In 2021, French was the first language spoken by over 71 percent of the population of Montréal, Québec in Canada. 20.4 percent of the city's residents had English as their first language, 6.7 percent used both English and French as their primary language, and 1.6 percent of the population spoke another language. That same year, 46.4 percent of people living in the province of Québec could speak both English and French.

This service shows the percentage of population, excluding institutional residents, with knowledge of English and French for Canada by 2016 census subdivision. The data is from the Census Profile, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001.

Knowledge of official languages refers to whether the person can conduct a conversation in English only, French only, in both languages or in neither language. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, this includes languages that the child is learning to speak at home. For additional information refer to 'Knowledge of official languages' in the 2016 Census Dictionary.

For additional information refer to 'Knowledge of official languages' in the 2016 Census Dictionary.

To have a cartographic representation of the ecumene with this socio-economic indicator, it is recommended to add as the first layer, the “NRCan - 2016 population ecumene by census subdivision” web service, accessible in the data resources section below.

Over the past fifty years, the proportion of Quebecers speaking both English and French has increased steadily, from 27.6 percent in 1971 to almost half the population (46.4 percent) in 2021. The rate of English-French bilingualism, on the other hand, has declined in the rest of the country: outside Quebec, just over ten percent of people were bilingual in English and French in 2001, compared to 9.5 percent two decades later.

This map shows the percentage of the Canadian population with knowledge of French. In the 1996 Census, knowledge of French was determined by a question about the ability to conduct a conversation in one or both languages. It should be noted that this question measured language knowledge rather than actual use of language.

Data on the knowledge of official languages by the population of Canada and Canada outside Quebec, and of all provinces and territories, for Census years 1951 to 2021.

This table contains 47 series, with data for years 1931 - 1971 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2012-02-16. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Unit of measure (1 items: Persons ...) Geography (1 items: Canada ...) Mother tongue (47 items: Total languages; English; French; Baltic languages ...).

Data on type and level of French program attended, number of years of primary or secondary schooling in a regular French program in a French-language school and mother tongue for the population outside of Quebec, in private households in Canada outside of Quebec, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions.

The statistic reflects the distribution of languages in Canada in 2022. In 2022, 87.1 percent of the total population in Canada spoke English as their native tongue.

This service shows the percentage of population, excluding institutional residents, with knowledge of English and French for Canada by 2016 census subdivision. The data is from the Census Profile, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Knowledge of official languages refers to whether the person can conduct a conversation in English only, French only, in both languages or in neither language. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, this includes languages that the child is learning to speak at home. For additional information refer to 'Knowledge of official languages' in the 2016 Census Dictionary. For additional information refer to 'Knowledge of official languages' in the 2016 Census Dictionary. To have a cartographic representation of the ecumene with this socio-economic indicator, it is recommended to add as the first layer, the “NRCan - 2016 population ecumene by census subdivision” web service, accessible in the data resources section below.

The 2006 Census data showed that Anglophones, that is the population whose mother tongue is English, made up the majority of the population in Canada, about 57.8%. This was the case for all provinces and territories except Quebec, where the majority of the population reported French as mother tongue. In total, 22.1% of the population in Canada were Francophones, which is the population with French as their mother tongue. Allophones, the population who reported a non-official language as mother tongue, made up 20%.

This table is part of a series of tables that present a portrait of Canada based on the various census topics. The tables range in complexity and levels of geography. Content varies from a simple overview of the country to complex cross-tabulations; the tables may also cover several censuses.

Data on the first official language spoken of the population of Canada and Canada outside Quebec, and of all provinces and territories, for Census years 1971 to 2016.

Statistics Canada Census Data from 2021. This file geodatabase includes extra data for the language at home total, male, and female populations provided by Statistics Canada joined with the census tracts. The extra tables include the following:Language spoken at home for the total population by ageLanguage spoken at home for the total population where English is their first official language spoken by ageLanguage spoken at home for the total population where French is their first official language spoken by ageLanguage spoken at home for the total population where English and French are their first official languages spoken by ageLanguage spoken at home for the total population where neither English nor French are their first official language spoken by ageThe geodatabase also includes tables of the above topics for the male and female populations.NOTE: Only languages where there were one or more respondents were included. For a full list of languages included in the census, please refer to the List of Languages by Statistics Canada.For more information on definitions of terms used in the tables and other notes, refer to Statistics Canada's Languages Reference Guide and Statistics Canada's 2021 Census.

Data on languages spoken by the population of Canada and Canada outside Quebec, and of all provinces and territories, for Census years 2001 to 2016.

In 1996, 67% of Canada’s population were able to conduct a conversation in English only, 14% in French only and 17% in both of these languages. Around 2% of people enumerated reported not knowing either of these two languages. This map shows the percentage of the Canadian population in 1996 who were able to conduct a conversation in both official languages, English and French.

This service shows the percentage of population, excluding institutional residents, with knowledge of English and French for Canada by 2016 census division. The data is from the Census Profile, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Knowledge of official languages refers to whether the person can conduct a conversation in English only, French only, in both languages or in neither language. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, this includes languages that the child is learning to speak at home. For additional information refer to 'Knowledge of official languages' in the 2016 Census Dictionary. For additional information refer to 'Knowledge of official languages' in the 2016 Census Dictionary. To have a cartographic representation of the ecumene with this socio-economic indicator, it is recommended to add as the first layer, the “NRCan - 2016 population ecumene by census division” web service, accessible in the data resources section below.

According to the Canadian government, approximately 2.54 million people residing in Montreal, in the province of Quebec, had French as their mother tongue in 2021. About 474,730 of them had English, the second official language, as their birth language. However, there were more people that year ( 522,255) whose mother tongue was an Indo-European language, such as German, Russian or Polish.

This table is part of a series of tables that present a portrait of Canada based on the various census topics. The tables range in complexity and levels of geography. Content varies from a simple overview of the country to complex cross-tabulations; the tables may also cover several censuses.

Depicted on this map is the extent of New France at its territorial height circa 1740 prior to its great territorial losses to British North America. Also shown on the map are the territorial claims, administrative divisions, and the distribution of population and settlement (including fur trading posts) circa 1740. This map along with British North America circa 1823 shows the settlement and population in Canada for two important periods in Canadian history prior to Confederation.

This map shows the percentage of the Canadian population whose mother tongue was French. The 1996 Census defines mother tongue as the first language a person learned at home in childhood and still understood at the time of the census. The 1996 Census showed that 8.9 million Canadians could conduct a conversation in French (31%), 6.4 million spoke French most often at home (23%) and 6.7 million had French as their mother tongue (24%).