IV. Quebec Anglophones: Immigration and Vitality
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Few studies have looked at what support for the linguistic vitality of Anglophones in Quebec might entail. There is no doubt that the loss of Anglophones from interprovincial migration has meant that the flow of new arrivals takes on greater importance in maintaining conditions of vitality. Immigration of English speakers, along with allophones who ultimately adopt the English language in their homes, has not only had a profound demographic impact on the community but has also affected the identity of the Anglophone population.
Despite this, the impact of immigration on Quebec’s Anglophone community in the past 20 years has rarely received much attention. In part this is because the focus has been on those who have left the province and the consequences of such departures on the community's demographic and institutional life. It also reflects the shift of responsibility for receiving new immigrants from Anglophone to Francophone institutions. Below, we examine the demographic impact of English-speaking immigration to Quebec and look at several aspects of their linguistic, economic and social integration.
A. Immigration and Demography
From 1945 to 1970, the growth of the Anglophone community in Quebec was primarily attributable to the influx of immigrants from Europe who, for the most part, adopted the English language and were integrated — however partially — by English language institutions. The English-speaking population benefited greatly from the influx of immigrant children who, in overwhelming numbers, were educated in the English school system. With the changing pattern of immigration that began in the early 1970s and the introduction of the Charter of the French Language, which obliged almost all subsequent immigrants to send their children to French language schools, immigration has become a less important source of population growth for the Anglophone community. With the transfer of selection and integration services for immigrants to the Quebec government, the Anglophone community has played a very limited role in immigrant insertion.
Between 1996 and 2000, those immigrants to Quebec for whom English was the only official language spoken represented some 20% of the total provincial immigration. This proportion exceeds the share of Quebec’s English-mother-tongue population, which stands at just under 10%. Indeed, as the vast majority of immigrants settle in the Montreal region, the per capita arrival of immigrants relative to the Montreal Anglophone population is even greater. It is worth examining whether more Anglophone immigrants would consider settling in regions outside Montreal, whose communities might benefit from such an infusion.
The immigrant presence in the English-speaking community is reflected in the number of language transfers of persons whose mother tongue is neither English nor French. While there were over 586,000 persons in Quebec whose mother tongue was English in 1996, over 700,000 persons declared that they spoke English only in their homes. If we add multiple declarations that include the use of English in the home, the Anglophone population rises to nearly 820,000. Using the criterion of first official language spoken (FOLS), the number of Anglophones rises to 900,000.
| Years | Total | English | French | Both | Neither | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1961 | 113,870 (17.6%) | 34,860 (25.6%) | 19,255 (10.9%) | 54,270 (17.6%) | 5,485 (12.7%) | |||||
| 1961-1970 | 109,510 (17.0%) | 22,000 (16.1%) | 22,560 (12.8%) | 57,840 (18.7%) | 7,105 (16.5%) | |||||
| 1971-1980 | 132,370 (20.5%) | 20,820 (15.3%) | 33,825 (19.2%) | 71,050 (23.0%) | 6,675 (15.5%) | |||||
| 1981-1990 | 137,830 (21.3%) | 26,515 (19.4%) | 47,845 (27.1%) | 73,240 (23.7%) | 10,235 (23.7%) | |||||
| 1991-1996 | 150,915 (23.4%) | 32,755 (24.0%) | 52,740 (29.9%) | 51,845 (16.8%) | 13,570 (31.5%) | |||||
| Total | 644,495 | 136,950 | 176,220 | 308,250 | 43,075 | |||||
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1996. | ||||||||||
1. Knowledge of Official Languages
In the 1970s the number of immigrants who spoke only French significantly exceeded the number that spoke only English. In recent years the pattern has been quite consistent, with just over one-quarter of immigrants declaring that they spoke only French, nearly one-fifth only English, and about one-sixth speaking both official languages. In pursuit of the goal of bringing more French speakers to Quebec, the provincial government combines the number and proportion of those who speak French and those who speak both English and French. The number of immigrants who speak French has risen between 1997 and 2000; so too has the number of new arrivals who speak English. Indeed, a majority of immigrants that settle in Quebec do have a knowledge of the English language.
