Thematic Series on Ethnicity, Language and Immigration
Portrait of French-language workers in Ontario’s agriculture and agri-food industries, 2011

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by Émilie Lavoie

Release date: July 12, 2017

Acknowledgments

This project was carried out as part of a collaboration between Statistics Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. The author wishes to thank Jacinthe Robichaud and her team at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for their helpful suggestions and comments.

This project was made possible thanks to the contribution of Jean-Pierre Corbeil, Chief for the Centre for Ethnocultural, Language and Immigration Statistics at Statistics Canada. Thanks also go to Jean-François Lepage for his advice. The author would like to thank them warmly for their involvement and their availability throughout this project.

Finally, the author thanks Deniz Do, Alejandro Paez Silva and Julie Bertrand for their collaboration in finalizing the report.

Ontario’s agriculture industry and the French-language minority

In 2011, there were 100,665 people aged 15 years and older working in Ontario’s agricultural sector.^Note 1 Of these workers, 3.4% belonged to the French-language minority^Note 2 (3,455 workers). Although the agricultural sector was concentrated mainly in Southern and Western Ontario,^Note 3 French-language workers in this sector were primarily located in the eastern and northern parts of the province. For example, while Eastern Ontario was home to 11.2% of the province’s agricultural workers (11,305 workers), 1,980 workers belonged to the French-language minority, representing 57.3% of all French-language agricultural workers in the province. Similarly, in 2011, Northern Ontario was home to 3.2% of the province’s agricultural workers (3,240 workers), 19.4% of whom were French-language minorities (630 workers). These 630 workers accounted for 18.2% of all French-language workers in Ontario. In short, the geographic distribution of Ontario’s French-language population of agricultural workers differs from the province’s entire population of workers in this sector. As can be seen in Map 1, the agriculture sector and the French-language minority population overlap only in a few municipalities,^Note 4 particularly in two specific clusters (one in Northern Ontario and the other in Eastern Ontario).

Ontario’s agri-food industry and the French-language minority

In 2011, close to 765,000 people aged 15 and older worked in Ontario’s agri-food sector,^Note 5 3.0% of whom were francophone (22,595 workers). While the agri-food sector was concentrated mainly in Central Ontario, as well as in Southern and Western Ontario^Note 6, French-language workers in this sector were primarily found in the other two regions, Eastern and Northern Ontario. Therefore, while Eastern Ontario was home to 10.8% (82,310) of the province’s agri-food workers aged 15 and older in 2011, it accounted for 39.3% of Ontario’s French-language workers (8,880). Similarly, in 2011, Northern Ontario was home to 5.0% of the province’s agri-food workers (38,275), 24.7% of whom were francophone (5,570). In short, as with the agricultural sector, the geographic distribution of Ontario’s population of French-language agri-food workers differs from the province’s entire population of workers in this sector.

Again, as is the case with the agricultural sector, the French-language population and the population of agri-food workers are not evenly distributed across the regions, as can be seen in Map 2.^Note 7 While there were more municipalities where these two populations of interest overlapped in 2011, 48 of these municipalities were mostly concentrated in two of Ontario’s agricultural regions.

The preceding tables and maps clearly illustrate that French-language minority workers in the agricultural and agri-food sectors were concentrated in Eastern and Northern Ontario. The portraits below will therefore focus on these two regions.

Part 1: Portrait of Ontario’s agricultural industry and its French-language workers

Socioeconomic portrait of French-language workers in Ontario’s agriculture industry

• The general profile of Ontario’s population of French-language agricultural workers by age is similar to all workers in this sector.
• French-language agricultural workers in Eastern Ontario were generally younger than the region’s agricultural workers belonging to other language groups. By way of illustration, the proportion of workers in the 30-to-49 age group was higher (32.3% of French-language agricultural workers, compared with 25.4% of the region’s other workers), and the proportion of workers aged 65 and older was lower (13.6% compared with 19.9%).
• Conversely, French-language agricultural workers in Northern Ontario were older than workers belonging to other language groups: 23.0% of French-language workers were aged 65 years and older, compared with 14.7% of other workers.

