6. Diversity composition of immigrants

As a result of the steady growth of the immigrant population coming to Quebec from all corners of the world, diversity has become an important factor in understanding the integration of immigrants into Quebec society, especially for the three FOLS language categories. This section will consider the diversity composition of each FOLS language category. The details on diversity composition refer to recent immigrants, the percentage born in Europe, the percentage being assigned visible minority status, the top visible minority categories and the top five ethnic origins.

6.1. Recent immigrantsFootnote 47

  • Recent immigrants are defined as landed immigrants who were granted the right to live in Canada permanently between January 1, 2001 and prior to Census Day, May 16, 2006. Recent immigrants may require different services than more established immigrants.
  • English FOLS immigrants have a lower percentage of recent immigrants than French FOLS and English-French FOLS immigrants.
    • Seventeen percent of immigrants assigned to the English FOLS category are recent immigrants compared with 26% assigned to the French FOLS category and 24% assigned to English-French FOLS category.
    • Capitale-Nationale has the highest percentages of recent immigrants for the English-French FOLS and English FOLS immigrant category, at 45% and 21% respectively.
    • Laval consistently has one of the lowest percentages of recent immigrants, at 8% for English FOLS and 14% for English-French FOLS.
  • English-French FOLS immigrants are more clustered in the 1991–2000 period of immigration category than English FOLS immigrants, at 30% versus 23%, respectively.

Map 30: Percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample

Percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Text version: Percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Region  
Montréal 19%
Montérégie 11%
Laval 8%
Capitale-Nationale 21%
Outaouais 19%
Laurentides 9%
Estrie 13%
Lanaudière 6%
Eastern ERs 14%
Nothern ERs 11%

Map 31: Percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample

Percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Text version:Percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Region  
Montréal 28%
Montérégie 21%
Laval 13%
Capitale-Nationale 32%
Outaouais 25%
Laurentides 18%
Estrie 32%
Lanaudière 15%
Eastern ERs 29%
Nothern ERs 31%

Map 32: Percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample

Percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Text version: Percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS that are recent immigrants across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Region  
Montréal 25%
Montérégie 23%
Laval 14%
Capitale-Nationale 45%
Outaouais 23%
Laurentides 18%
Estrie 40%
Lanaudière 16%
Eastern ERs 28%
Nothern ERs 27%

6.2. Place of birthFootnote 48

Immigrants are coming to Quebec from around the world. This diversity is reflected in the place of birth results. Having a better understanding of place of birth results enables communities to orient policies to meet the demands of specific place of birth categories.

  • Although recent immigrants come from more diverse backgrounds than ever before, Europe remains the largest place of birth category for immigrants in the three language categories.Footnote 49
    • Thirty-seven percent of immigrants assigned to the English FOLS category were born in Europe compared with 35% of immigrants assigned to the French FOLS category and 37% assigned to the English-French FOLS category.
  • More and more immigrants are coming from around the world and settling in Quebec.
    • For immigrants assigned to the English FOLS category, Asia is the top place-of-birth category for immigrants in Montréal (37%), while in Montérégie, Laval and Outaouais, Asia is the second highest place of birth category after Europe.
    • The United States is the top place of birth for immigrants assigned to the English FOLS category in Capitale-Nationale (32%), Estrie (44%) and Eastern ERs (49%), while in the Laurentides (20%) and Northern ERs (30%), the United States is the second highest place of birth category after Europe.
  • For immigrants assigned to the English-French FOLS category, Asia is the next highest place of birth, after Europe, in Montréal (25%), Montérégie (33%), Capitale-Nationale (23%) and Estrie (22%), the Middle East is the second highest place of birth in Laval (27%) and Outaouais (22%), while in Estrie (21%), South America is the second highest place of birth.Footnote 50

Map 33: Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample

Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample
Text version:Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample
  Montréal Montérégie Laval Capitale-Nationale Outaouais Laurentides Estrie Lanaudière Eastern ERs Northern ERs
# % # % # % # % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Europe 61,570 34% 11,755 41% 9,725 56% 545 31% 2,960 40% 2,820 58% 925 39% 750 62% 360 27% 485 44%

Map 34: Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample

Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample
Text version:Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample
  Montréal Montérégie Laval Capitale-Nationale Outaouais Laurentides Estrie Lanaudière Eastern ERs Northern ERs
# % # % # % # % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Europe 72,810 30% 22,275 42% 10,295 29% 9,735 48% 4,675 41% 7,845 59% 3,745 40% 4,935 49% 4,480 45% 3,355 44%

Map 35: Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample

Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample
Text version:Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS that are born in Europe across Quebec economic regions, 2006 census, 20% sample
  Montréal Montérégie Laval Capitale-Nationale Outaouais Laurentides Estrie Lanaudière Eastern ERs Northern ERs
# % # % # % # % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Europe 39,880 38% 5,370 34% 6,220 37% 885 39% 1,510 38% 740 52% 530 37% 520 50% 300 42% 225 %

6.3. Visible minority statusFootnote 51

Visible minority status was established for employment equity purposes. Understanding the composition of a given official language linguistic community is important to see if it is reflected in the larger community.

