Section 3 Factors influencing the evolution of the French-mother-tongue population

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• 3.1 Fertility
• 3.2 Transmission of mother tongue and the effect of exogamy
• 3.3 Age structure
• 3.4 Language transfers or intragenerational linguistic mobility
• 3.5 Use of French in the public sphere
• 3.6 Knowledge of French
• 3.7 Migration (interprovincial and international migratory movements)

How the language groups in a given province or region evolve depends on the combined effect of different factors: on the one hand, the determinants of natural increase—fertility and mortality—and on the other hand, internal and international migration. An additional factor is intergenerational linguistic continuity, that is, the mother-to-child transmission of the mother tongue.¹ Yet another factor will also be described in this section, namely intragenerational linguistic continuity or its obverse, language substitution or transfer. The latter, while it does not directly influence how a language group evolves in the short term, can nevertheless have a major long-term influence, in that the language predominantly used in the home is generally the one transmitted to the children.

This section will mainly focus on the French-mother-tongue group in Alberta. However, some of the analysis— particularly on interprovincial migration and international immigration—will also cover the population with French as the first official language spoken.

3.1 Fertility

During the first half of the twentieth century, differences in fertility between language groups partly accounted for the growth or maintenance of the population of some groups in relation to others. In Alberta in the 1950s and 1960s, Francophone women exhibited higher fertility than Anglophone or allophone women. This high fertility of Francophones partially offset the unfavourable effects of international immigration insofar as the latter favoured the growth of the English-mother-tongue population.

Data drawn from the censuses show that the total fertility rate of Francophone women declined so steeply that over a period of only 20 years (1956–1961 to 1971–1976), the average number of children per woman went from 5.04 to 2.05 (see Table 3.1). There was also a drop in fertility among women with English as their mother tongue, but it was less dramatic, going from 4.06 to 1.98 during the same period. During the succeeding five-year periods, the fertility trends of Francophone and Anglophone women in Alberta converged, with the result that during the period 2001–2006, their total fertility rates were nearly identical at 1.57 and 1.67 respectively.

Demographers have determined that in the current conditions of low mortality, the replacement level corresponds to a rate of 2.1, that is, 2,100 children per 1,000 women. As may be seen in Table 3.1, the fertility level of Francophone and Anglophone women fell below the replacement level starting in the period 1971–1976, while for women with an "other" mother tongue, this phenomenon occurred much later, during the period 1986–1991.

Since the period from 1971 to 1976, the total fertility rate of women with a mother tongue other than English or French has exceeded that of their Francophone counterparts. In this regard, however, caution is warranted when examining the effect of higher fertility for "other"-mother-tongue women. This phenomenon does not necessarily translate into an increase in this group's population compared with the others. As will be seen further on, the transmission of an "other" mother tongue to children—generally the community's majority language—is a significant phenomenon.

Table 3.1 Total fertility rate by mother tongue, Alberta, 1956 to 2006

3.2 Transmission of mother tongue and the effect of exogamy

Although the total fertility rate provides useful information on the number of births within different mother-tongue groups, it does not shed light on the mother tongue transmitted to children. The tendency to transmit a language to one's children varies according to a number of factors; one of the most important of these is the geographic concentration of the population comprising a given language group. This geographic concentration factor also influences the propensity to form an exogamous couple, that is, a couple in which the spouses² do not have the same mother tongue. Also, the lower the geographic concentration or relative weight of a language group in a given community, the lower the propensity of parents to transmit the minority language. In Alberta, at the time of the 2006 Census, French had been passed on as a mother tongue to 23% of the children of couples in which at least one spouse had French as a mother tongue.

From 1971 to 2006, the proportion of children from a French-English exogamous family among all families with at least one French-mother-tongue parent increased in Alberta, going from 45% to 76%. Conversely, the share of children living in an endogamous family with both parents having French as their mother tongue and the share of children whose parents formed an French-"other"-tongue exogamous couple both declined substantially, going from 37% and 18% respectively in 1971 to 17% and 8% in 2006 (see Chart 3.1).

