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This demolinguistic portrait of Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Francophones contains considerable and varied information on the characteristics, practices and perceptions of this language group. Of all this information, what stands out? While the following items are not a complete list of the key points contained in this report, a general picture emerges from them.

  1. In 2006, Yukon had the largest French-mother-tongue population, both in absolute numbers (1,165) and proportionally (3.9%). In the Northwest Territories, the 1,000 persons with French as their mother tongue accounted for 2.4% of the population, compared to 1.3% for the 390 Francophones in Nunavut. Before the creation of Nunavut in 1999, there were more Francophones in the Northwest Territories than in Yukon, which has not been the case since then. However, Yukon has been the territory with the highest proportion of Francophones since 1991.

  2. Nearly half of the Francophones with French as their first official language spoken in the territories reside in Yukon, while 39% live in the Northwest Territories and 16% in Nunavut. The Francophone proportion of the population is 2.6% in the territories as a whole; it ranges from 3.9% in Yukon to 1.4 % in Nunavut. The majority of Francophones are concentrated in the capital of each of the three territories. Thus, 74% of the Francophones in the Northwest Territories live in Yellowknife, 70% of those in Yukon reside in Whitehorse and 68% of those in Nunavut live in Iqaluit.

  3. Since 1971, the French-mother-tongue population in the territories has grown by nearly 1,000, going from 1,610 to 2,555 persons in 2006. The increase was greatest among persons aged 30 to 59. It mainly reflects the substantial interprovincial mobility of persons in these age groups.

  4. In 2006, nearly 30% of children under 18 years of age with English-French exogamous parents had French as their mother tongue and nearly 9% reported having both French and English. In households headed by French-"other"-language exogamous couples, less than 7% of children had French as their mother tongue. Where both parents were French-speaking, much larger proportions of children were transmitted French as a mother tongue, at more than 85%.

  5. Through successive censuses, there has been a very slight fluctuation in language transfer for persons with French as a mother tongue in the territories. Thus, in 1971, nearly 60% of Francophones in the territories reported speaking another language, usually English, most often at home. Among persons with a mother tongue other than French or English, the corresponding proportion was 27%. Thirty-five years later, 55% of French-mother-tongue persons reported speaking a language other than French most often at home. Among persons with a mother tongue other than French or English, the proportion of language transfers rose to nearly 40%.

  6. In 2006, approximately three-quarters of persons with French as their mother tongue were born in a Canadian province. This proportion varies little from one territory to the other. However, a much smaller proportion of Francophones were born in the territories, namely 12%. This proportion varied from 10% to 18% according to the territory of residence. As for persons born abroad, they accounted for 12% of the French-speaking population of the territories, with the proportion ranging from 6% to 14% according to the territory of residence.

  7. The territories receive very few international immigrants. In 2006, more than 7,000 individuals born outside Canada were enumerated in the territories. Of these immigrants, a very small proportion—4%—reported French as a first official language spoken. Nevertheless, while the relative weight of the English-speaking immigrant population within the Anglophone population of the territories was nearly 7% in the last census, the relative weight of the French first official language spoken immigrant population within the Francophone population was 12%.

  8. The use of French outside the home varies from one domain to another in the public sphere, but regardless of the domain examined, English is the main language used. The use of English is greatest in institutions and businesses (where 86% of Francophones use only or mainly English), and in consumption of the different cultural media (radio, television, newspapers, books, Internet), where the corresponding proportion is 74%. English also predominates in interactions with friends (66%), in the immediate network (68%) and at work (58%).

  9. While less than 3% of the population of Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut reports French as a mother tongue, the proportion of the overall population of the territories reporting that they are able to conduct a conversation in French is roughly 8%. In 2006, while 90% of French-mother-tongue persons reported a knowledge of both official languages, the corresponding proportion was only 8% for English-mother-tongue persons and 3% for persons with a mother tongue other than French or English. Among the latter group, 8% reported that they could not conduct a conversation in either French or English.

  10. In the 2006 Census, 55 doctors working in the territories, or 32%, reported being able to conduct a conversation in French, while 6% reported using French at least regularly in their work. For nurses, the number was 125, and the corresponding proportions were 13% and 3% respectively.

  11. In the justice field, Francophones' interactions both with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and with lawyers generally take place in English. Thus, at least four Francophones in five, or 82%, used only or mainly English in their interactions with the RCMP, while for those using the services of a lawyer, the corresponding proportion was 66%.

  12. In education, out of some 660 students with at least one Francophone parent who were enrolled in school at the time of the survey, approximately 45% were receiving an education in French, mostly in a French school but also, in a smaller proportion, in a French immersion program in an English school.

  13. The 2006 census data show that French-mother-tongue persons have a higher education level than members of the other two major language groups in the territories Thus, 13% of the French-mother-tongue population living in the territories had no certificate, diploma or degree, compared to 18% of the English-mother-tongue population and 51% of the population with another mother tongue, in most cases an Aboriginal language. In fact, we observe that Francophones were proportionally more likely than Anglophones and allophones to have a post-secondary diploma, certificate or degree.

  14. The median and average incomes of Francophones were higher than those of Anglophones and of persons having another mother tongue because of particular characteristics held by the Francophone population in the territories.

  15. A brief analysis of 2006 Census data reveals that in the territories, nearly two-thirds (63.5%) of Francophones in the territories work mainly in six sectors: public administration (20%); education services (12%); construction (8%); accommodation and food services (8%); health care and social assistance (8%); and transportation and warehousing (8%). We note that there is very little difference in the distribution of Francophones and Anglophones according to the industry sector. As to the group with a mother tongue other than French or English, the data show that just over one-third of these individuals work in public administration (24%) and retail trade (11%) sectors.

  16. As regards the phenomenon of identity, the SVOLM results suggest that Francophones have a double ethnolinguistic identity: 45% of them report that they identify with both the Francophone and Anglophone groups.
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