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    Portrait of Official Language Minorities in Canada - Anglophones in Quebec

    Section 2 Evolution of the population by mother tongue and first official language spoken

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    2.1 Evolution of the population by mother tongue
    2.2 Evolution of the population by first official language spoken
    2.3 Geographic distribution of the population with English as first official language spoken
    2.4 Relative proportion within municipalities of residence and geographic concentration index

    2.1 Evolution of the population by mother tongue

    Quebec's English-mother-tongue population was 607,165 in 2006 compared to 558,256 in 1951, an increase of 8.8%. By comparison, the French-mother-tongue population grew by 76.8% to 5,916,845 in 2006 while the population with a mother tongue other than English or French increased more than five-fold (506.3%), totalling 911,895 in 2006 compared to just over 150,000 in 1951.1

     Table 2.1.1 Population by mother tongue, Quebec, 1951 to 2006

    Table 2.1.2 shows the average annual growth rate for the population of each mother tongue group since 1951. As may be seen, during the postwar period (1951 to 1961), the population with a mother tongue other than French or English grew at an average rate of nearly 9.4% annually because of the strong increase in international immigration, compared to an average annual growth rate of 2.5% for the English-mother-tongue population and 2.8% for the French-mother-tongue population. The table also shows that the average annual increase of the population with English as its mother tongue has been negative in each decade since the early 1970s except for the five-year period 2001-2006, when a slightly positive growth rate was recorded. By contrast, the average annual growth rate of the population with an "other" mother tongue has ranged between 0.7% and 4.2% annually since the early 1970s. Owing to the strong growth of international immigration in the last five-year period, the average growth rate of the "other"-mother-tongue population was nearly ten times greater than that of the other two language groups.

     Table 2.1.2 Yearly average population growth rate by mother tongue, Quebec, 1951 to 2006

    Canada's English-mother-tongue population represents 57.8% of the Canadian population as a whole. In Canada, with the exception of Quebec and Nunavut, the English-mother-tongue population predominates in all provinces and territories. In Quebec, the English-mother-tongue population represents 8.2% of the total, while the French-mother-tongue population represents 79.6%. In Nunavut, English is the mother tongue of 27.0% of the population. Quebec Anglophones as a proportion of the English-mother-tongue population outside Quebec declined by half between 1951 and 2006, going from 7.2% to 3.5%.

     Table 2.1.3 Number of persons with English mother tongue and relative weight of Quebec Anglophones within the overall Anglophone population outside Quebec, 1951 to 2006

    2.2 Evolution of the population by first official language spoken

    As described in Section 1, the criterion of the first official language spoken (FOLS) offers a more inclusive definition of the Anglophone population. The English FOLS population's relative share is 11.9% (885,000) excluding those having French and English as a double first official language, and 13.4% (995,000) when half the population with both French and English as FOLS is included. This is a sizable difference, in comparison with the 607,000 persons who have English as their mother tongue.

     Table 2.2.1 Population by first official language spoken, Quebec, 1971 to 2006

    In light of the results presented in table 2.2.1 and chart 2.2.1, it is clear that the size of the population with English as its mother tongue is smaller than one of the population for whom English is the first official language spoken. Indeed, the gap between the two has widened since 1981, owing to the combined effect of the departure of English-mother-tongue persons to other provinces and the increased immigration of persons with an "other" mother tongue for whom English is the first official language spoken. In particular, between 2001 and 2006, the English-mother-tongue group grew by 16,000 persons, compared to an increase of nearly 76,000 for the group with English as its first official language spoken.

     Chart 2.2.1 Number of persons with English as mother tongue and as first official language spoken, Quebec 1951 to 2006

    2.3 Geographic distribution of the population with English as first official language spoken

    While the proportion of Anglophones within the Quebec population is 13.4% province-wide, the geographic distribution of this group is quite uneven. Three regions of the province account for nearly 92% (or 911,000 persons) of the Anglophone population (see table 2.3.1). Thus, Anglophones in the Montréal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) account for 80.5% (or 801,000 persons) of Quebec's Anglophone population, and their relative share within the population of that CMA is 22%. In other words, 22% of the population residing in the Montréal CMA has English as its first official language spoken (FOLS).

    Anglophones in the Outaouais region account for 6% (or 59,000 persons) of Quebec's Anglophone population, while those in the Estrie and South of Quebec region account for 5% (or 51,000 persons). Their relative weight within the population of those two regions is 17% and 9% respectively. The province's other Anglophones (8.5% of them) reside in the regions of Québec and surrounding area (1.7%), the East of Quebec (1.7%) and the Rest of Quebec (5.1%). Their relative weight within the whole population of their respective regions barely exceeds 4%.

