Executive Summary
Page 3 of 16
Introduction
Among the common historic and contemporary generalizations about Quebec’s Anglophone1 community is the assumption that it once acted like a majority, and reluctantly made a difficult transition to minority status. As one commentator put it, “prior to the 1960s, Anglophone Quebecers behaved like a self-confident majority by combining a sense of superiority in educational and cultural terms with their commanding position in the Quebec economy” (Stein, 1985). Further generalizations often hold that after the 1960s, Anglophones purportedly adopted a dissonant and defensive attitude in reaction to greater intervention by the provincial government on community life.
Whatever the degree of truth about such generalizations, it is clear that as the provincial government acted on its commitment to promote the French language and affirm Quebec’s autonomy, the province’s Anglophone population individually and collectively renegotiated its minority status.
It is also clear that some four decades after the Quiet Revolution, the Quebec Anglophone population has undergone a profound demographic transformation and is now a population with enhanced ethnic, linguistic, racial and religious diversity. Significant population losses have shifted needs and priorities.
While the Government of Canada is committed by law to support the vitality of Quebec Anglophones, the principal needs of the community are met under provincial law. At the same time as the population grows more dependent on the Quebec government to maintain its institutional well-being, there is a very low presence of Anglophones in the province’s public administration.
Over the past 40 years, the extent to which Anglophones are able to speak French has risen dramatically, but the trend has not been accompanied by an increased level of comfort. A persistent sense of community disempowerment is reflected in the titles of some of the more popular texts on Quebec Anglophones, such as the satiric Anglo Quebec Guide to Survival (Freed and Kalina, 1984), the historic Forgotten Quebecers (Rudin, 1984) and the political Community Besieged (Stevenson, 1999). Recent essays on the condition of the Anglophone community have proposed strategies designed to facilitate continued adaptation to Quebec’s evolving reality. As for what unites the Anglophone population, Reed Scowen (1991) contends that an English Quebecer is someone, regardless of country of birth or ethnic origin, who wishes to live, and continue to live, in English.
Strategies aimed at improving the condition of Quebec Anglophones are closely tied to the manner in which the community is defined. In short, the importance accorded to the origins of Quebec’s Anglophone population and its current reality influence the proposed approaches to bolster community vitality. Few Anglophones invoke or refer to the historic presence of the community to justify recognition of institutional needs by provincial authorities. Some have expressed concern with the inability to rally their diverse community around a common history and shared culture (Caldwell, 1994).
A Report on English Speakers in Quebec
This report characterizes, in the most detailed presentation to date, the Quebec Anglophone population and its evolution over time. It speaks to the community’s residential patterns, mobility, diversity and institutional characteristics. Employing a rich body of demographic, statistical and attitudinal data from census and other sources, it provides a portrait of the Anglophone population at the turn of the new century that aids a wider understanding of the community. The study also focusses on how Quebec’s English speakers perceive their current priorities and vision of the future.
Approach
This study is based on the most detailed data possible. The author, Jack Jedwab, has analysed demographic, statistical and attitudinal data from the 2001 Census as well as from other sources such as results from a survey done by the CROP firm for the Missisquoi Institute.
Of note is the question of how the size of Quebec’s English-speaking population is defined, as its number can range from 600,000 to 900,000.
The size of the population depends on the definition used. The Treasury Board Secretariat of the Government of Canada characterizes Anglophones and Francophones in terms of their first official language – the one they declare as reflecting their primary personal identification. The Quebec Treasury Board uses mother tongue to estimate the size of a linguistic population. These definitions produce different estimates of the size of the population.
When language used most often is the basis for definition, 2001 census data show that Quebec Anglophones represent 11.6 percent of the population. When mother tongue is used, the representation is 8.3 percent of the provincial population. When the first language spoken is used, the representation is 12.9 percent.
Main Findings
The Evolution of the Quebec English-Speaking Community
There have been significant population losses in the Quebec English-speaking community over the past few decades, modifying its needs and priorities. The result is an English-speaking population that is diverse in its socio-economic, regional, ethnic and religious characteristics.
There was a net loss of more than 29,000 Anglophones from interprovincial migration between 1996 and 2001, with 18,000 moving from the Montréal region. The greater percentage loss, however, was outside the Montréal region, whence 11,000 of the English-speaking population left the province.
Surveys show that among English-speaking immigrants expressing the intention to leave, a lack of educational and economic opportunities was cited. Non-immigrant English speakers referred more frequently to political considerations. A greater share of English-speaking immigrants suggested that discrimination was a factor in the decision to leave the province, a sentiment shared by few non-immigrants.
One result of interprovincial migration is an aging English-speaking population in Quebec, with median ages for the population well above the average. Some 30 percent of Quebec Anglophones expressed little confidence about keeping young people at home.
