Geographic origins of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec

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Proportion of birth among French-Speaking Immigrants

The 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) indicates that between 1991 and 2011, the proportion of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec originating from countries in Asia and Africa has steadily increased. This was consistent with the overall immigrant population in Canada.

Among French FOLS immigrants, the five most frequently reported countries of birth in 2011 were: France (21.5%), Haiti (9.7%), the Democratic Republic of Congo (8.6%), Mauritius (5.3%) and the United States (4.9%). Among French-English FOLS immigrants, the top five countries of origin were: Romania (8.0%), the People’s Republic of China (5.7%), Lebanon (5.5%), Iran (4.1%) and India (3.9%).

Shift in source region of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec over time

As illustrated in Chart 1, the majority of French-speaking immigrants who came to Canada and settled outside Quebec before 1991 originated from Europe. In 1991, newcomers from countries in Europe accounted for 51.8% of French FOLS immigrants and 48.6% of French-English FOLS immigrants outside Quebec. Since 1991, however, the proportion of immigrants coming from European countries has declined, down to roughly 34% of French FOLS immigrants and 33% of French-English FOLS immigrants by the year 2011. However, between 1991 and 2011, the proportion of immigrants from Asia and Africa has steadily risen.

Among French-only FOLS immigrants, in 2011, the largest proportion of immigrants originated from Africa, comprising 39.5% of French FOLS immigrants and increasing considerably from 18.2% in 1991. Immigrants born in Asia, however, comprise a comparably smaller proportion of French-only FOLS immigrants (9.0%) and have decreased their share since 1991 (10.2%). For the French-English FOLS group, Asia was the birthplace reported by 39.0% in 2011. French-English FOLS immigrants outside Quebec have also seen a slight increase in the share of immigrants coming from the Americas and Africa, from roughly 8.0% each in 1991 to 14.0% in 2011.

Most French-speaking immigrants belong to a visible minority group

The rising number of immigrants from non-European countries has increased the proportion of French-speaking immigrants designated as visible minorities. In 2011, visible minorities accounted for more than half of the French-speaking immigrant population living outside Quebec, with roughly 54.9% of French FOLS immigrants and 57.7% of French-English FOLS immigrants belonging to a visible minority group.

Blacks make up the largest visible minority group among French FOLS immigrants, accounting for 33.6% of all French FOLS immigrants in 2011, and more than half (61.2%) of their respective visible minority population. Immigrants identifying with the Black group have also steadily increased their share of the French FOLS immigrant population in recent years, rising by almost 10 percentage points from roughly 26.0% in 2001.

In 2011, the French-English FOLS immigrant population had a small visible minority group that identified as Black, with 6.7% of all French-English immigrants belonging to this group in 2011. Instead, visible minorities of Asian origin constitute the largest share, with 30.5% of the total French-English FOLS immigrant population outside Quebec identifying as Asian in 2011. In addition, visible minorities of Asian origin accounted for a significant share (52.8%) of the visible minority population among French-English immigrants.

Distribution of visible minorities by province

Since 1991, the proportion of visible minorities among French-speaking immigrants has increased considerably (roughly 10%) in all major regions outside Quebec, with the exception of British Columbia. However, there are considerable differences in the geographic distribution of the visible minorities belonging to the French-speaking immigrant population (Chart 2).

As illustrated in Chart 2, visible minorities make up the largest share of French-speaking immigrants in Ontario, Alberta and the two Prairie provinces (Manitoba and Saskatchewan), where they represented roughly 60% of the immigrant population whose first official language was French in each region in 2011. In these provinces, Blacks are the most common visible minority group, accounting for between roughly 27.0% and 38.0% of French-speaking immigrants. British Columbia falls in the middle, with 42.4% of French-speaking immigrants identifying as a visible minority, but stands out due to the significant share of visible minorities of Asian origin, who account for 24.5% of the overall French-speaking immigrant population.

The smallest visible minority population among French-speaking immigrants was found in the Atlantic Region, where they accounted for only 34.3% in 2011. Blacks and Asians both made up a small share of the French-speaking immigrant population in the region, at roughly 17.1% and 4.5% respectively.

Chart 1: Region of birth of French-speaking immigrants by first official language spoken and year, Canada less Quebec, 1991-2011

Text version: Chart 1: Region of birth of French-speaking immigrants by first official language spoken and year, Canada less Quebec, 1991-2011

Chart 1: Region of birth of French-speaking immigrants by first official language spoken and year, Canada less Quebec, 1991-2011

	America	Europe	Africa	Asia and Pacific
1991
French FOLS	19.2%	51.8%	18.2%	10.2%
French-English FOLS	8.2%	48.6%	8.1%	35.0%
2011
French FOLS	17.4%	34.0%	39.5%	9.0%
French-English FOLS	14.3%	33.0%	13.7%	39.0%

FOLS = Population of groups defined according to first official language spoken.
The category ‘FOLS other’ includes FOLS groups ‘English’ and ‘neither English nor French’.
Source: Statistics Canada, 1991-2006 Censuses, National Household Survey, 2011.

Chart 2: French-speaking immigrant population according to visible minority group by region, Canada less Quebec, 2011

Source: Houle, R., Pereira, D., & Corbeil, J. P. (2014). Statistical Portrait of the French-speaking Immigrant Population Outside Quebec (1991-2011). Ottawa: CIC.