Potential demand for federal communications and services in the minority official language (2021 Census data)

Introduction

The Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations (hereinafter known as the “Regulations”), as amended, registered on June 25, 2019, and made effective under the Official Languages Act, include a definition of the English-speaking or French-speaking minority population for the purposes of the Regulations. The English or French linguistic minority population means all persons, in a province in which an office or facility of a federal institution is located, for whom the first language, or one of the first languages, learned at home in childhood and still understood is the minority official language and of those who speak the minority official language at home, as determined by Statistics Canada based on published data from the most recent decennial census of population.

This definition stems from the new, more inclusive calculation method for estimating the potential demand for federal communications and services in the minority official language, which was recorded with the other regulatory amendments in 2019. This new calculation method:

• takes all immigrants and bilingual family members into account when they use the minority official language at home
• provides an estimate of the number of people who might want to use federal services in the minority language

The potential demand for federal communications and services in the minority official language does not constitute a definition of the English-speaking and French-speaking populations for identity purposes. Rather, it is used to estimate the significant potential demand for the application of the Regulations in order to determine where federal offices should communicate with the public and offer them services in English, French or both official languages. It is based on three variables: the mother tongue, the primary language used at home, and the language regularly used at home, according to the following breakdown:

Step 1: Mother tongue

Step 2: Primary language used at home

Step 3: Language regularly used at home

The minority language for potential demand for federal communications and services is English in Quebec and French in the other provinces and territories. The estimate of potential demand in the minority official language has been established by adding the population having identified the minority language either as the mother tongue, as the primary language spoken at home or as a regularly spoken language at home. In Ontario, for example, the potential demand in the minority language is calculated by adding the population with French as their mother tongue, as their primary home language or as a regularly spoken language at home.

For more information, consult the Census Dictionary of Statistics Canada.

Presentation of data from the 2021 Census

The data is available on the Statistics Canada website via the following links:

• Potential demand for federal communications and services in the minority official language: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts (statcan.gc.ca)
• Potential demand for federal communications and services in the minority official language: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (statcan.gc.ca)

It should be noted that census metropolitan areas (CMAs) designate a territory formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centered on a population center (known as the core). CMAs must have a core population of at least 100,000. Census subdivisions (CSDs) refer to municipalities or their equivalent as defined by provincial laws.