Languages of Canada

Languages Of Canada

A multitude of languages are used in Canada. According to the 2006 census, English and French are the mother tongues of 58.8% and 23.2% of Canadians respectively. Under the Canadian Constitution, the federal government has both English and French as its official languages in respect of all government services, including the courts, and all federal legislation is enacted bilingually. New Brunswick is the only Canadian province that has both English and French as its official languages to the same extent, with constitutional entrenchment. Quebec's official language is French, although in that province, the Constitution requires that all legislation be enacted in both French and English, and court proceedings may be conducted in either language. Similar constitutional protections are in place in Manitoba.

Many Canadians believe that the relationship between the English and French languages is the central or defining aspect of the Canadian experience. Canada's Official Languages Commissioner (the federal government official charged with monitoring the two languages) has stated, "n the same way that race is at the core of what it means to be American and at the core of an American experience and class is at the core of British experience, I think that language is at the core of Canadian experience."

To assist in more accurately monitoring the two official languages, Canada's census collects a number of demolinguistic descriptors not enumerated in the censuses of most other countries, including home language, mother tongue, first official language and language of work.

Canada’s linguistic diversity extends beyond the two official languages. About 18% of Canadians (roughly 6.1 million people, most of whom are first-generation immigrants) have a language other than English or French as their first language or mother tongue. Nearly 3.5 million Canadians continue to use a non-official language most often, when in home or social settings.

Canada is also home to many indigenous languages. Taken together, these are spoken by less than one percent of the population, and are mostly in decline.