ABSTRACT
Canada has a heterogeneous population. Nearly a quarter of the population is foreign born; another quarter is native born with one or both parents born outside of Canada. About 30 percent of the population is of French ethnicity; while about three-quarters of those of French ethnicity live in the province of Quebec and constitute a majority of the Quebec population, the remainder live in all parts of the country. As a result, Canada is in a unique situation. It is a “dual language” country. English dominates in nine provinces, French dominates in one province, but there are considerable efforts devoted to developing bilingualism as an official national policy. Immigrant generation, French ethnicity, and language fluency are the three key ethnic-based issues relevant for Canada. While there has been some separate work on these issues, this chapter analyzes jointly their roles in the Canadian labor market.