Chart 3.1 Proportion of children under 18 years of age living in a family where at least one parent is of French-mother tongue, by mother tongue of parents, Alberta 1971 and 2006

Because of the increase in the proportion of French-English exogamous couples from 1971 to 2006, one might expect to see a decrease in the rate of transmission of the minority language (in this case, French) to children. However, it remained fairly stable. Whereas French had been passed on to 5% of the children under 18 years of age of French-English exogamous couples in 1971, the proportion was 8% in 2006 (see Chart 3.2). There was also an increase in the transmission of French to the children of French-"other"-language exogamous couples, from 12% to 14% during the same period. By contrast, among Francophone endogamous couples, the transmission of French to children under 18 years of age declined, going from 80% in 1971 to 75% in 2006.

Chart 3.2 Mother tongue of children under 18 years of age by mother tongue of parents, Alberta, 1971 and 2006

From 1971 to 2006, an increase is observed in the rate of transmission of French to the children of French-English exogamous couples in which the French-mother-tongue parent is the mother. However, among families in which the French-mother-tongue parent is the father, the rate remained stable. Thus, the census data show that the rate of transmission of French by French-mother-tongue mothers to their children rose sharply, from 5% in 1971 to 18% in 2006, whereas the rate for French-mother-tongue fathers slipped from 6% to 5% over the same period.

Table 3.2 shows that from 1971 to 2006, among exogamous couples with one French-mother-tongue spouse, there was an increase in the proportion of spouses with a mother tongue other than French who could conduct a conversation in French and English. Thus, the increased transmission of French to children living in exogamous families appears to go hand in hand with an increase in the French-English bilingualism of non-Francophone spouses. This increase is especially notable among "other"-mother-tongue male spouses in a union with a French-mother-tongue woman: whereas in 1971 their French-English bilingualism rate was 13%, in 2006 it was 21%, the highest bilingualism rate among all non-Francophone spouses in exogamous unions. The increase in the level of knowledge of French was smaller among English-mother-tongue male and female spouses and "other"-mother-tongue female spouses in an exogamous union with a Francophone spouse. The bilingualism rate for Anglophone male and female spouses went from 11% to 12% and from 11% to 15%, respectively, from 1971 to 2006; that of allophone female spouses was 10% in 1971 and 11% in 2006.

Table 3.2 Proportion of spouses with a mother tongue other than French who can conduct a conversation in both English and French, by the couple's language combination, Alberta, 1971 and 2006

It is also worth noting that in 2006, 6.8% of French-mother-tongue women living with an English-speaking male spouse spoke French most often at home, compared with 4.4% of French-mother-tongue men living with an English-speaking female spouse. Thirty-five years earlier in 1971, the proportions were 3.2% in both cases.

3.3 Age structure

It is useful to examine how the age structure of Alberta's Francophone population has evolved, so as to be able to reveal part of that population's demographic history while providing an indication of its future course. From 1971 to 2006, this evolution is essentially the result of a decreased fertility rate of Francophone women, a positive net interprovincial migration of the French-mother-tongue population, an increased life expectancy and a rise in international immigration. Added to all these phenomena is a low level of transmission to children of French as a mother tongue, for as noted above, at the time of the 2006 Census, French was passed on as a mother tongue to just over one child in five under 18 years of age with at least one French-mother-tongue parent.

Chart 3.3 shows how the age structure of Alberta's French-mother-tongue population has changed over time. As already noted, from 1971 to 2006 this language group saw its number grow by 39%, from 46,750 to 64,750. However, not all cohorts registered an increase. Firstly, the cohorts under 25 years of age decreased in size, owing to a drop in the fertility of Francophone women that was due in part to a fertility rate below the replacement level. Secondly, the number of persons aged 30 and over was up because of sizable migration of the French-mother-tongue population from other provinces and territories and outside Canada. However, part of the increase in the number of seniors is explained by the aging of the population and increased life expectancy.