  • The percentage of the immigrants assigned visible minority status is similar for the three FOLS categories.
    • Of immigrants assigned to either the English FOLS or the French FOLS categories, 50% were assigned visible minority status, while 49% of immigrants assigned to the English-French FOLS category were assigned visible minority status.Footnote 52
  • For immigrants who are assigned to the English FOLS category, Montréal has the highest percentage of visible minority immigrants, at 55%, followed by Montérégie (47%), Outaouais (42%), Capitale-National (32%) and Laval (30%).
  • In Montréal and Laval, South Asians are the largest visible minority category for immigrants assigned to the English FOLS category, while in Montérégie and Outaouais, Chinese is the largest visible minority category.
  • For immigrants assigned to the French FOLS category, Laval and Montréal have the highest percentage of visible minority immigrants, at 55% and 54% respectively, while the Laurentides has the lowest percentage of visible minorities, at 29%.
    • Black is the largest visible minority category in all ERs for French FOLS, except Estrie, Laurentides and the Eastern ERs, where Latin American is the largest visible minority category.
  • For immigrants assigned to the English-French FOLS category, Montérégie (57%), Estrie (52%) and Outaouais (52%) have the highest percentage of visible minorities, while the Laurentides (34%) and Laval (38%) have the lowest percentage.
    • The top visible minority category for English-French FOLS immigrants is Arab, closely followed by Latin American, both of which comprise 11% of immigrants.
    • The top visible minority category for English-French FOLS immigrants in Montréal, Laval and Outaouais is Arab.
    • The top visible minority category for English-French FOLS in Montérégie is Chinese, while in Estrie and Capitale-Nationale, Latin American is the top visible minority category.
  • In sum, different FOLS categories are represented by different visible minority categories.
    • The top two visible minority categories for immigrants who are assigned to the English FOLS category are South Asian and Chinese.
    • The top two visible minority categories for immigrants assigned to the French FOLS category are Black and Arab.
    • The top two visible minority categories for immigrants assigned to the English-French FOLS category are Arab and Latin American.
    • Individual visible minority categories are not consistently represented across FOLS categories and across Quebec ERs. This highlights the fact that Quebec immigrants are diverse and are represented by different categories across the province.

Map 36: Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample

Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Text version:Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Region    
Montréal 99,765 55%
Montérégie 13,440 47%
Laval 5,125 30%
Capitale-Nationale 565 32%
Outaouais 3,155 42%
Laurentides 790 16%
Estrie 340 14%
Lanaudière 255 21%
Eastern ERs 250 19%
Nothern ERs 250 23%

Map 37: Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample

Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Text version:Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to French FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Region    
Montréal 130,865 54%
Montérégie 23,285 44%
Laval 19,760 55%
Capitale-Nationale 8,525 42%
Outaouais 5,480 48%
Laurentides 3,825 29%
Estrie 3,735 40%
Lanaudière 4,120 40%
Eastern ERs 3,665 37%
Nothern ERs 3,480 45%

Map 38: Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample

Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Text version:Number and percentage of immigrants assigned to English-French FOLS showing visible minority status across Quebec economic regions, 2006 Census, 20% sample
Region    
Montréal 52,160 49%
Montérégie 9,085 57%
Laval 6,390 38%
Capitale-Nationale 1,095 48%
Outaouais 2,050 52%
Laurentides 475 34%
Estrie 750 52%
Lanaudière 435 41%
Eastern ERs 320 44%
Nothern ERs 245 43%

6.4. Top reported ethnic origins

The Ethnic Origin question on the long-form census asks people to report the ethnic origins of their ancestors. Here, the top five ethnic origins are considered to provide further insight into the diversity within these linguistic communities.Footnote 53.

  • The top five origins for immigrants who are assigned to the English FOLS category are Chinese, Italian, English, East Indian and Greek, illustrating the European and non-European ethnic mix of immigrants within this linguistic community.
    • English FOLS is the only category with immigrants reporting British Isles origins, such as English, Irish and Scottish.
    • Other European origins, such as Italian, Greek and German, are also in the top five reported origins.
    • When non-European origins are reported in the English FOLS category, they are mainly non-Francophonie origins, such as Chinese and East Indian.

