On August 17, 2022, Statistics Canada published a new report examining language diversity in the country. According to the report, in Canada, 4 in 10 individuals can converse in more than one language. This proportion increased from 39.0% to 41.2% between 2016 and 2021. One in four Canadians had at least one foreign mother tongue or spoke primarily a language other than English or French at home in 2021, compared to one in ten people in 2016. The number of Canadians who spoke predominantly a South Asian language such as Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi or Malayalam at home grew rapidly. While the number of Canadians speaking European languages at home, like Italian or Greek, declined, those who spoke Mandarin and Punjabi increased.
Canada’s linguistic diversity continues to grow