In 2006, the number of children under the age of 5 (1,455) was smaller than the number of adults aged 25 to 29 (4,780)—the average childbearing age—, by a ratio of 0.30. By comparison, in 1971 the ratio was 0.68 (2,705/3,960). Also, as shown in Chart 3.3, the baby boom generation (born from 1946 to 1966), which corresponded in 1971 to the 5-9 to 20-24 age cohorts is much smaller than the 40-44 to 55-59 age cohorts 35 years later (15,615 versus 25,215). These findings are largely explained by the migration of Francophones to Alberta from other provinces or territories or from outside Canada.

Chart 3.3 Age structure of the French mother tongue population, Alberta, 1971 and 2006

All things being otherwise equal, the low numbers of the youngest cohorts in 2006, combined with the fact that over the coming decades, a number of cohorts will reach age 65, will result in an age structure that reflects considerable aging of the French-mother-tongue population. Already in 2006, the proportion of Francophones aged 65 and over was twice the proportion of those aged less than 15 years.

While the aging of the French-mother-tongue population is mainly due to a low fertility rate and a steady increase in life expectancy, it can be assumed that it also results from non-transmission of French as a mother tongue to children. As noted above, the rate of intergenerational transmission of French, in families composed of French-English exogamous couples, is low, although it increased from 1971 to 2006 (see Chart 3.2). Instead, it was predominantly English (89%) that these exogamous couples passed on to their children in 2006.

Overall during this period, the Francophone population was not favoured by intergenerational linguistic continuity. This phenomenon is measured by determining the ratio of the number of French-mother-tongue children under 5 years of age to the number of children whose mother has French as her mother tongue.³ In Alberta, this index was 0.42 in 2006, down from 1971 when it was 0.49. It is useful to note that "[a] language group emerges at the top of the mother tongue transmission process when the index is higher than 1… Conversely, transfers are unfavourable to a mother tongue when the index is less than 1." (Lachapelle and Lepage, 2011, p. 86). In the case of Alberta, intergenerational transmission remained unfavourable to the French-mother-tongue population in that this intergenerational continuity index is less than 1.⁴

The steep drop in births exhibited by the French-mother-tongue group in the past 35 years is not unique to this language group. Chart 3.4 shows the age structure of the main mother-tongue groups in 2006. While the relative share of cohorts under 35 years of age in the English-mother-tongue group is greater than in the other two groups, the consequences of a fertility rate below the replacement level are also apparent among persons under 15 years of age in this language group. But unlike the French-mother-tongue and "other"-mother-tongue groups, the Anglophone group benefited from the contribution of intergenerational linguistic mobility from the other two groups.

It should also be noted that the French-mother-tongue group's over-representation in the cohorts aged 35 to 64 is greater than for the other two language groups, owing to the migration of many Francophone workers from outside the province.

Chart 3.4 Age structure of French, English and "other"-mother-tongue populations, Alberta, 2006 (rate per 1,000)

3.4 Language transfers or intragenerational linguistic mobility

Language transfers, also sometimes called language shifts, refer to the phenomenon where the main language used at home differs from the individual's mother tongue. This language mobility phenomenon has no direct bearing on the evolution of language groups defined according to mother tongue. However, insofar as the language that dominates in the home is generally the one that is passed on to the children, it has a long-term influence on the future of language groups. Also, when the criterion used to define language groups is the first official language spoken, the language spoken most often at home has a direct influence on the size of the Francophone group. For example, according to this criterion, persons who have knowledge of both official languages and who have either English or French or another language as a mother tongue are part of the French-speaking group if they speak French most often at home.⁵

Through successive censuses, there has been an increase in language transfer rate for persons with French as a mother tongue in Alberta. Thus, in 1971, approximately 54% of Albertans with French as a mother tongue reported using another language, usually English, most often at home. Thirty-five years later, 69% of French-mother-tongue persons reported speaking a language other than French most often at home. Among English-mother-tongue persons, the proportion of language transfers was almost nil and remained stable over the period, registering 0.6% in 1971 and 0.4% in 2006. Among "other"-mother-tongue persons, language transfers declined over the past 35 years, going from 62% in 1971 to 46% in 2006. This major decrease is essentially the result of a strong increase in the immigrant population.