Top English FOLS reported ethnic origins with over 200 responses

Quebec

  1. Chinese
  2. italian
  3. English
  4. East Indian
  5. Greek

Capitale-Nationale

  1. English
  2. German

Estrie

  1. English
  2. Irish
  3. French
  4. German
  5. Scottish

Montérégie

  1. Chinese
  2. English
  3. German
  4. East Indian
  5. Italian

Montréal

  1. Chinese
  2. Italian
  3. East Indian
  4. Filipino
  5. Jewish

Laval

  1. Greek
  2. Italian
  3. Armenian
  4. German
  5. East indian

Laurentides

  1. English
  2. German
  3. Italian
  4. Scottish
  5. Irish

Outaouais

  1. English
  2. German
  3. Chinese
  4. Lebanese
  5. Irish

Nothern ERs

  1. English

For immigrants assigned to the French FOLS category, the top five ethnic origins are French, Haitian, Italian, Spanish and Lebanese.

  • Three of these five origins—French, Haitian and Lebanese—are origins from regions within the Francophonie.
  • Of the top five origins in selected ERs, other origins associated with the Francophonie are Moroccan, Belgian and Swiss.
  • Italian, is the third largest origin category reported by immigrants assigned to the French FOLS category.

Top French FOLS reported ethnic origins with over 200 responses

Quebec

  1. French
  2. Haitian
  3. Italian
  4. Spanish
  5. Labanese

Capitale-Nationale

  1. French
  2. Spanish
  3. Italian
  4. Chinese
  5. Colombian

Estrie

  1. French
  2. Italian
  3. Spanish
  4. Belgian
  5. Colombian

Montérégie

  1. French
  2. Italian
  3. Haitian
  4. Spanish
  5. Chinese

Montréal

  1. Haitian
  2. French
  3. Italian
  4. Moroccan
  5. Lebanese

Laval

  1. Haitian
  2. French
  3. Lebanese
  4. Itatlian
  5. Moroccan

Lanaudière

  1. French
  2. Haitian
  3. Italian
  4. Spanish
  5. Chinese

Laurentides

  1. French
  2. Italian
  3. Portuguese
  4. Spanish
  5. Belgian

Outaouais

  1. French
  2. Portuguese
  3. Lebanese
  4. Haitian
  5. Spanish

Eastern ERs

  1. French
  2. Colombian
  3. Swiss
  4. Chinese
  5. Spanish

Nothern ERs

  1. French
  2. Chinese
  3. Italian
  4. Colombian
  5. Spanish

The top five origins reported by immigrants assigned to the English-French FOLS category are origins often closely associated with both the English FOLS and French FOLS categories, such as Italian for English FOLS and Lebanese for French FOLS.

There are also several ethnic categories that are only found within the top five English-French FOLS category, such as Romanian and Vietnamese.

Top English-French FOLS reported ethnic origins with over 200 responses

Quebec

  1. Italian
  2. Romanian
  3. Chinese
  4. Lebanese
  5. Spanish

Capitale-Nationale

  1. Romanian
  2. Spanish
  3. Bosnian
  4. Chinese
  5. Vietnamese

Estrie

  1. Serbian
  2. Spanish
  3. Afghan
  4. Colombian
  5. German

Montérégie

  1. Chinese
  2. Romanian
  3. Spanish
  4. Vietnamese
  5. Italian

Montréal

  1. Italian
  2. Chinese
  3. Romanian
  4. Lebanese
  5. Vietnamese

Laval

  1. Armenian
  2. Lebanese
  3. Italian
  4. Greek
  5. Romanian

Lanaudière

  1. Italian

Laurentides

  1. Romanian

Outaouais

  1. Lebanese
  2. Romanian
  3. Portuguese
  4. Serbian

Although some ethnic origins seem to be more closely affiliated with particular FOLS categories, there also appears to be some convergence occurring in the English-French FOLS category.

There are a variety of European and non-European origins within each linguistic category, which represent past and present immigration trends.

  • Although Francophonie origins are predominant, some historically non-Francophonie origins, such as Italian, are contributing to all linguistic categories.

Résumé

  • Immigrants assigned to the English FOLS category have a lower percentage of recent immigrants compared to English-French FOLS and French FOLS categories. This holds true across all Quebec ERs.
  • In all three FOLS categories European-born is the highest place of birth category.
  • The percentage of immigrants who reported visible minority status is similar for each of the FOLS categories, while the composition of the visible minority categories is different.
    • The top visible minority categories for English FOLS immigrants are South Asian and Chinese. The top visible minority categories for French FOLS immigrants are Black, Arab and Latin American. The top visible minority categories for English-French FOLS are Arab, Latin American and Chinese.
  • The top ethnic origins are a mix of European and non-European origins. However, the representation of ethnic origin sub-categories (i.e. East Indian and Greek) is not the same in across categories.
    • Only in the case of more established immigrant ethnic origins categories, such as Italian, do we see representation across all three categories.

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