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$Unique_ID{COW00724}
$Pretitle{408}
$Title{Canada
Chapter 2C. Language and Religion}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Ivan P. Fellegi}
$Affiliation{Statistics Canada}
$Subject{language
french
canada
quebec
english
mother
tongue
population
cent
languages}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Ottawa*0072405.scf
Table 4.*0072401.tab
Table 5.*0072402.tab
}
Country: Canada
Book: Canada Handbook
Author: Ivan P. Fellegi
Affiliation: Statistics Canada
Date: 1990
Chapter 2C. Language and Religion
Language
According to the 1986 Census, 15.3 million persons, or 61 per cent of
the population of Canada, reported English as their only mother tongue; 6.2
million, or 24 per cent of the population, reported French as their only
mother tongue; and 2.9 million, or 11 per cent of the population, reported
a language other than English or French as their only mother tongue. (First
language learned and still understood.) Of the 2.9 million persons who
reported having a single mother tongue other than English or French, 2.1
million indicated a language of European origin, 634,000 a language of Asian
or Middle Eastern origin, 138,000 an aboriginal language and 13,000 a language
of another origin. (Origin means the geographical region where a language came
into being. Persons who report that language may actually come from another
region.)
In 1986, nine out of the 10 Canadians whose only mother tongue was French
lived in the province of Quebec where 81 per cent of the population reported
that French was their only mother tongue. Francophones accounted for a third
of the population in New Brunswick. In other provinces, French minorities
accounted for 5 per cent or less of residents, including Ontario with 425,000
persons whose only mother tongue is French, the largest number of francophones
outside Quebec.
Most of the 2.9 million persons with a single mother tongue other than
English or French, spoke European languages (2.1 million persons) but since
the 1960s, Asian and Middle Eastern languages - mainly Chinese, Vietnamese,
Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu - have grown considerably. Approximately 138,000
people in Canada had a single aboriginal language as mother tongue, mainly
Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut. Languages other than English or French are more
prevalent in Ontario and the western provinces, than in Quebec and the
Atlantic provinces.
The latest Census results also show that trends observed during the 1970s
in the linguistic make-up of the country have continued into the 1980s. The
proportion of anglophones outside Quebec has continued to grow while in Quebec
there has been an increase in the proportion of francophones.
Some Canadians speak a language most often in their home that is other
than their mother tongue. These language shifts are a major factor in
determining the mother tongue of following generations and contribute to the
growth of the language spoken. Most Quebec residents who first learned a
language other than English or French as mother tongue and who made a language
shift, adopted English as their dominant home language; the French-speaking
community in Quebec neither gained nor lost population through language
shifts but a loss was recorded for the francophone population living outside
Quebec.
In 1986, more than 4 million Canadians reported they could conduct a
conversation in both English and French. Bilingual persons represented 16 per
cent of the population, up from 15 per cent in 1981 and 13 per cent in 1971.
In Quebec and New Brunswick recorded the highest rates of bilingualism at 35
percent and 29 per cent, respectively. Slightly over half of Canada's
bilingual population lived in Quebec. The 1.8 million who lived outside Quebec
resided mainly in Ontario (1,058,000), New Brunswick (204,000), British
Columbia (176,000) and Alberta (150,000).
As an officially bilingual country, Canada enjoys a number of policies
and programs which serve to ensure, support and encourage the use of both
official languages.
The Official Languages Act which came into force in September 1969,
stipulates, among other things, that "the English and French languages are the
official languages of Canada". The basic principles of the Official Languages
Act are now guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the
Constitution Act, 1982. The Charter confirms that English and French have
equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all
institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada. It also stipulates
that the Canadian public has the right to communicate with, and to receive
available services from, any head or central office of an institution of the
Parliament or Government of Canada in English or French. The public also has
the same right with respect to any other office of any such institution where
there is a significant demand for communications with and services from that
office in English or French, or where the nature of the office so justifies.
The Charter also gives significant guarantees of minority language education
rights.
These Acts, and indeed the federal official languages policy as a whole,
aim not to make all Canadians "bilingual", but to ensure respect for English
and French as the official languages of Canada, and that federal services are
provided to those who speak English and those who speak French, in their own
language.
[See Table 4.: Population by mother tongue and home language]
Religion
Before the arrival of Christianity to the new world, native religions
flourished among Canada's Indian population. From the 17th century on, these
indigenous religious expressions declined in the face of French and British
missionary and cultural pressures.
Unlike the United States, Canada was not initially a melting pot of
cultures, but a facsimile of in European parents. This applied to its
religious temperament as well. In the mid-19th century, however, the addition
of new French Roman Catholic orders in Quebec and non-conformist Protestant
denominations in Anglophone Canada precluded a unified church-state
relationship. However, all Christian denominations continued to seek the
fulfilment of their own social and national visions in some kind of political
dimension. In Quebec, the Roman Catholic church dominated most aspects of
politics and society until recent times, and elsewhere Protestantism pressed
hard to develop what is considered to be an appropriate definition of Canadian
identity.
This may have sustained traditional religious and ethical values, but it
also led the churches away from innovations that would make their role more
suitable to Canada's changing needs. Between 1880-1945, a once predominantly
rural and conservative Canadian society was massively challenged by
industrialization, urbanization, improved communications and, above all,
immigration. Many newcomers were from eastern or southern Europe. Among them
were such diverse groups as Mennonites, Hutterites and Doukhobors. They did
not share the religious world-view of the old French and British churches.
Attempts to assimilate these fragments into a monocultural French or English
hegemony failed, and by 1945 Canada had truly entered into an age of religious
pluralism.
[See Table 5.: Selected religious statistics, 1985]
[See Ottawa: Lutheran choir singing a hymn with sign language for the hearing
impaired at Winnipeg, Man. in May 1988 - celebrating the signing of a
constitution of their new Lutheran Church Canada, after 123 years under the
auspices of the American parent church.]
The three dominant Christian denominations are Roman Catholic, United
Church of Canada and Anglican. Medium-sized denominations include
Presbyterians, Lutherans and Baptists. Smaller Christian denominations,
notably the Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mennonites, Mormons,
Pentecostals, Christian Reformed, Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic and Salvation
Army are also part of Canada's religious community. Through their good work,
such as t