Immigration and the Vitality of Canada’s Official Language Communities: Policy, Demography and Identity

The author points out that while immigration has contributed to the size of Quebec’s Anglophone communities, most English-speaking immigrants over the past few decades have settled in Montreal. However, the addition of these new arrivals does not counter the very unfavourable rates of inter-provincial migration culminating in significant population loss between 1971 and 1986 within Quebec’s Anglophone communities. The author believes that the principal challenge for the Anglophone communities is the retention of new arrivals. This will happen, he argues, if Anglophone institutions have the ability to instill in immigrants a sense of community.

Ottawa, ON

Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

2002

en