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 Population statistics of Canada

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10 Most common immigrant languages in Canada

With Aboriginals making up only 4.3% of its population, Canada is very much an immigrant
nation. And like most immigrant nations, it is a country that is constantly changing depending on
immigration trends. When I was a kid in Richmond, BC I witnessed my town changing from a
mostly white population into a majority Chinese population. Nowadays it`s even more diverse due
to more recent waves of immigrants.

These days, 1 in 5 Canadians speaks a foreign language at home (meaning a language aside from
French, English, or Aboriginal languages). 1 in 5 Canadians amounts to about 7 million people. 2
million of them speak only a foreign language at home, while 5 million of them speak both a
foreign language and English or French.
Why would they speak both? Well, for example, children of immigrants might speak a foreign
language with their parents but speak English or French with their brothers and sisters. There are
also a lot of families that codes witch between two different languages.
Currently, what are the most common immigrant languages spoken at home?

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1) Chinese, with more than 1,000,000 speakers.
There have been large numbers of Chinese immigrants to Canada, including those from Hong
Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China. But Chinese is probably only the most common immigrant
language if we count all Chinese dialects as one language (and that debate is a whole other can of
worms).

The census breaks Chinese down into Cantonese (372,000 speakers); Mandarin (249,000
speakers); Hakka (5115 speakers) and non-specified (425,000 speakers). The confusing one is
“non-specified” because that could mean Cantonese or Mandarin, but it could also mean another
Chinese dialect that didn`t appear on the census. So it`s not exactly clear how many speakers there
are of each Chinese dialect/language. But if we count them as separate languages, then the most
common immigrant language is likely the one that comes next on the list.
2) Punjabi, with around 430,000 speakers.

This one is interesting, because the Indian Sikh community doesn`t necessarily have the second
largest number of immigrants, but the language is second most widely spoken. Why? Because
Punjabi has a higher retention rate from generation to generation. Whereas children of Chinese-
speaking immigrants often deprioritize their heritage language in favor of English or French,
children of Punjabi speakers tend to maintain their heritage language. This is likely for a couple of
reasons
Punjabi language is important in the Sikh religion, so learning it is partly a matter of faith.

The Punjabi community is very closely knit with large extended families that spend more time
together than most other Canadians do. This perpetually keeps the Punjabi language within their
environment. If grandma doesn`t understand English, then whatcha gonna do?

Punjabi is the first or second most common immigrant language in Canada in most urban centers
except for Montreal.
The next few contenders surprised me, because I`m from the Vancouver area where these
languages are not all that common. That just goes to show you how different Canada`s population
can be from one place to the next.

3) Spanish, with around 410,000

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Spanish speaking immigrants are largely concentrated in Eastern Canada, particularly in Montreal,
Ottawa-Gatineau, and Toronto. Interestingly, a lot of them become trilingual – learning both
English and French in addition to Spanish.

Spanish-speaking Canadians come from a cross-section of Latin American countries, though about
half of them are from either Mexico, Colombia, or El Salvador.
Only about 2% of them come from Spain itself.

4) German, with around 409,000

This is another one I had no idea about. Similar to Spanish, the German-speaking immigrant
population is more concentrated in Eastern Canada than in Vancouver. But also, German-speakers
are highly concentrated amongst the older population. Look at the top heavy data on the graph.
That shows that there used to be a lot of German-speakers immigrating to Canada, but that`s not
the case these days. Since I don`t have a lot of contact with people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, I was
probably blind to the size of the German-speaking community.

5) Italian, with around 407,000

Similar to German, Italian immigrants and their descendants are concentrated in Eastern Canada,
and most of them came to Canada in past generations. Italians accounted for 70% of the immigrants
to Canada in the period after World War II, a trend that stopped around 1960.

That means that Italian is largely spoken by older people, but also by some of their descendants. I
suspect that Italian has a relatively high retention rate from generation to generation.

6) Arabic, with around 328,000

Again, most Arabic speakers live in either Ontario or Quebec, with the largest Arabic-speaking
community in Montreal, followed by Toronto. This is one of Canada`s more recent immigrant
communities, arriving in the 80s and 90s, the largest number from Lebanon.

Keep in mind that this statistic doesn`t address Arabic dialects. Some Arabic dialects are pretty
different from each other, and I have Arabic-speaking friends who were raised in Canada who
can`t communicate with speakers of other dialects. Arabic speakers who are literate in formal
Arabic have much less trouble with this, but many children of immigrants are not literate and only
speak a dialect.