From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the English-speaking population witnessed an increased influx of candidates to join the community. This is less the result of a rise in the share of Anglophone immigration than of the increase in the total number of immigrants who came to Quebec during those years. While in the mid-1970s a larger Anglophone population received fewer potential Anglophone candidates, a decade later a smaller Anglophone community received twice as many English-speaking immigrants. The impact of immigration on the community is thus far more significant than it was two decades ago. More recently, however, there has been a decline in the real number of immigrants who knew English only upon arrival (some 28,000 persons between 1996 and 2000 compared with over 45,000 persons in the previous five years). In Table 23 we can observe that the share of immigrants for whom English was the only official language spoken upon arrival dropped from approximately 23% to 20%.
| Years | Total | English only | English and French |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-1995 | 200,258 | 46,293 (23.1%) | 27,937 (13.9%) |
| 1996-2000 | 145,619 | 28,841 (19.8%) | 20,297 (13.9%) |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1996. | |||
2. Mother Tongue/First Official Language Spoken/Rootedness
Most Quebec immigrants are of neither English nor French mother tongue, as from 1996 through 2000 allophones have represented about 85% of new arrivals. In the year 2000, persons of French mother tongue represented about 13.5% of immigration and those of English mother tongue about 2.5% (down from 3.8% in 1996). As regards the first official language spoken, Table 24 shows that, between 1991 and 1996, over one-third of immigrants spoke English upon arrival.
| Years | Overall Number of FOLS Immigrants | FOLS English | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 664,495 | 275,000 | 41.4 |
| Before 1961 | 113,870 | 66,510 | 58.8 |
| 1961-1970 | 109,510 | 50,800 | 46.6 |
| 1971-1980 | 132,370 | 50,500 | 38.2 |
| 1981-1990 | 157,830 | 55,400 | 35.2 |
| 1991-1996 | 150,910 | 53,250 | 35.5 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1996. | |||
Whether measured by mother tongue or first official language spoken (FOLS), immigrants represent a very significant share of Quebec’s Anglophone community. As we can see in Table 25, some 28% of the FOLS Anglophone population are immigrants and nearly 15% of the mother-tongue-English population are immigrants.
| Status | FOLS English | Mother tongue English | PLOS English and French | Mother tongue English and French |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 842,105 | 602,865 | 167,460 | 56,345 |
| Non-immigrants | 603,665 | 514,485 | 57,960 | 51 145 |
| (71.6%) | (85.6%) | (34.6%) | (90.8%) | |
| Born in province of residence | 492,345 | 410,245 | 54,320 | 44,780 |
| (58.4%) | (68.3%) | (32.5%) | (79.5%) | |
| Born outside province of residence | 111,320 | 104,240 | 3,645 | 6,365 |
| (13.2%) | (17.3%) | (2.1%) | (11.3%) | |
| Immigrant | 223,855 | 83,670 | 105,430 | 4,940 |
| (28.4%) | (14.4%) | (63.1%) | (8.7%) | |
| Source:Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1996. | ||||
Highlights from the data
- From 1945 to 1970, the growth of the Anglophone community in Quebec was primarily attributable to the influx of immigrants from Europe.
- Between 1996 and 2000, those immigrants to Quebec for whom English was the only official language spoken represented some 20% of the total provincial immigration.
- In the 1970s the number of immigrants who spoke French significantly exceeded the number that spoke only English. Recently just over one-quarter of immigrants declared that they spoke only French, nearly one-fifth only English, and about one-sixth spoke both official languages.
- There was a decline over the 1990s in the number of immigrants who spoke English only upon arrival.
- Over one in four people in Quebec’s Anglophone community are immigrants.
