Today, Statistics Canada is releasing the first results from the 2022 Survey on the Official Language Minority Population. A report presenting the main findings from the survey is now available online, as well as two infographics and a methodological guide.
This survey was conducted in 2022 to shed light on different aspects of the situation of English-speaking populations in Quebec and French-speaking populations in Canada's other provinces and territory capitals. The previous survey on these populations was conducted in 2006.
The 20 topics covered in the survey include, among others, the education continuum; early childhood services; access to health care and government services in the minority official language; attendance at performances or arts events in the minority official language; the languages used to consult media and used in other cultural activities; the perceived vitality of the official minority language in communities; language practices at home, at work and in the public sphere; and linguistic insecurity and discrimination.
These results will be used to develop official languages policies, programs and services in Canada and to support the Official Languages Act and the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration. The data will also be useful to official language minority communities and various stakeholders in this area.
Most adults in the official language minority population consider health services in the minority language to be important
In 2022, the vast majority (90%) of English-speaking adults in Quebec felt it was important to receive health care or services in the minority official language, i.e., in English. The same was true, but to a lesser extent, in Canada outside Quebec, where 65% of French-speaking adults felt it was important to receive health care or services in the minority official language (i.e., French).
Among those who felt it was important to receive such services, approximately half (52%) of English-speaking adults in Quebec always or often received health care or services in English, while less than half (43%) of French-speaking adults in Canada outside Quebec always or often received them in French.
In Canada outside Quebec, the percentages of adults always or often receiving health care or services in French were higher in northern (90%) and southeastern (76%) New Brunswick and in southeastern Ontario (73%). In contrast, the percentage was lower on average in the western provinces (excluding Manitoba) and the territory capitals (6%).
Two-thirds of parents intend to enrol their children in a minority official language school
A number of questions were asked in the study about parents' intentions and preferences for their children's language of instruction.
In Quebec, in 2022, 66% of parents of preschool-aged children in a minority situation intended to enrol their children in an English-language elementary school. An identical proportion (66%) of parents of children who attended elementary school intended to enrol them in an English-language high school.
In Canada outside Quebec, 75% of parents of preschool-aged children in a minority situation intended to enrol them in a French-language elementary school, and 63% of parents of children attending elementary school wanted to enrol them in a French-language high school.
These percentages were higher in New Brunswick (92% for elementary school and 87% for high school).
More adults feel that the presence of the minority official language in their municipality has decreased over the past 10 years
In Quebec, in 2022, roughly one in five English-speaking adults (18%) felt that the presence of English in their municipality had increased in the 10 years preceding the survey, while two in five (41%) felt that it had decreased, up slightly from 2006 (37%).
In Canada outside Quebec, in 2022, approximately one in six French-speaking adults (16%) felt that the presence of French in their municipality had increased in the 10 years preceding the survey, while more than one-quarter (28%) felt that it had decreased, up from 2006 (20%).
About one in four adults in the official language minority population have experienced linguistic insecurity or discrimination
In 2022, 31% of English-speaking adults in Quebec and 24% of French-speaking adults in Canada outside Quebec had experienced a situation of linguistic insecurity in the five years preceding the survey—in other words, a situation in which they hesitated to use the minority language.
In Canada outside Quebec, this percentage was higher in the territory capitals (40%), the western provinces (27% on average) and in three Atlantic provinces (29% on average)—the exception being New Brunswick (20%).
In Canada, one in four adults (25%) from the official language minority population felt they had experienced discrimination or unfair treatment based on their use of the minority language in the five years preceding the survey. This proportion was higher in Quebec (36%) than in Canada outside Quebec (13%).
Half of French-speaking adults regularly use French in the public sphere in Canada outside Quebec
In 2022, 80% of English-speaking adults in Quebec used English daily or a few times a week in the public sphere, outside work with people other than family or friends.
This percentage was higher in the Montréal area (83%) than in the rest of the province (69%).
In Canada outside Quebec, half (50%) of French-speaking adults used French in the public sphere daily or a few times a week. This proportion varied greatly by region. For example, it was higher in New Brunswick (87%) and Ontario (48%) and lower in the western provinces (21% on average) and territory capitals (36%).
In Quebec, most children and adults in the official language minority population use English on social media
In Quebec, in 2022, the vast majority of English-speaking adults (97%) and children (92%) in a minority situation used English, alone or with French, on social media. By comparison, 60% of French-speaking adults and 29% of children in a minority situation used French, alone or with English, on social media in Canada outside Quebec.
Moreover, about one-quarter of adults and children in a minority situation, both in Quebec and in Canada outside Quebec, attended performances or arts events presented in the minority official language at least once in the year preceding the survey.
Most adults in the official language minority population have access to some government services in their language
In 2022, most adults in the official language minority population who contacted the federal (96% in Quebec and 74% in Canada outside Quebec), provincial or territorial (86% and 67%) or municipal (87% and 65%) government for services or information in the two years preceding the survey had been able to use the minority official language, alone or together with the majority language.
When considering only the English-speaking adults who had always or often been able to use English with governments in Quebec, the proportions were 73% at the federal level, 45% at the provincial level and 48% at the municipal level. These proportions were similar to 2006, except for the federal level, which decreased from 78% in 2006.
In Canada outside Quebec, the proportions of French-speaking adults who had always or often been able to use French with governments decreased from 60% in 2006 to 42% in 2022 at the federal level, from 49% to 34% at the provincial or territorial level and from 44% to 36% at the municipal level.
Other results
Many other survey results are available in the analytical report "Situation of English-speaking populations in Quebec and French-speaking populations in Canada outside Quebec: Results of the 2022 Survey on the Official Language Minority Population".
Other results will be available in the coming months, as well as data tables, a detailed methodological guide and survey microdata files.
Note to readers
The 2022 Survey on the Official Language Minority Population is a postcensal survey. In other words, its sample is taken from the 2021 Census of Population. "Official language minority population" refers to the English-speaking population in Quebec and the French-speaking population in Canada outside Quebec. In the context of this survey, the minority official languages of Canada are English in Quebec and French in Canada outside Quebec, although the languages with an official status may differ by province and territory. In this survey, the official language minority population includes: (1) individuals whose mother tongue is the minority official language (alone or with other languages), (2) individuals with neither English nor French as their mother tongue who know the minority official language, but not the majority official language, and (3) individuals with neither English nor French as their mother tongue who know both official languages but do not speak the majority official language most often at home.
The survey comprises two main samples, one with people aged 18 years and older (the adult sample) and the other with people younger than 18 years (the child sample). The first was selected from adults in the official language minority population, while the second was selected from children who have at least one parent in this population and those who are eligible for instruction in the minority official language pursuant to section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The survey was conducted in all Canadian provinces from May 16 to December 16, 2022, and in the capitals of the Canadian territories from August 22 to December 16, 2022. In total, close to 30,000 people participated in the survey. The adult sample includes 13,892 respondents, while the child sample comprises 16,066 children for whom a parent or guardian answered some questions about their child and others about themselves.
For more information on the methodology, please consult the Survey on the Official Language Minority Population: User guide, 2022.
Reference
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5355.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).