7) Tagalog, with around 327,000

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This one is no surprise to me, since the Vancouver area has a sizeable immigrant population from
the Philippines and I have always had Tagalog-speaking friends. Unlike the last few languages
above, Tagalog is more represented in British Columbia and Alberta, as well as in Manitoba.
Tagalog speakers make up 5% of the population of Winnipeg, Manitoba`s largest town. I don`t
know how the hell they deal with Winterpeg`s nightmarish weather, coming from a tropical
paradise like the Philippines!

Tagalog is the fastest growing immigrant language in Canada, with an increase of 64% from the
2006 census to the 2011 census.

8) Portuguese, with around 211,000

Moving back to Eastern Canada once again, Portuguese is mostly heavily concentrated in Toronto,
where approximately half of the total population lives, mostly in the central city areas. There are
also 30,000 Portuguese speakers living centrally in Montreal. 90% of Portuguese-speaking
Canadians are from Portugal, not Brazil or other Portuguese-speaking territories.

9) Urdu, with about 194,000

Urdu is a language spoken mostly by immigrants from Pakistan (and maybe some from India). It`s
most highly concentrated in Ontario, mostly in Toronto and nearby cities.

Vancouver has a relatively small Urdu-speaking population, but it is the fastest growing Urdu
community and seems to be clustered around the areas where there are lots of Punjabi-speakers.
Punjabi and Urdu are to some extent mutually comprehensible. I clearly remember when I taught
first grade in Canada and in my class there were several Sikh kids who could speak Punjabi, and
one Pakistani kid who could speak Urdu. I asked them if they could understand each other`s
languages. One of the Sikh kids emphatically proclaimed that “Yeah, they`re exactly the same!
But there`s a million different words!” Kids are awesome.

10) Polish, with around 192,000

Concentrated in Ontario, the Polish-speaking population fell sharply between the 2006 census and
the 2011 census, from 242,885 to 192,000. To me this suggests a concentration of Polish language
speakers amongst older Canadians. This is one of the “old” immigration waves from several
decades ago, and the Polish-speaking population will likely continue to shrink.

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There are loads more languages spoken in Canada, but this list should give you an idea of Canada`s
diversity and its continuously changing nature. It goes without saying that, if you live in Canada
and you are interesting in learning a particular foreign language, you`ll likely be able to find a
teacher or people to practice with!

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Annesley Hall

Annesley Hall is the all-female residence at Victoria College, University of Toronto. The residence
is located across from the Royal Ontario Museum and is designated a National Historic Site of
Canada.

Built in 1903 in the Queen Anne style, Annesley Hall is the first university residence built for
women in Canada.[2] It was designed by architect George Martel Miller.[3] Annesley Hall was

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home to the first female resident at the University, as well as the first woman to graduate from a
Canadian medical school.

Annesley is noted for its close-knit community life and is also known for its elegance and
uniqueness. No two rooms are the same, and students in Annesley are able to enjoy exclusive
common space, such as the Tackaberry Library and the Music Room, found on the main floor.

Annesley Hall was a location used in the shoot of the 1974 horror movie Black Christmas. It was
renovated and restored in 1988-1989.

Eglinton Theatre
The Eglinton Theatre, (or Eglinton Grand) is an event venue and cinema in Toronto, Canada.[2]
In 2016, it was designated a National Historic Site by Parks Canada and the Historic Sites and
Monuments Board of Canada.[3]

Built in 1936,[4] the Eglinton became one of the best examples of the Art Deco-style in Canadian
theatre design. In 1937, architectural firm Kaplan & Sprachman was awarded the Royal
Architecture Institute of Canada's Bronze Medal for their design of the theatre.[3] During 1965
and 1967, the “Sod of Music” played for 146 weeks.

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 It
operated as a cinema for 67 years, until 2003, after which it was converted to an event venue

St. Anne's Anglican Church

St. Anne's, Gladstone Avenue (in earlier documents, St Anne's, Brockton and popularly the Group
of Seven Church) in Toronto is a National Historic Site and parish of the Anglican Church of

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Canada. It was established in 1863 as the parish for the hamlet of Brockton, Canada and is one of
the seven (formerly 12) parishes of Parkdale Deanery. The current building, dating to 1907-8 and
overlooking Dufferin Street, is noted for its distinctive design, based on the architecture of the
Hagia Sophia of Constantinople. The interior of the church is decorated by artwork by members
of the famous Group of Seven circle of painters, depicting events of the Old and New Testaments
and dating to 1923. The artwork by J. E. H. MacDonald, Frederick Varley, and Franklin
Carmichael is religious iconography, something they are not generally known for.