• Among agricultural workers, the proportion of French-language men was higher than the proportion of men belonging to other language groups.
• Like the overall population of Ontario aged 15 years and older, the majority of agricultural workers were married in 2011. Specifically, 51.1% of the Ontario population aged 15 and older was married,^Note 8 compared with between 46.8% (French-language agricultural workers in Northern Ontario) and 58.2% (non-francophone agricultural workers) of the province’s agricultural workers.
• Significant differences were noted among Northern Ontario’s agricultural workers:
  • While the majority of agricultural workers were married in 2011, proportions were lower than for agricultural workers in Eastern Ontario and in the entire province.
  • Contrary to what was observed in the rest of Ontario, the proportion of agricultural workers in a common-law relationship was higher among the region’s non-francophone workers than among French-language workers.
  • In 2011, nearly one in five agricultural workers in this region was separated, divorced, or widowed, which is significantly higher than for the proportion for other categories of agricultural workers (between 6.5% and 10.4%).

• Within Ontario’s population of agricultural workers, French-language minority workers stand out in a number of ways, including higher rates of high school completion.^Note 9 More specifically, the proportion of French-language agricultural workers with a high school diploma was about 7% higher than the proportion of agricultural workers belonging to other language groups.
• The educational profile of Northern Ontario’s French-language agricultural workers set them apart from the region’s other agricultural workers. They were more likely not to have a certificate, diploma or degree or to have a high school diploma^Note 10 (43.7% in both cases). They were also less likely to have a college diploma or certificate^Note 11 (11.1%), and few, if any, had a university diploma.^Note 12

• In 2011, more than three out of four agricultural workers were born in Ontario, which is higher than the proportion observed for the entire Ontario population 15 years and older (57.1%). This proportion was particularly high in Northern Ontario: 86.9% of agricultural workers and 93.7% of French-language agricultural workers in that region were born in the province. Similarly, fewer workers were born outside Canada.
• In terms of religion, there was considerably less diversity among French-language agricultural workers than among agricultural workers belonging to other language groups.
  • The majority of French-language agricultural workers were Catholic, which was not the case for all agricultural workers. In 2011, between 85.4% (Ontario) and 93.7% (Northern Ontario) of French-language agricultural workers were Catholic, compared with between 23.9% (Ontario) and 35.1% (Eastern Ontario) of agricultural workers from other language groups.
  • Aside from Catholicism, the only other religions observed in Eastern Ontario came under the “other Christian”^Note 13 category^Note 14. No other religion was observed by French-language agricultural workers in Ontario.
  • Finally, the proportion of French-language agricultural workers with no religious affiliation was lower than the proportion observed for all agricultural workers in the province: 0.0% in Northern Ontario, 4.3% across the province, and 5.1% in Eastern Ontario, compared with 15% or more for agricultural workers belonging to other language groups.

• In Eastern Ontario, there was a higher proportion of French-language agricultural workers who were employees (53.0% of French-language agricultural workers, compared with 47.7% of the other agricultural workers in the region) or self-employed (incorporated business) (20.5% compared with 10.7%), and a lower proportion of unpaid family workers (4.0% compared with 6.3%) and self-employed workers (unincorporated business) (22.5% compared with 35.3%).
• This trend was virtually the same for French-language agricultural workers in Northern Ontario.

Linguistic portrait of French-language workers in Ontario’s agriculture industry

Knowledge of official languages

• In 2011, English–French bilingualism was significantly more widespread among French-language agricultural workers than among agricultural workers belonging to other language groups and among the entire population of Ontario aged 15 years and older.^Note 15
• The proportions of French-language agricultural workers who knew both official languages ranged from 85.4% (Eastern Ontario) to 94.4% (Northern Ontario), while proportions for the province’s other agricultural workers varied from around 25% in Northern and Eastern Ontario to 7.1% for other agricultural workers in Ontario.

Languages spoken at home

• In 2011, French-language agricultural workers spoke mainly French at home. The proportion of French-language workers using only French at home ranged from 46.5% of all French-language agricultural workers in Ontario to 58.6% of French-language agricultural workers in Eastern Ontario.
• The use of both French and English at home among French-language agricultural workers was also significant: in 2011, 30% to 45% of Ontario’s French-language agricultural workers spoke both official languages at home, while the proportion ranged from 1.6% (Ontario) to 10.2% (Northern Ontario) among non-francophone agricultural workers.
• In 2011, the use of languages other than French and English among French-language agricultural workers was low (2.8% in Eastern Ontario) to nil (Northern Ontario).

