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    Portrait of Official Language Minorities in Canada - Francophones in Alberta

    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

    The French-mother-tongue population of Alberta increased by 89% from 1951 to 2006, going from 34,200 to 64,800 (see Table 2.1). However, that population decreased from 1981 to 1996. The increase in the Francophone population during the period 1951–2006 was much smaller than that of the other two language groups. In fact, the English-mother-tongue population quadrupled (increasing by 300%) to 2,593,400 in 2006, while the "other"-mother-tongue population more than doubled (with an increase of 133%), totalling 598,200 in 2006 compared with 256,900 in 1951.

    Table 2.1 Population by mother tongue, Alberta, 1951 to 2006

    Table 2.2 shows the average annual growth rate for the population of each mother tongue group. It reveals that since 1951, except for the period 1996–2001, the growth rate of the French-speaking population has been lower than that of the Anglophone population. As may also be seen, the average annual growth rates of both the Francophone and the Anglophone populations declined between the periods 1951–1961 and 2001–2006, going from 2.4% to 0.8% and from 4.8% to 1.7%, respectively. By contrast, the annual growth rate of the "other"-mother-tongue population increased, going from 2.7% (1951–1961) to 4.8% (2001–2006), reflecting the increase in international immigration.

    Table 2.2 Yearly average population growth rate by mother tongue, Alberta, 1951 to 2006

    The French-mother-tongue population outside Quebec resides mainly in two of its bordering provinces. The provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario alone accounted for 76% of all Francophones living outside Quebec in 2006. That same year, Alberta Francophones accounted for 6.6% of the French-mother-tongue population outside Quebec, up slightly from 1951 when the proportion was 4.7% (see Table 2.3). Francophones constituted 2.0% of the overall population of Alberta in 2006. For the English-mother-tongue and "other"-mother-tongue populations, the proportions are 79.6% and 18.4% respectively (see Table 2.1).

    Table 2.3 Number and proportion of Francophones in Alberta within the Francophone 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 Francophone population: it allows persons with mother tongues other than English or French to be included in the Anglophone or Francophone population. Most persons with "other" mother tongues are generally counted as part of the majority FOLS group. Nevertheless, the population with French as first official language spoken is usually larger than the French-mother-tongue population in a province such as Ontario, for example, where a large proportion of persons have a mother tongue other than English or French. In Alberta, use of the FOLS criterion has very little effect on the size of the Francophone population, despite the presence of allophones. The relative share of the Francophone minority (according to the first official language spoken criterion) within the overall population of Alberta is 1.9% (62,790) (see Table 2.4), while that of the French-mother-tongue population is 2.0% (64,750) (after equal allocation of multiple responses). However, it is worth noting that the French FOLS population is 58,575 if the 4,210 persons with a double FOLS are excluded. As for the Anglophone population, its relative share is 79.6% according to the mother tongue criterion and 96.7% according to the FOLS criterion, which demonstrates the strong historical tendency for allophones to adopt English.

    Table 2.4 Population by first official language spoken, Alberta, 1971 to 2006

    According to the results shown in Chart 2.1, the French-mother-tongue population in 2006 was slightly larger than the French FOLS population, with a difference of just under 2,000. Generally, when the French-mother-tongue population is equal to the French FOLS population, this means that persons with mother tongues other than English or French are not integrating linguistically to the advantage of the minority language. When the French-mother-tongue population is larger than the French FOLS population, this means that, as well as "other"-mother-tongue persons not being integrated, some persons with French as their mother tongue no longer know French (but do know English) well enough to conduct a conversation in it. For this reason, they are included in the English FOLS group.

    From 1971 to 2006, the size gap between the French-mother-tongue population and the French FOLS population showed little change. The smallest difference observed between these two populations is 1,735 in 1971, while the largest is 3,820 in 1981. In 1971, the French-mother-tongue population was smaller than the French FOLS population. However, since 1981 the French-mother-tongue population has exceeded the French FOLS population.

    Chart 2.1 Number of persons with French as mother tongue and as first official language spoken, Alberta, 1951 to 2006

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

    The proportion of the Francophone minority within the overall population of Alberta is 1.9%. Nearly seven Franco-Albertans in 10 reside in two census divisions (CDs): Division No. 61 (30% of the province's Francophones or 19,125 persons) and Division No..112 (36% of the province's Francophones or 22,805 persons) (see Appendix A). Furthermore, more than half of the province's Francophones live in the cities of Calgary (27%) and Edmonton (24%).

    2.4 Relative proportion within municipalities of residence and geographic concentration index

    In this statistical portrait, we do not merely present aggregate information on Alberta's Francophones as a whole. Because Francophones are not distributed evenly among these various geographic entities and because their proportion varies from one census division (CD) or census subdivision (CSD) to another within the regions, it is quite useful to present statistics that take into account their relative share within their municipality of residence. In other words, the proportion of Francophones within their municipality has more influence on their perceptions and their linguistic practices than does their proportion within a larger region.

    We therefore examined the distribution of Francophones in Alberta according to the relative weight of their language group within their municipality of residence (see Table 2.5). This revealed that the vast majority (94%) of Francophones live in a municipality where they constitute less than 10% of the population. Moreover, 3% of Alberta Francophones live in a municipality where their relative weight is between 10% and 29%, and 2% live in a municipality where they constitute between 30% and 49% of the population. In the province as a whole, just under 800 Franco-Albertans—barely more than 1% of the province's Francophones—live in a municipality in which they constitute the majority.

    Table 2.5 Number and proportion of Francophones by their relative weight within the municipality of residence, Alberta, 2006

    Table A in appendix A and the maps preceding it show, for 2006, the relative weight of the Francophone population within each of the census divisions and selected census subdivisions included in them.

    Information on the proportion of Francophones within their municipality of residence is quite useful in analysing Francophones' perceptions and language behaviours. However, the municipalities vary in size, and in the case of urban agglomerations, for example, this information does not reveal whether Francophones are spread throughout the municipality or are concentrated in certain specific areas.

    As noted above, Francophones live in specific regions, and in these regions, their proportion within municipalities is variable. It is also useful to distinguish municipalities where Francophones are concentrated within a specific part of the geographic area from those where they do not exhibit any particular concentration. For this purpose, the distribution of Francophones throughout the geographic area is presented here using a concentration index3 (see Table 2.6). The concentration of a language group within a given area, like its relative weight, will influence the potential language practices of its members.

    Table 2.6 Distribution of Francophones within the region of residence according to the concentration index within their municipality of residence, Alberta, 2006

    Table 2.6 shows that a large majority (87%) of Franco-Albertans are weakly concentrated within their municipality of residence, while for nearly 10% their concentration is average and for 3% it is strong.

    Notes

    1. This CD includes the city of Calgary.
    2. This CD includes the city of Edmonton.
    3. See Appendix D for a description of the concentration index and the concept of dissemination area.
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