Linguistic diversity continues to rise in Canada.
Statistics Canada says that according to the 2016 census, close to 7.6 million Canadians reported speaking a language other than English or French at home, a 14.5 percent increase over the previous five years.
Of the languages, just over 641-thousand people reported speaking Chinese Mandarin at home. Cantonese was in second place at close to 595-thousand, followed by Punjabi at more than 568-thousand, with Spanish in fourth at just under 553,500.
Population Speaking Filipino Sees Biggest Increase
Filipino Tagalog reported having 525,375 people speaking the language at home. This represents an increase of 35 percent between 2011 and 2016, the largest of the immigrant languages. In the three Prairie Provinces, it is the main immigrant language spoken, where it saw a 123 percent increase in Saskatchewan, 69.3 percent increase in Alberta, and 42.3 percent increase in Manitoba.
Sherri Bitoro first came to Canada as a Temporary Foreign Worker in 2010. She first moved to the Peace River community in 2013. (Photo/Bryan Taylor)
According to a report from Global News, it would correspond greatly with immigration patterns, where the Philippines have been the top source for permanent residents for the past few years.
Reports say that over 50-thousand Filipinos became permanent residents in 2015. One of them, Sherri Bitoro, first came to Canada from the country’s Bulacan province in 2010, and moved to Peace River in 2013. She currently lives in the community with her Canadian husband and their two kids.
Bitoro told the Trending 55 Newsroom that most of them come to the country to work as Temporary Foreign Workers, like she did.
“I came to Canada to send money to my family back home,” said Bitoro. “And when most people get here, they find that they like it here, and many decide to sponsor their families to come to Canada.”
Tagalog also saw strong growth in the three territories. In the Yukon, it grew more than 105 percent. In the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, it grew 58.8 and 54.5 percent, respectively.
To become a Canadian Citizen, new immigrants need to be a permanent resident for four years, meaning Bitoro is eligible for citizenship in 2019.
“I look forward to the day I can become a Canadian citizen along with my family here in Canada,” she said. “But I was born a Filipina, and my heart will always be a Filipina.”
Bilingualism Highest Ever
English-French bilingualism reached its highest level ever, with 18 percent of Canada’s population identifying as bilingual in 2016, beating the previous record of 17.7 percent in 2001. In Alberta, 6.6 percent identify as bilingual, an increase of 0.1 percent from 2011. The provinces with the highest rate of bilingualism were Quebec at 44.9 percent and New Brunswick at 34 percent.
But, when StatsCan looked at which language is spoken at home, 74.7 percent reported speaking English at home, an increase of 0.7 percent. 86.3 percent say they could conduct a conversation in English.
By contrast, the number of those speaking French at home decreased 0.5 percent to 23.4 percent in 2016. In Quebec alone, the proportion fell from 87 percent in 2011 to 86.4 percent in 2016.
– Posted by BET