3. Settlement Pattern: Montreal and the Rest of Quebec
In the years 1991-1996 there was an increase in the concentration of English-speaking immigrants in the Montreal area. The share of new arrivals settling in the rest of Quebec has been on the decline. The settlement pattern of Anglophones differs little from that of other immigrants to the province. Immigrants settling outside the Montreal area are, for the most part, in such places as Laval and the Montérégie. In these two regions, the geographic proximity to the Montreal region and the critical mass of Anglophones makes for a considerable degree of institutional depth. In the Laurentians, Quebec City, Outaouais and the Eastern Townships, the situation is different since there is, on one hand, a reduced number of immigrants and, on the other, a lesser degree of Anglophone community organization.
| Province of Quebec | Montreal Urban Community | Rest of Quebec | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total immigrant population by period of immigration | 83,670 | 58,690 (70.2%) | 24,980 (29.8%) |
| Before 1961 | 19,495 | 12,450 (64.1%) | 7,045 (35.9%) |
| 1961-1970 | 17,215 | 11,640 (67.6%) | 5,575 (32.4%) |
| 1971-1980 | 19,770 | 13,640 (69.2%) | 6,130 (30.8%) |
| 1981-1990 | 15,730 | 11,600 (73.8%) | 4,130 (26.2%) |
| 1991-1996 | 11,460 | 9,360 (82.1%) | 2,100 (17.9%) |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1996. | |||
4. Categories of Immigrants
We can see from Table 27 that more business class immigrants spoke only English upon arrival than spoke only French. Some 7.5% of all immigrants who knew English only upon arrival were in the business class, while the comparable figure for those who spoke only French is slightly over 4%. It is in the category of immigrants who spoke neither official language that the percentage of business class immigrants is highest.
| Language | Independent | Business | Family | Refugee | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French only | 17,633 (34.5%) | 1,618 (10.1%) | 8,735 (22.3%) | 11,032 (29.0%) | 39,018 | ||||
| English and French | 14,542 (28.4%) | 639 (4.0%) | 3,068 (7.8%) | 2,048 (5.3%) | 20,297 | ||||
| English only | 8,491 (16.6%) | 2,121 (13.2%) | 8,408 (21.5%) | 9,821 (25.8%) | 28,841 | ||||
| Neither English nor French | 10,677 (20.9%) | 11,904 (74.3%) | 19,568 (50.1%) | 15,314 (40.2%) | 57,463 | ||||
| Total | 51,4343 | 16,282 | 39,779 | 38,215 | 145,619 | ||||
| Source: MRCI, Tableaux sur l’immigration au Québec 1996-2000, March 2001. | |||||||||
Immigrants who spoke English only or both English and French upon arrival tended to have higher levels of education than did new arrivals who spoke only French. In the years 1990 and 1995, of those who spoke English only, some 23% and 27% respectively possessed university degrees. The percentage was even higher in 1995 among immigrants who declared knowledge of both languages upon arrival. Among immigrants who spoke French only upon arrival, fewer than one in six had a university degree in the same years.
5. Origins
Unlike the Francophone minorities in other parts of Canada, the Anglophone population in Quebec has benefited from significant experience in the integration of members of ethnocultural communities. The source countries of immigrants in the Anglophone community have changed considerably over the past 30 years. Increasingly English-speaking immigrants emanate from the Carribean and Bermuda, Asia and the Middle East. This evolution has significantly modified the composition of the Anglophone community.
Overall, nearly 50% of Quebec’s English-speaking immigrants come from countries from which new arrivals are generally identified in the census as visible minorities. Recently the number of English-speaking immigrants from visible minorities has further increased. During the 1991-1996 period they represented nearly three-quarters of all English-speaking immigrants as defined by first official language spoken (FOLS).
