tario lives in Toronto, and 47 percent percent of the
population of Quebec inhabits Montreal. During
the decade, these two provinces did not grow at the
same rates. This was not a recent phenomenon:
From 1951 to 1996, Quebec suffered a decrease in
population of 4.2 percent, while Ontario’s popula-
tion was increasing by 4.5 percent.
Fertility is computed as the number of children
per woman. In order to replace two parents, and tak-
ing into account the mortality rate, a replacement
level of 2.1 is needed. Fertility has had by far the
strongest impact on population growth in Canada
since World War II, and the 1990’s was no exception.
Fertility decreased in every province and territory
and in almost all racial groups. Only women of ab-
original (2.86), Arab/West Asian (2.56), and South
Asian descent (2.26) had replacement fertility rates
higher than 2.1 children per woman.
Effects of Immigration During the decade, the
population of Canada grew substantially as a result
of immigration from the Balkan countries. This re-
gion provided between 21 and 28 percent of the ref-
ugees entering Canada between 1994 and 2000,
mostly from the former Yugoslavia. These immi-
grants mainly settled in Ontario, and a survey
showed that they were more likely to have a univer-
sity degree than were immigrants from Asia.
Immigrants arriving from Asia were more likely to
settle in British Columbia. From 1991 to 1996, this
international migration accounted for 45 percent of
the very rapid population growth observed in Brit-
ish Columbia. Migration between provinces and the
rate of natural increase (birth rates minus death
rates) represented 35 percent and 20 percent, re-
spectively, of the population growth.
Canada is a bilingual country, with both English
and French having an equal legal status in Canada.
In the 1996 Census, 67.6 percent of Canadians indi-
cated that they spoke English at home, compared to
22.6 percent who spoke French and 9.8 percent who
spoke a nonofficial language. In New Brunswick,
68.9 percent of the population spoke English and
30.5 percent spoke French; in Quebec, 10.8 percent
spoke English and 82.8 percent spoke French.
More than 30 percent of the population spoke an
aboriginal language in the Northwest Territories.
The ten most spoken languages (other than English,
French, and aboriginal languages) indicated in
the 1996 Census were Chinese, Italian, Punjabi,
Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, German, Arabic, Taga-
log (Filipino), and Vietnamese. These languages
were spoken mostly by new immigrants, who had a
tendency to settle in urban areas. For instance, the
largest metropolitan areas where a nonofficial
language was spoken by more than 10 percent of
the population were Toronto (24.9 percent), Van-
couver (22.5 percent), Montreal (12.1 percent),
Kitchener and Windsor (11 percent), and Hamilton
(10 percent).
The 1996 Census also collected information on
Canadians’ mother tongue, defined as the language
that the person surveyed understood as a child and
could still understand. The Census showed a lan-
guage shift toward English. People who spoke a non-
official language when they were growing up were
likely to switch to English later in life. English-
French bilingualism in Canada increased slightly in
the 1990’s, from 16.3 percent in 1991 to 17 percent
in 1996. The largest proportions of bilingual Cana-
dians were observed in Quebec (37.8 percent) and
in New Brunswick (32.6 percent) in 1996. In the
provinces of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island,
Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the Yukon
Territory, more than 90 percent of the population
spoke English.
Impact The decrease in birth rates led to an in-
crease in the median age of Canadians. In 1959,
when fertility rates were much higher (3.9 children
per woman), the median age of Canadians was 25.4.
This period is known as the baby-boom years. By
1996, the fertility rate had dropped to 1.7 and the
median age was 35.3. This led to the aging of the Ca-
nadian population and to growing concerns about
health care demands, fewer children, and increas-
ing cost of pensions paid by fewer people in the
workforce. The aboriginal community had a lower
median age of 21.4 years and a lower proportion of
people older than sixty-five because they had at the
same time a higher fertility and a lower life expec-
tancy.
Further Reading
Beaujot, Roderic, and Don Kerr.The Changing Face of
Canada: Essential Readings in Population. Toronto:
Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2007. This book studies
Canadian population over the previous few de-
cades and the implications of population changes
in sociology, economics, and geography.
Colburn, Kerry, and Rob Sorensen.So, You Want to BeThe Nineties in America Demographics of Canada 249