     Table 2.3.1 Number and distribution of Anglophones (first official language spoken) (in %) within the province and proportion of Anglophones within the region of residence, Quebec, 2006

    2.4 Relative proportion within municipalities of residence and geographic concentration index

    In this statistical portrait of Anglophones in Quebec, we will not limit ourselves to presenting information on each of the six major regions of residence as shown in table 2.3.1. Each of those regions consists of a number of census divisions (CDs) and census subdivisions (CSDs). Because Anglophones are not distributed evenly among these various geographic entities and because the proportion that they represent varies from one CD or CSD to another within the regions, it is quite useful for the purposes of this study to present statistics that take account of their relative share within their municipality of residence. In other words, the proportion that Anglophones represent within their municipality may have a greater influence on their linguistic perception and practices than does their proportion within a larger region.

    We examined the distribution of Anglophones according to the relative weight of their language group within their municipality of residence (see table 2.4.1). This revealed a distribution that casts new light on the minority/majority ratio. More than 70% of Anglophones (714,000) in Quebec live in a municipality where the Anglophone group represents at least 30% of the population. In fact, approximately half of Quebec's Anglophones (52% or 515,000 persons) comprise between 30% and 49.9% of the population of the municipality in which they live, and 200,000 of the province's Anglophones, or 20% of the total, live in municipalities in which they constitute the majority.

     Table 2.4.1 Distribution of Anglophones by the relative weight of this language group within the municipality of residence, Quebec, 2006

    With the exception of the region of Québec and surrounding area, the proportion that Anglo Quebecers represent within their municipality of residence varies enormously from one region to another (see chart 2.4.1). Québec and surrounding area accounts for only 1.7% of the province's Anglophones, but this region stands out from the others by the fact that almost all (97%) of the Anglophones found there reside in municipalities in which their relative weight is less than 10% of the population. By contrast, in the Montréal CMA, which is made up of some 90 municipalities, nearly one Anglophone in five lives in a municipality where this linguistic group forms the majority of the population, a proportion fairly similar to that observed in the Outaouais region.2 Chart 2.4.1 also shows that 62% of Anglophones in the greater Montréal region live in municipalities where they comprise between 30% and 50% of the population. In other words, more than eight Anglophones in ten in this CMA comprise nearly one-third of the population of the municipality in which they live.

    In the East of Quebec region, which accounts for less than 2% of the province's Anglophones, 45% of Anglo Quebecers live in a municipality where they form the majority of the population, a proportion slightly higher than what is observed in the "Rest of the Province," namely 37%.

     Chart 2.4.1 Distribution of Anglophones in Quebec regions by their relative weight within the municipality of residence, 2006

    The information on Anglophones' proportional weight within their municipality of residence is quite useful in analysing their perceptions and language behaviours. However, the municipalities vary in size, and in the case of large metropolitan areas, for example, this information does not reveal whether Anglophones are spread throughout the area as a whole or are instead concentrated in certain specific regions.

    It is therefore useful to distinguish municipalities where Anglophones are concentrated in a specific part of the geographic area from those where they do not exhibit any particular concentration. For this purpose, the distribution of Anglophones throughout the geographic area is presented here using a concentration index.3 Table 2.4.2 shows the usefulness of such a concept for each of the major regions studied in this report. Also, this information is highly useful insofar as the concentration of a language group within a given area, like the group's relative weight, is likely to influence the language practices of its members and the vitality of this linguistic community.

     Table 2.4.2 Distribution of Anglophones within the region of residence according to the average concentration index within their municipality of residence, Quebec, 2006

    The information that can be drawn from the concentration index is highly useful when it is compared to the information presented in table 2.3.1 and chart 2.4.1. Thus, for example, we know that more than 80% of Anglo Quebecers live in the Montréal CMA where they represent 22% of its population, and that 81% live in a municipality where they comprise 30% or more of the population. As regards the concentration of the English-speaking population, the information drawn from table 2.4.2 confirms that 89% of Anglophones in the Montréal CMA are generally highly concentrated within their municipality of residence. This reality is eloquently illustrated by the appended maps.

    The information provided by such a concentration index also applies to other regions of the province. Indeed, an examination of the index of concentration of Anglophones within the Eastern and "Rest of Quebec" regions confirms that the proportion that a population comprises within a given geographic area does not necessarily reflect the level of concentration of that population within that area. While Anglophones comprise only 4% of the population in the Eastern region, almost two-thirds of them are highly geographically concentrated in the municipality where they reside. By contrast, in the Outaouais region, where the proportion of Anglophones is 17%, just under one-third of them are highly concentrated with the geographic area of their municipality of residence.

    From this standpoint, the "Rest of Quebec" shows some similarities with the situation observed in the Estrie and South of Quebec region. Thus, the approximately 16,000 Anglophones living in the East of Quebec comprise only 4.3% of the population, but nearly 44% of them are highly concentrated within their municipality. As regards Estrie and South of Quebec, the roughly 51,000 Anglophones living there comprise less than 9% of the region's overall population, but 40% of them are highly concentrated within the geographic area of their municipality.

    Notes

    1. As will be seen further on in this report, the migration of Anglophones to other Canadian provinces is the main factor explaining why the number of Anglophones showed so little change.
    2. Tables A-1 and A-2 in appendix A and the maps preceding it show the relative weight of the Anglophone population within each region and within each census division and census subdivision included in it in 2006.
    3. See appendix D for a description of the concentration index and the concept of dissemination area.
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