The growing diversity in the source countries of the English-speaking population will likely increase the significance of the ethnoracial dimension of the Anglophone community. As we can see from Table 28, in 1996 over 10% of Quebec’s mother-tongue-English population were members of visible minorities, and the figure in Montreal rises to 15%. When the criterion used is first official language spoken, the proportion of visible minority members jumps to about 23% of Montreal’s English-speaking population and a little over 18% for the province of Quebec. In the 2001 census, Montreal’s FOLS-English visible minority population will likely be between one-quarter and one-third of the total group. This will no doubt have a major impact on the community’s self-definition and its future institutional needs.
| Province of Quebec | Montreal | |
|---|---|---|
| Total English | 586,430 | 426,600 |
| Total visible minority | 62,585 (10.6%) | 60,015 (14.0%) |
| Black | 34,430 (5.8%) | 33,335 (7.8%) |
| South Asian | 10,080 (1.7%) | 9,705 (2.2%) |
| Chinese | 3,955 (0.7%) | 3,660 (0.8%) |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1996. | ||
Highlights from the data
- In the years 1991-96 there was an increase in the concentration of English-speaking immigrants in the Montreal area and a decline in the share of new arrivals settling in the rest of Quebec.
- There were more business class immigrants who spoke only English upon arrival than those who spoke only French.
- Overall, nearly 50% of Quebec’s English-speaking immigrants come from countries where new arrivals are identified as visible minorities in Canada.
- Close to a quarter of Montreal’s English-speaking population are members of visible minorities.
B. Mobility
1. Employment and Income
Quebec immigrants who knew either English only or both English and French upon arrival fare reasonably well in terms of economic integration. For example, tracking immigrants over the years 1980-1995, one finds that immigrants who knew English only upon arrival had the lowest unemployment levels of any of the linguistic groups. They also ranked nearly as low in the collection of welfare benefits as those immigrants who knew both English and French at the time of arrival. Much of this success has to do with the profile of those immigrants who spoke English only upon arrival, in particular between 1980 and 1990. A study conducted by Quebec’s Conseil de la langue française found that at least 80% of mother-tongue-English immigrants operate primarily in English in the workplace, while over 10% use mostly French (Béland, 1999).
In sum, the experience of Anglophone immigrants is quite similar to that of the broader Anglophone community with respect to the situation in the workplace. But when asked about the support extended to Anglophones relative to the acquisition of the French language, both immigrants and non-immigrants express concerns. In a sweeping attitudinal survey of Quebec Anglophones, half the non-immigrants indicated some degree of satisfaction, but only a little over one-third of Anglophone immigrants responded positively. The major difference is in the extent to which Anglophone immigrants declare that they did not learn French (Table 29).
| Born in Canada (%) | Born outside Canada (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 39 | 28 |
| More or less | 10 | 8 |
| No | 44 | 32 |
| Did not learn French | 6 | 30 |
| DNK / Refusal | 1 | 2 |
| Source: CROP-Missisquoi Survey of anglophones, 2000. | ||
2. Language Transfers
The transfer from English mother tongue to French spoken in the home is quite infrequent among Quebec immigrants. Some 6% of all such immigrants have made such a language shift. This rate is somewhat less than the overall percentage of language transfers among non-immigrants whose mother tongue is English. But these shifts were offset by the transfer from French to English that took place among immigrants whose mother tongue was French. Such immigrant shifts from French to English have recently diminished. More than half the approximately 4,700 mother-tongue-English immigrants who switched to speaking French at home were from the United States.
| Number of transfers | Transfer rate (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1951 | 475 | 5.9 |
| 1951-1960 | 590 | 5.9 |
| 1961-1965 | 340 | 6.2 |
| 1966-1970 | 470 | 4.7 |
| 1971-1975 | 720 | 6.8 |
| 1976-1980 | 595 | 7.7 |
| 1981-1985 | 400 | 6.7 |
| 1986-1990 | 515 | 6.6 |
| 1991-1996 | 570 | 6.2 |
| Total | 4,685 | 6.2 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Special Compilation, 1996. | ||
3. Interprovincial Migration
The factors that motivate the departure of Quebec’s English-speaking immigrants for other provinces are generally similar to those of the broader Anglophone population. We noted earlier that since 1980 Quebec has experienced a net loss to the other provinces of nearly 25% of all immigrants who spoke English only upon arrival. As Table 31 shows, immigrants report that they are more inclined to leave for educational and economic opportunities, while non-immigrant English speakers more frequently cite political considerations. A greater share of Anglophone immigrants cite discrimination as a factor in the decision to leave the province.
