ABSTRACT
Canada, whose almost 30 million inhabitants are unevenly settled over a vast territory, is home to speakers of many languages. The country’s two official languages, English and French, are predominant, respectively, as the first languages of 60% and 23% of the population. Another 17% cite another language as their mother tongue. They include immigrants from Asian, European, Latin American, and African countries, who tend to settle in the largest cities, as well as members of widely dispersed and often relatively isolated First Nations communities, many in the North. Functional bilingualism is on the rise among Canadians, as partially reflected in 1996 census statistics (Statistics Canada, 1997), which report increasing French/English bilingualism (17%, up from 13% in 1971) and that approximately 10% of the population retains a home language other than English or French.