Table 3.3 Rate of language transfer by mother tongue, Alberta, 1971 to 2006

A linguistic continuity index can also be used as a corollary to the language transfer rate. This index is the ratio of the number of persons with a given home language to the number of persons with the corresponding mother tongue. A language group emerges at the top of the mother tongue transmission process when the index is higher than 1. Conversely, transfers are unfavourable to a language group when the index is less than 1.

According to the statistics in table 3.4, the French-mother-tongue group saw its linguistic continuity index fall from 0.49 to 0.33 during the period from 1971 to 2006, while that of the Anglophone group declined only slightly, from 1.17 to 1.12. The index for the "other"-mother-tongue group rose from 0.40 to 0.53 during the same period. The sizeable increase in the continuity index for persons with a mother tongue other than English or French is clearly due to the strong increase in their numbers from 1971 to 2006.

Table 3.4 Population by mother tongue, language spoken most often at home and linguistic continuity index, Alberta, 1971 and 2006

The continuity index of 0.33 for the French-mother-tongue group takes into account the fact that in Alberta, 1,195 persons have an "other" mother tongue and speak French most often at home (Table 3.5). It also takes into account that 1,375 persons with English as their mother tongue have French as their main home language.

Table 3.5 Population by mother tongue and language spoken most often at home, Alberta, 2006

Because the main home language of individuals may differ from their mother tongue, the concept of language transfer has often been seen as indicating abandonment of one's mother tongue. But since 2001, the Canadian census has included a question on languages, other than the main language, that are spoken on a regular basis at home. Although it may be difficult to judge how respondents interpret this new question, qualitative tests conducted on respondents as well as the results from the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities (SVOLM) have shown that respondents usually consider it to refer to the daily use of that language.

Based on the census results for this question, a distinction can be made between partial and complete language transfer. As a corollary to this distinction, there is a need to nuance the concept of linguistic continuity, since using one's mother tongue on a regular basis at home cannot automatically be interpreted as linguistic discontinuity.

In 2006, more than 19,315 Albertans spoke French as the only main language at home, while 4,200 persons reported speaking that language most often in combination with English or another language (Table 3.6). Thus, 0.7% of Albertans reported French as their main home language. Statistics drawn from the 2006 Census also show that 33,170 reported speaking French on a regular basis at home although it was not their main home language (see Table 3.7). In short, French was spoken most often or on a regular basis at home by 1.7% of the population, or approximately 56,700 persons.

Table 3.6 Population by mother tongue, language spoken most often at home and other languages spoken regularly at home, Alberta, 2006

Table 3.7 Number and proportion of persons with French as mother tongue, first official language spoken, language spoken most often at home and language spoken regularly at home, Alberta, 2006

One can use information on the regular use of French as a secondary language in the home to distinguish complete language transfers from partial language transfers. Accordingly, based on single responses to the question on the first language learned and still understood at the time of the 2006 Census (usually called the mother tongue), Table 3.8 shows that for Alberta as a whole, 46% of persons with French as their mother tongue do not use French at least regularly at home (complete transfer), whereas 23% use it on a regular basis (partial transfer). Consequently, French is the main home language for only 31% of Francophones. It is also worth noting that in Alberta, Francophones who make a language transfer almost always transfer to English.

The rates for complete and partial language transfers are known to vary by age group. In Alberta, statistics from the 2006 Census show that the older Francophones are, the more likely they are to have made a complete language transfer, except for persons aged 65 and over. Francophones aged 55 to 64 are more inclined to use a language other than French at home (58%) than those in other age groups, whereas those under 15 years of age are less likely to do so (14%). For partial language transfers, Francophones aged 15 to 54 have the highest rates (between 25% and 27%). As for complete language transfers, rates for this group vary from 30% to 51% depending on the age group. The table shows that among Francophones aged 15 to 54, French is the main home language for 23% to 43%, depending on the age group. The proportion is 65% for Francophones under 15 years of age.