Health Care
Quebec Anglophones widely agree that the principal concern of the community is access to health care. This access varies according to the community’s demographic situation, its economic standing and the nature and degree of state intervention. As such, Quebec Anglophones are more likely than Francophones to first turn to family rather than public institutions.
There is a relationship between the demographic weight of English-speaking communities and the availability of health and social services in the English language. In those regions outside Montréal where the English-speaking community forms less than 2.4 percent of the population, the availability of such services was low. Among these regions are the Lower St. Lawrence, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Chaudière-Appalaches, Lanaudière, Québec and the Mauricie.
Montréal, the Gaspé and the Outaouais regions offer the best opportunities to secure such services in English. However, this does not imply that there are problems in other regions, or that Montréal is without problems in obtaining services in the English language.
Education
The decline continues in the number of mother-tongue-English enrolment in English-language schools, and there is a greater presence of Francophone youth in those schools, pointing to the need for continued emphasis on protecting and strengthening the vitality of English-language schools.
The English-language school system has undergone considerable change since the early 1990s. Mother-tongue-English enrolment in Quebec English-language schools has dropped somewhat (2.5 percent), while mother-tongue-French enrolment nearly doubled, with virtually the entire increase occurring outside the Montréal region.
A slightly higher number of Anglophones (17.8 percent) have not graduated from high school, compared with 16.7 percent of Francophones. In higher education, however, 27.9 percent of Anglophones hold university degrees, compared with 16.9 percent of Francophones. There has been a 20-percent decline in the number of Anglophones enrolling in English-language CEGEPs in Montréal, whereas the number of Francophones remained relatively stable. A slight increase was apparent in the number of Anglophones enrolled in Montréal’s French-language CEGEPs over that same period. English-language CEGEPs located in the regions outside Montréal are dominated by mother-tongue-French students.
Language Use: Rural and Urban Difference
According to the 2001 census, over one-fifth of English-speaking Quebecers use the French language most of the time in their place of employment. In Montréal, three-quarters of Anglophones use mostly English at work, and another 10 percent report using both languages equally. Outside Montréal, 30 percent of English-speaking Quebecers use French most of the time at work. The figure rises in the Québec City region where nearly two-thirds of mother-tongue Anglophones use mostly French in the workplace.
The 1999 study conducted by the Conseil de la langue française shows that more than 90 percent of Quebec Anglophones consume media and cultural products in the English language. The study also shows that, in the Montréal region, most Anglophones conduct their business in the English language.
Economic Conditions
Knowledge of English and French is central to the economic advancement of Quebec Anglophones. In 2001, the rate of unemployment among mother-tongue Anglophones aged 25 to 34 years with knowledge of both English and French was 7.5 percent (it was 7 percent in Montréal), with an unemployment rate of 14.3 percent for those Quebec Anglophones who knew English only. In contrast, bilingual Francophones had a rate of unemployment of 5.5 percent (in Montréal it drops to 5 percent) compared with 8.8 percent who knew French only.
In 2001, the unemployment rate for mother-tongue Anglophones was above the regional average in nearly every part of the province with the exception of Montréal. The median individual income of Quebec Anglophones is slightly ahead of that of mother-tongue Francophones.
Whereas in 2000 some 12.6 percent of Quebec’s mother-tongue Francophones were living below the low-income cut-off line, 14.6 percent of the province’s Anglophone population were in that situation.
Conclusion
It is always difficult to predict the future, and this certainly holds true for Quebec’s English-speaking community. The demographic trends point to communities that are far more mixed, characterized by a growing multiethnic and multiracial community. In addition, there is a significant increase in the mix of English and French among the population. Institutionally, this has meant that schools as well as health and social services, while directing services at the English-speaking community, also must address pluralistic clienteles and reflect the dichotomy between Montréal and the rest of Quebec.
The challenges facing the English-speaking community that elicit strong concern in surveys are not limited to numbers or access to services, but also relate to issues of inclusion and belonging. It is likely the reason that many Anglophones evoke equality as a major concern. Neither the growing diversity nor metissage (mixing of languages) in the Quebec English-speaking population has modified this view, and exploring the trends in this report will allow for better support of the vitality of the Quebec English-speaking community.
As a result, the information in this report is aimed at permitting researchers to further explore not only the diverse realities, but also the many challenges confronting Quebec’s English speakers. It is also hoped that it will assist community planners in developing the strategies needed to address community needs of Quebec’s English-speakers.
Note
1. For the purpose of this study, the terms ‘english speakers’, ‘english-speaking community’, ‘english-speaking population’ and ‘Anglophones’ are used interchangeably, unless otherwise specified.