Languages used at work

• Compared with the two language indicators discussed above (i.e., knowledge of official languages and languages spoken most often at home), English was used more often in the workplace of French-language agricultural workers. The proportions of the use of English in the workplace varied from 12.6% in Eastern Ontario to 27.0% in Northern Ontario and 30.1% for all French-language agricultural workers in the province.
• French-language agricultural workers used only English at work much more often than only French, in Ontario (30.1% spoke English at work, compared with 26.3% who spoke French at work), as well as in Northern Ontario (27.0% spoke English at work, compared with 23.0% who spoke French).
• In 2011, around 10% of non-francophone agricultural workers in Eastern and Northern Ontario used both French and English at work. However, this proportion was above 40% for French-language workers in these regions: 43.7% in Eastern Ontario and 46.8% in Northern Ontario.

Agricultural portrait of two agricultural regions in Ontario

Unlike the previous sections, this agricultural portrait focuses on the characteristics of farms and farm operators in the agricultural regions of Northern and Eastern Ontario.^Note 16

• In 2011, the majority of Ontario’s farms, including those in the Northern and Eastern Ontario agricultural regions, were sole proprietorships. Additionally, more than one in four farms was a partnership, with or without a written agreement.
• The proportion of sole proprietorships in Northern and Eastern Ontario was higher than for the entire province.
• There were also fewer family farms or incorporated non-family farms (companies) in these two agricultural regions than in all of Ontario.

• On average, farms in Eastern and Northern Ontario were larger than farms across the province. As such, there were fewer farms of less than 130 acres, and more farms in these two agricultural regions with more acreage than other farms across the province.
• In 2011, the vast majority of Ontario farm operators owned at least a part of their land.
• In the Northern and Eastern Ontario agricultural regions, there was a higher proportion of farm operators using land under other arrangements^Note 17 and a lower proportion of farms with land used by others.

• In 2011, the proportion of farm operators that used computers or the Internet for farm operations was lower in Northern Ontario than in Eastern Ontario or the entire province. Similarly, high-speed Internet access was not as widespread in this region as it was in the rest of Ontario.

• On average, the value of farm capital and gross farm revenue in Eastern and Northern Ontario were lower than for all farms in Ontario. As such, there were proportionally more farms with a farm capital value of less than $500,000 or with income below $25,000. The differences compared with Ontario farms were more significant in Northern Ontario than in Eastern Ontario.

• Overall, there were few differences between farm operators in Northern and Eastern Ontario and those across the province for the three indicators in Table 12. A slight difference was noted only for farm operators in the Northern Ontario:
  • In this region, a smaller proportion of farm operators declared working, on average, more than 40 hours per week on the farm.
  • In addition, the proportion of farm operators who reported having no paid non-farm work was lower.

• Compared with agricultural production at all Ontario farms, there was a higher proportion of cattle farms in Eastern and Northern Ontario:
  • More beef cattle farms, including feedlots, in both regions.
  • More dairy cattle and milk production farms in Eastern Ontario.
  • More livestock combination farms in Northern Ontario.
• There was also more hay production in Eastern and Northern Ontario, compared with the entire province.
• Still in terms of the types of livestock production and crop farming across Ontario, there were fewer hog farms, poultry and egg production farms, oilseed and grain farms,^Note 18 and fruit and tree nut farms in Northern and Eastern Ontario.

Part 2: Socioeconomic and linguistic portraits of workers in Ontario’s agri-food industry

The following portraits examine the agri-food workers belonging to the French-language minority in the regions with the highest concentrations of French-language workers in 2011^Note 19: Northern and Eastern Ontario.

Socioeconomic portrait of French-language workers in Ontario’s agri-food industry

• In 2011, workers in Ontario’s agri-food sector were younger than Ontario’s total population aged 15 and older. Between 42.4% and 55.7% of workers in this sector were aged 15 to 29 years, compared with 24.0% for the total population of Ontario.^Note 20
• More than half of the agri-food workers in Eastern Ontario (51.4% of French-language workers and 55.7% of non-francophone workers) and Northern Ontario (52.6% of non-francophone workers) were between the ages of 15 and 29 in 2011.
• Compared with all agri-food workers in the sector, French-language workers were generally older. In Eastern Ontario, the proportions of French-language workers aged 15 to 49 were lower, while the proportions of French-language workers 50 years and older were higher than the proportions of agri-food workers belonging to other language groups. Similar trends were observed for all French-language workers in Ontario’s agri-food sector, as well as for those in the Northern Ontario.

