain trends observed since 1991. It provides information on the changes in the number and proportion of people in the population who can conduct a conversation in French, whose first official language spoken is French, whose mother tongue is French, and who speak French at home or use French at work. In addition, it contains information on French-language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, on French spoken among recent and established immigrants, as well as on the mobility and place of birth of individuals whose first official language spoken is French. This fact sheet is based on data from the 1991 to 2021 censuses of population, together with the 2011 National Household Survey.

Description: A large body of studies have consistently demonstrated that higher proficiency in the destination-country language improves immigrant labour market outcomes. However, because of the lack of objective measures of language skills, previous studies have mainly drawn on subjective measures of language proficiency and were confined to the effect of only one dimension or general language skills. This study examines the effects of test-based measures of official language proficiency in four dimensions — listening, speaking, reading and writing —on immigrant employment and earnings.

Description: Based on 2021 Census data, this infographic provides information on children eligible for instruction in the minority official language in Canada.

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This Census in Brief article presents 2021 Census results related to language of work, including analyses of trends over time and of differences between various groups of workers, for selected regions.

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.

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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.

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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.