Library of Parliament
The Library of Parliament (French: Bibliothèque du Parlement) is the main information repository
and research resource for the Parliament of Canada. The main branch of the library sits at the rear
of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, and is the last untouched part of that
larger building's original incarnation after it burned down in 1916. The library has been augmented
and renovated a number of times since its construction in 1876, the last between 2002 and 2006,
though the form and decor remain essentially authentic. The building today serves as a Canadian
icon, and appears on the obverse of the Canadian ten-dollar bill.

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The library is overseen by the Parliamentary Librarian of Canada and an associate or assistant
librarian. The Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate and the Parliamentary Budget Officer are
also considered to be officers of the libry

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Brookfield Place (Toronto)

Brookfield Place (formerly BCE Place)[1] is an office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, comprising the 2.1 ha (5.2-acre) block bounded by Yonge Street, Wellington Street West,
Bay Street, and Front Street. The complex contains 242,000 m2 (2,604,866 sq ft) of office space,
and consists of two towers, Bay Wellington Tower and TD Canada Trust Tower, linLambert
Galleria. Brookfield Place is lso the home of the Hockey Hall of Fame (housed in an opulent)

One Bloor
One Bloor, previously One Bloor East and Number One Bloor, is a mixed-use skyscraper under
construction at the intersection of Bloor Street and
Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The project was initially launched by developer Bazis
International Inc. in 2007, before being cancelled and re-
developed under developer Great Gulf Homes. The two-
storey buildings located on the site were demolished in

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December 2008. The 76-storey tower topped out in late 2015.

Scotia Plaza
Scotia Plaza is a commercial office complex in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the
financial district of the downtown core bordered by Yonge Street on the east, King Street West on
the south, Bay Street on the west, and Adelaide Street West on the north. At 275 m (902 ft), Scotia
Plaza is Canada's third tallest building and the 22nd tallest building in North America. It is
connected to the PATH network, and contains 190,000 m2 (2,045,143 sq ft) of office space on 68
floors and 40 retail stores.

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CN Tower
The CN Tower (French: Tour CN) is a 553.3 m-high (1,815.3 ft) concrete communications and
observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it
was completed in 1976, and held the record for the world's tallest free-standing structure for 32
years from 1975–2007 and was the world's tallest tower until 2009 being overtaken by Burj Khalifa
and Canton Tower, respectively.[10][11][12][13] It is now the third tallest tower in the world and
remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, a signature icon of Toronto's
skyline,[14][15] attracting more than two million international visitors annually.

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First Canadian Place
First Canadian Place (originally First Bank Building) is a skyscraper in the Financial District of
Toronto, Ontario, at the northwest corner of King and Bay streets, and serves as the global
operational headquarters of the Bank of Montreal. At 298 m (978 ft), it is Canada's tallest
skyscraper and the 15th tallest building in North America to structural top (spires) and 9th highest
to the roof top, and the 105th tallest in the world.[1] It is the third tallest free-standing structure in
Canada, after the CN Tower (also in Toronto) and the Inco Superstack chimney in Sudbury,
Ontario. The building is owned by Brookfield Office Properties, putting it in co-ownership with
the neighbouring Exchange Tower and Bay Adelaide Centre as well as various other office spaces
across Downtown Toronto.

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Victoria Building (Ottawa)
The Victoria Building is an Art Deco office building[1] at 140 Wellington Street, just across from
the Parliament of Canada. It houses the offices of a number of parliamentarians, mostly members
of the Canadian Senate. The building, designed by John Albert Ewart, was completed in 1928 by
private developers, though the federal government quickly leased much of it. It has held a wide
variety of tenants. It was the first home of the Embassy of France (1928-1939) and the Bank of

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Canada from 1935–1938. From 1938 to 1964 it housed the CBC and for a time wasrenovated.

Canadian War Museum

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L Tower
The L Tower is condominium development under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, the structure is located adjacent to the heritage-designated
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, a modernist icon of the city at the corner of Yonge and Front
Streets. It will not be built atop the existing building, as had been proposedThe project, which
broke ground in mid-October 2009, was expected to be complete in mid-2015.

In the 2000s, the Sony Centre (then known as the Hummingbird Centre) was expected to be
demolished and the land sold, however Hummingbird Centre CEO Dan Brambilla convinced the
city to preserve the site and approve the condo development.

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EY Tower
The EY Tower (formally known as the Ernst & Young Tower and 100 Adelaide Street West) is a
skyscraper in Toronto, Ontario at 100 Adelaide Street West.[2] The building was designed by
Kohn Pedersen Fox and WZMH Architect

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