MONTREAL—Quebec’s English-speaking community has grown more in the past five years than during any census period over the last four decades, says the executive vice-president of the Association for Canadian Studies.
Census data from 2016 released on Aug. 2 shows the percentage of Quebecers whose first official language spoken is English increased to 14.4 percent from 13.5 percent between 2011 and 2016.
While immigration data from the census has not yet been released, Jack Jedwab said the increase in Quebec’s anglophone population is likely due to more immigration as well as fewer people leaving the province for other parts of Canada.
“I think we can safely assume, if we look at historic trends, that when there is political and economic stability, the out-migration from Quebec diminishes,” he said. “That, combined with immigration, are probably the two factors that explain why we see this growth in English speakers.
“This is the most significant increase of any five-year census report we’ve seen in the last 40 years.”