Table 3.8 Rate of complete and partial language transfers of Francophones by age group, Alberta, 2006

Exogamy is often associated with language transfer for Francophones outside Quebec. Indeed, 94% of Alberta Francophones who live in an exogamous union with an English-mother-tongue spouse speak English most often at home. However, data drawn from the 2006 Survey of the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities (SVOLM) serve to better document the link between exogamy and language transfer among Francophones. These data show that for more than half of Francophones, language transfer took place well before a union was formed with an Anglophone spouse: approximately 71% of Francophones who live in an exogamous situation began to speak English most often at home before age 21 and 46% did so before age 15. Among Francophones between 25 and 44 years of age—those likely to have young children—the proportions were 78% and 69% respectively. Thus, it is not only exogamy that has a direct bearing on the fact that a Francophone speaks English most often at home. In fact, these results suggest that living in a highly minority situation increases the use of the majority language in daily activities; influences the main language of Francophones in the medium term; and ultimately affects the propensity to choose an English-speaking spouse. In any event, the relationship between exogamy and home language definitely operates in both directions.

The Survey of the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities data shed light on the association that tends to be established between language transfer and anglicization. The survey includes a question on respondents' main language, that is, the language in which they are most at ease in speaking. The data show that 45% of the population for whom French is the first official language spoken have either French (26%) or both official languages (19%) as main languages.

Overall in Alberta, a greater proportion of Francophones report using English most often at home (complete and partial language transfers) than the proportion of Francophones that report being more at ease in English than in French.⁶ Thus, around 70% of Franco-Albertans report speaking English⁷ most often at home while 54% report being more at ease in English than in French.

3.5 Use of French in the public sphere

Statistics from the Census of Population shed light on the use of languages both in the private sphere (at home) and in the workplace, as we will see in the section dealing with the labour force. But what do we know about the use of English and French by Franco-Albertans in domains of interaction other than in the home?

The Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities (SVOLM) includes a number of questions on the use of languages in various domains of the public sphere such as stores, health care institutions (which will be examined in detail in the next section), volunteer activities, social support, community or sports activities, etc. Some questions in the survey also deal with domains on the borderline between private and public spheres, such as the language spoken with friends outside the home or the language in which various media are "consumed."

An examination of language practices in various domains of the public and private spheres reveals that in Alberta, the population whose first official language spoken (FOLS) is French mainly uses English in both spheres (see Chart 3.5). The use of English as the predominant language (mainly or only) in the home was reported by 67%; 23% spoke mainly or only French there. But the most widespread use of English is in oral interactions that take place in institutions and stores, where 96% of the French FOLS population use it predominantly while 75% use it exclusively. Beyond the language choices at home and in institutions and stores, the extent to which English is used within immediate networks, at work and in the consumption of media is roughly similar, ranging from 86% to 90% depending on the domain. With friends, the SVOLM data show that 78% of persons for whom French is the first official language spoken use mainly or only English. It should be noted that between 8% and 12% of Francophones reported using French as much as English in all domains except in institutions and stores, where the proportion was only 3%.

The general index on use of languages in the public sphere reveals that 92% of the population for whom French is the first official language spoken use mainly or only English in the various domains of the public sphere (media, institutions and stores, work, immediate network and with friends outside the home).⁸ In fact, 54% of Francophones use only English in the public sphere, while 38% use mainly English (with French as a secondary language).

Chart 3.5 Proportion of Francophones by language use in various domains of the public and private spheres, Alberta, 2006

3.6 Knowledge of French

Persons whose main language is French have more opportunities to use it when they are in contact with persons who are able to conduct a conversation in French even if it is not their first official language spoken.

Within the overall population of Alberta in 2006, the proportion of persons who reported being able to conduct a conversation in French (7%) was larger than the proportion who reported French alone or with another language as their mother tongue (2.1%) or the proportion for whom French was the first official language spoken (1.9%). The relative share of Albertans able to conduct a conversation in French varies from one language group to another. Approximately 9 French-mother-tongue persons in 10 reported knowing French. The proportion is 5% for persons with English as their mother tongue and 4% for those with another mother tongue (see Table 3.9). Among the latter, 7% (most of them recent immigrants) reported that they were unable to conduct a conversation in either English or French.