| Reasons | Born in Canada (%) | Born outside Canada (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Educational opportunity | 7 | 13 |
| Economic opportunity | 24 | 31 |
| Politics | 26 | 15 |
| Feeling of discrimination | 5 | 15 |
| Family reasons | 13 | 11 |
| Retirement | 3 | 4 |
| Other / no reason | 22 | 10 |
| Source: CROP-Missisquoi Survey of Anglophones, 2000. | ||
The various institutions of the Anglophone community may be able to play a greater role in the efforts to retain English-speaking immigrants in the province if they are provided with mechanisms to support this objective. Another matter that merits attention is the perception of Quebec society that Anglophone immigrants have prior to their arrival. According to an SOM/La Presse/Radio-Canada survey, about 50% of Anglophones who chose to settle in the province saw no differences between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Shortly after their establishment some 80% changed their view, approximately one-third for the better and one-third for the worse. It is worth noting that some 80% of Anglophones say that they have made efforts to reach out to the Francophone population (SOM/La Presse/Radio-Canada, October, 2001).
Highlights from the data
- Tracking immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1995, one finds that immigrants who knew English only upon arrival had the lowest unemployment levels of any of the linguistic groups.
- The transfer from English mother tongue to French spoken in the home is quite low among Quebec immigrants. Some 6% have made such a language shift.
- Quebec’s English-speaking immigrants report that they are more inclined to leave the province for better educational and economic opportunities, while non-immigrant English speakers more frequently cite political considerations.
- Quebec’s English-speaking community has become more diverse over the past 30 years due to a considerable change in the source countries of immigrants in this period of time.
4. Role of the Community in Immigrant Integration and Retention
From a qualitative standpoint it would be fair to argue that the English-speaking population, particularly in the Montreal area, has historically enjoyed and continues to benefit from a significant degree of institutional depth. Still, the important demographic changes to the community have modified its institutional needs. For the most part English language institutions do not aim at the integration of new immigrants. Under the education provisions of the Charter of the French Language, English language schools no longer focus on immigrant integration. Yet there are a number of social agencies toward which English-speaking immigrants gravitate.
C. CIC’s Action Plans and Quebec Anglophones
CIC has recommended a number of initiatives in its action plans regarding its section 41 obligations with respect to Quebec’s English speakers, namely:
- maintaining co-operative relations and the communication of departmental information to organizations representing Quebec’s linguistic minority;
- raising awareness of official language minority communities about the department’s citizenship and immigration program;
- participating in joint advisory panels whose members include organizations representing Quebec’s Anglophone minority;
- developing objectives for the Regional Management Committee with regard to Part VII of the OLA;
- consultating on issues of common interest with representatives of organizations representing Quebec’s Anglophone community;
- improved understanding of common objectives, identification of avenues for further co-operation, and development of projects for the next three years.
CIC must ensure that its action plans are implemented effectively to promote the harmonious integration of immigrants to Quebec’s English-speaking community.
Discussion/Policy Implications
The demographic data presented in this chapter underscore the critical role that immigration plays in supporting Quebec’s Anglophone communities. These data show that a very significant share of the Anglophone population was not born in Canada and that the current share of English-speaking immigrants exceeds the share of the Anglophone population within Quebec. The overwhelming majority of these immigrants settle in Montreal, where the Anglophone community is very diverse in its ethnic composition and possesses considerable experience in the integration of Anglophone immigrants. The situation is different in the Laurentians, Quebec City, Outaouais and the Eastern Townships since there are fewer immigrants and a lesser degree of Anglophone community organization.
From an economic standpoint, the performance of English-speaking immigrants has been reasonably good. Moreover the data suggest that the workplace values bilingualism and many Quebec immigrants claim knowledge of both official languages. Still, Anglophone immigrants complain of inadequate French language training.
The principal challenge in the relationship between immigration and the promotion of the vitality of the Anglophone community is the retention of the new arrivals. There is a very high rate of interprovincial migration of English-speaking immigrants, and it is important to provide the organizations of the communities with the ability to counteract this phenomenon by instilling in immigrants a sense of community.