• In 2011, the proportion of women in the agri-food sector in Northern Ontario was higher than anywhere else in the province. Specifically, women made up nearly 60% of the agri-food workforce in Northern Ontario, compared with close to 50% in Eastern Ontario.
• In both Eastern and Northern Ontario, as well as across the province, French-language agri-food workers were less likely to be single than their non-francophone counterparts.
• As a general rule, French-language workers were more likely to be in a common-law relationship or to be separated, divorced, or widowed, compared with workers from other language groups.
• As can be seen in Table 14, French-language workers in Northern Ontario were more likely to be married than non-francophone workers, contrary to workers in the entire province.

• Compared with the population of Ontario aged 15 and older in 2011, agri-food workers were less likely to have a college^Note 21 or university^Note 22 diploma or certificate. However, they were more likely to have a high school diploma or not to have a certificate, diploma, or degree.
• In both Eastern and Northern Ontario, as well as for the entire province, French-language agri-food workers were more likely not to have a certificate, diploma, or degree.
• In 2011, more than one third of French-language workers in Northern Ontario did not have a certificate, diploma, or degree (36.4%), a larger proportion than for all workers in the region (33.2%) and other workers in this sector in Ontario.
• Compared with non-francophone workers in the agri-food sector, French-language workers were more likely to have a college certificate or diploma^Note 23 and less likely to have a university degree.^Note 24

• In 2011, more than 6 out of 10 agri-food workers were born in Ontario, their province of residence. The proportion was especially high in Northern Ontario (above 85%).
• French-language workers were more likely to be born in a province other than Ontario and less likely to born outside Canada, compared with workers belonging to other language groups.
• In 2011, the majority of French-language workers in the agri-food sector were Catholic: 74.6% of workers in Ontario, 79.0% of workers in Eastern Ontario, and 89.5% of workers in Northern Ontario. By comparison, the proportions of non-francophone workers who were Catholic ranged from 31.6% (Ontario) to 47.8% (North).
• In Eastern and Northern Ontario, few, if any, French-language workers observed any of the other religions listed in Table 16, compared with other workers in this sector. In addition, fewer French-language workers declared having no religious affiliation than other workers in the agri-food sector.

• In 2011, the vast majority of agri-food workers—both francophone and non-francophone—were employed.^Note 25
• In 2011, more than one agri-food worker in two—both francophone and non-francophone—worked in the restaurant and food services sector.
• Fewer French-language workers laboured in the restaurant and food services sector. In Eastern Ontario, 52.1% of French-language workers worked in this sector, compared with 60.6% of other agri-food workers. In Northern Ontario, the proportion was 55.0% of French-language workers, compared with 58.1% of other agri-food workers.
• In 2011, between 30% and 40% of agri-food workers worked in the wholesale and retail food sales sector, including a higher proportion of French-language workers.

Linguistic portrait of French-language workers in Ontario’s agri-food industry

Knowledge of official languages

• English–French bilingualism was widespread among French-language workers in the agri-food sector. In 2011, 96.6% of French-language workers in Ontario reported being able to conduct a conversation in both languages. This was also true for 95.0% of French-language workers in Eastern Ontario and 98.4% of workers in Northern Ontario. By comparison, just over one worker in four belonging to another language group in Eastern and Northern Ontario reported knowing both official languages.
• Finally, the proportion of French-language agri-food workers who knew only one language was very low (knowledge of French only: 5% or less) to nil (knowledge of English only).

Languages spoken at home and used at work

• In 2011, the majority of workers belonging to the French-language minority in the agri-food sector spoke both French and English at home, in proportions ranging from 40% to 60%, compared with 12% or less of workers belonging to other language groups.
• Between 23.0% and 33.0% of French-language agri-food workers spoke only French at home in 2011, compared with between 0.7% and 3.8% of workers from other language groups in this sector. In addition, the use of French as the only language was less common at work than at home.
• On the other hand, the use of English as the only language was considerably more widespread at work than at home among French-language workers in 2011. For example, nearly 30% of French-language workers in Eastern Ontario spoke only English at work, compared with approximately 14% who spoke only English at home, and 9.6% who spoke only French at work. The use of English as the only language at work was more common among French-language workers in Northern Ontario (32.4%) and in Ontario as a whole (45.4%).

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Industries of the agricultural sector
Appendix 2 – Agricultural sector and official language minorities in the census subdivisions
Appendix 3 – Industries in the agri-food sector
Appendix 4 – Agri-food sector and official language minorities in the census subdivisions