Table 3.9 Knowledge of official languages by mother tongue, Alberta, 2001 and 2006

The proportion of persons able to conduct a conversation in French in a given place may affect how frequently French is used. Hence, one factor that can increase Francophones' opportunities to use their mother tongue is the use of French in various settings, especially at work and in the home, by persons for whom English is the first official language spoken. In Alberta, 10% of English FOLS persons⁹ who knew French spoke that language at least on a regular basis at home and 11% used it at work at least regularly in 2006.

The statistics in Chart 3.6 show that within the population aged 5 to 34, French-English bilingualism among non-Francophones is more widespread among English-mother-tongue persons than among those with another mother tongue. For persons aged 35 and over, Anglophones' French-English bilingualism rates are mostly lower than or equal to those of allophones. Knowledge of French is more widespread among young persons because they attend French immersion or French as a second language programs. Because French is usually learned at school, the bilingualism rate peaks in the 15-to-19 age group, which covers the period when young people are completing their secondary education. The gap observed between the two groups in the ages from 20 to 34 is mainly due to the strong growth of the immigrant population in this age range, a population not exposed to French immersion programs.

Chart 3.6 Proportion of persons with a mother tongue other than French who can conduct a conversation in English and in French, by age group, Alberta, 2006

The ability of young Anglophones to maintain their knowledge of French as a second language diminishes over time. As may be seen in Chart 3.7, when we consider the bilingualism rate of youths aged 15 to 19 reported in the 1996 census (13,1%), we observe that it  falls to 10.3% in 2001, when this cohort is aged 20 to 24, and to 8.9% in 2006 when the same cohort is aged 25 to 29. A similar trend is observed among youths who were 15- to 19-year-olds in 2001 and 20- to 24-year-olds five years later.

Chart 3.7 Proportion of persons with English as their mother tongue who can conduct a conversation in English and in French by age group, Alberta, 1996, 2001 and 2006

3.7 Migration (interprovincial and international migratory movements)

The mobility of Francophones within Canada and the contribution of international immigration are factors that influence the evolution of the French-speaking population of Alberta.

3.7.1 Place of birth

Table 3.10 shows the place of birth of Alberta Francophones. As may be seen, in 2006, approximately one-third of French-mother-tongue persons (35%) and French FOLS persons (32%) had been born in Alberta. Depending on the criterion used, the proportion of Alberta Francophones born in another province or a territory of Canada differs slightly; it was 54% for French FOLS persons compared with 57% for persons with French as their mother tongue. Slightly more than one-quarter of both French-mother-tongue persons and French FOLS persons had been born in Quebec. Indeed, just over one-third of Franco-Albertans were natives of Quebec or Ontario. As for foreign-born persons, most of whom were immigrants,⁹ they comprised nearly 8% of the French-mother-tongue population and 14% of the population with French as its first official language spoken.

Table 3.10 Place of birth of Francophones by mother tongue and first official language spoken, Alberta, 2006

3.7.2 International immigration

Alberta receives a number of international immigrants whose first official language spoken (FOLS) is French. In the 2006 census count, there were 7,865 French-speaking individuals born outside Canada residing in the province (see Table 3.11). Within Alberta's immigrant population as a whole, a small proportion had French as their first official language spoken. In 2006, that relative share was 1.5%. Nevertheless, the relative weight of the French-speaking immigrant population within Alberta's Francophone population was 13% in the last census, while the relative weight of the English-speaking immigrant population within the Anglophone population was 16%.

Francophone immigration in Alberta is not a recent phenomenon. However, because of the strong growth of international immigration that Canada has experienced since the mid-1980s, the French-speaking immigrant population of the province grew 41% from 1981 to 2006. Many of these immigrants have a mother tongue other than English or French and have either French or both of Canada's official languages as their first official language spoken.

