Under the Canadian Constitution English and French are the two official languages of Canada. However the proportion of the population which speaks one or the other of these varies significantly across Canada.
Furthermore, a large portion of Canada's population is foreign born and therefore has a different mother tongue.
According to the 2001 census data:
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59.7 % of the population list English as their mother tongue and 22.7% French;
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Outside of Quebec, the proportion for English is much higher at 75% and much lower for French (5%);
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Quebec is the only province where French is the language of the majority, being listed as the mother tongue by over 80%;
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In New Brunswick French speakers represent about a third of the population...
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...but less than 10% in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince-Edward-Island and Nova Scotia where most of the population speaks English;
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As for the remaining provinces, they are mostly English speaking (more than 70% of their population).
Canadians' mother tongues: English, French and other languages (2001 Census)
Other languages
The mother tongue of 17.6 % of Canada's population is neither English nor French. This proportion varies beteen provinces. It is about 24 % in Ontario and British Columbia, 20% in Manitoba, 17% in Alberta and lower elsewhere.
During the past two decades linguistic groups from Asia and the Middle East have gained in importance:
