Official language minority (OLM) enterprises in Canada

Infographic: Official language minority (OLM) enterprises in Canada
Description: Official language minority (OLM) enterprises in Canada

In 2021, 5.4% of enterprises in Canada were majority-owned by official language minority ownersNote 1Note 2Note 3

Table 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 1 Number of OLM enterprises, Percentage of enterprises, 2016, 2021, 2016 and 2021, calculated using units of measure (appearing as column headers).
  Number of OLM enterprises Percentage of enterprises
2016 2021 2016 2021
Atlantic region 25,970 25,510 12.2% 11.6%
Quebec 148,790 164,560 14.0% 14.7%
Ontario 62,290 60,460 3.5% 3.0%
Prairies region 22,570 19,970 2.4% 2.0%
British Columbia 10,200 10,300 1.4% 1.2%
Territories 520 530 5.9% 5.7%
Canada outside Quebec 121,560 116,760 3.3% 2.9%
Canada – total 270,340 281,320 5.7% 5.4%

4 in 10 OLM enterprises were incorporated. Just over 1 in 10 were incorporated enterprises with more than one employee. These proportions are similar to those observed for other enterprises.

Table 2
Table summary
The information is grouped by Type of enterprise and number of employees (appearing as row headers), , calculated using (appearing as column headers).
Type of enterprise and number of employees OLM enterprises Other enterprises
Unincorporated enterprises 58.8% 57.5%
Incorporated enterprises 41.3% 42.5%
1 or no employee 29.8% 30.5%
More than 1 but less than 5 employees 6.2% 6.8%
5 or more employees 5.2% 5.2%

Similar proportions of OLM enterprises and other enterprises were located in a rural region or were majority-owned by women+.

Table 3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 3 , calculated using (appearing as column headers).
  OLM enterprises Other enterprises
Rural enterprisesNote 4 17.9% 18.2%
Enterprises majority-owned by women+Note 5 29.5% 29.6%

The shares of total employment and total payroll represented by OLM enterprises decreased slightly from 2016 to 2021, among incorporated enterprises with more than 1 and less than 5000 employees.

Table 4
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 4 , calculated using (appearing as column headers).
  2016 2021
Share of enterprises 5.4% 5.2%
Share of employment 5.9% 5.7%
Share of total payroll 5.6% 5.5%

Industry sectors with the largest and smallest proportions of OLM enterprises

Table 5
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 5 , calculated using (appearing as column headers).
  Proportion of enterprises that are OLM-owned
Sectors with the largest proportions of OLM enterprises  
Real estate and rental and leasing 6.0%
Wholesale and retail trade 6.0%
Accommodation and food services 5.9%
Sectors with the smallest proportions of OLM enterprises  
Transportation and warehousing 4.6%
Construction 4.4%
Natural resources and agriculture 4.0%

Source: Statistics Canada, Business Linkable File Environment (B-LFE).


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