Table 3.11 Number and proportion of French-speaking and English-speaking immigrants, Alberta, 1971 to 2006

While French-speaking immigrants in Alberta have various origins, a large proportion of them actually come from a limited number of countries. Table 3.12 shows the main countries of origin of immigrants residing in Alberta. The twelve countries shown in this table are the source countries of approximately 55% of the province's French-speaking immigrants. As the table shows, three Francophone immigrants in 10 come from five European countries: France, Romania, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. After France (18.2%), the source countries of the largest proportions of French-speaking immigrants are the Democratic Republic of Congo (8.2%) and Lebanon (3.6%).

Table 3.12 Main countries of origin of French-speaking immigrants, Alberta, 2006

3.7.3 Interprovincial migration

From 1981 to 1991, Alberta registered negative net interprovincial migration, with a net loss of at least 25,000 persons for each five-year period (see Table 3.13). However, starting in 1991, the province posted positive net migration, with gains ranging from 3,600 for the period 1991–1996 to 88,200 for the 2001- 2006 period. Notably during the period 1996–2001, Alberta recorded an unequalled gain of 119,400, including 113,900 Anglophones and 5,300 Francophones.

Net interprovincial migration for Francophones and Anglophones followed the same trends as seen in the Alberta population as a whole: negative figures from 1981 to 1991 and positive ones for each of the subsequent five-year periods. From 1981 to 1991, the province registered a net loss ranging between 900 and 4,400 Francophones and between 23,300 and 24,000 Anglophones depending on the period. Starting in 1991, the positive net migration of Francophones and Anglophones varied between 400 and 5,300 and between 3,600 and 113,900 respectively, depending on the period.

From 1981 to 2006, departures of Francophones for other provinces and territories ranged between 4,900 and 12,500 during a given period. As for the migration of Francophones to Alberta, arrivals ranged between 8,100 and 10,200 depending on the period from 1981 to 2006. From 2001 to 2006, 9,900 Francophones came to Alberta, while 6,600 Francophones left the province, resulting in positive net interprovincial migration of 3,300.

Table 3.13 Interprovincial migration between Alberta and other provinces and territories by first official language spoken, 1981 to 2006

Charts 3.8 and 3.9 show migratory movements between Alberta and the other provinces and territories, from 2001 to 2006. As may be seen, of the roughly 9,900 Francophones who came from other provinces and territories to settle in Alberta, nearly half (44%) were living in Quebec in 2001. Of these 4,400 Francophones who came from Quebec, 74% were between 20 and 49 years of age. The rest of the Francophones came mainly from Ontario (22%), New Brunswick (11%) and British Columbia (10%). Of the approximately 6,600 Francophones who were living in Alberta in 2001 and subsequently migrated to other provinces, approximately half settled in Quebec, while the rest settled mainly in Ontario (18%) and British Columbia (17%). Additionally, census data show that 57% of the Francophones who left Alberta from 2001 to 2006 returned to their province of birth. More than 70% of Quebec-born Francophones who left Alberta from 2001 to 2006 to resettle in their province of birth were between 20 and 49 years of age.

Chart 3.8 Province or territory of origin of Francophones who settled in Alberta from 2001 to 2006

Chart 3.9 Destination of Francophones who left Alberta for another province or territory from 2001 to 2006

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Notes

1. Of course, a language is also transmitted from fathers to their children, but it is usually the mother's language that predominates.
2. In this study, the term "spouse" includes persons that are legally married as well as those that are in a common-law union.
3. To establish this ratio, demographers generally look at children living in a two-parent family or a one-parent family headed by a woman, which account for more than 97% of all children in this age group.
4. For an in-depth examination of this approach, see Lachapelle and Lepage (2011).
5. As noted earlier, persons with an "other" mother tongue who know only French are assigned French as their first official language spoken, regardless of whether they speak that language most often at home.
6. This finding applies to both the French-mother-tongue population and the population with French as first official language spoken.
7. This proportion includes single and multiple responses. Therefore it includes 4% of Francophones who report using both French and English as languages spoken most often at home.
8. See Appendix C for a description of the general index of use of languages in the public sphere.
9. Without allocation of multiple responses.
10. Foreign-born persons include immigrants, non-permanent residents and Canadians born abroad.