CA-K125Language & names

One in four Canadians has a mother tongue other than English or French

A Toronto street sign with an added Chinese translation, photographed in 2011. Spadina translation · Steve Harris from Toronto, Canada · Photo source · Photo licence: CC BY 2.0. Resized for display; item previews may be cropped. The image remains under the licence shown.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

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In the 2021 Census, one in four Canadians had at least one mother tongue other than English or French, and one in eight spoke mainly another language at home, both the highest proportions on record. That year, 41.2% of Canadians could hold a conversation in more than one language.

Scope & context

National census results on language diversity, not figures for particular languages or regions.

Sources behind this record

While English and French are still the main languages spoken in Canada, the country's linguistic diversity continues to grow ↗

Statistics Canada (The Daily)

2021 Census of Population release, 17 August 2022