Majority (%) mother tongue population by census subdivision, 2016

This service shows the predominant mother tongue in each census subdivision based on English, French or non-official language. The data is from the data table Mother Tongue (10), Age (27) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions, 2016 Census - 100% Data, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-400-X2016046.

Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the person at the time the data was collected. If the person no longer understands the first language learned, the mother tongue is the second language learned. For a person who learned two languages at the same time in early childhood, the mother tongue is the language this person spoke most often at home before starting school. The person has two mother tongues only if the two languages were used equally often and are still understood by the person. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, the mother tongue is the language spoken most often to this child at home. The child has two mother tongues only if both languages are spoken equally often so that the child learns both languages at the same time.

For additional information refer to the 2016 Census Dictionary for 'Mother tongue'.

To have a cartographic representation of the ecumene with this socio-economic indicator, it is recommended to add as the first layer, the “NRCan - 2016 population ecumene by census subdivision” web service, accessible in the data resources section below.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated April 17, 2026, 22:04 (UTC)
Created April 17, 2026, 15:59 (UTC)
contact_email infostats@statcan.gc.ca
contact_person {"fr": "Gouvernement du Canada; Statistique Canada,infostats@statcan.gc.ca", "en": "Government of Canada; Statistics Canada,1-800-263-1136,infostats@statcan.gc.ca"}
criticality_level []
data_dictionary ["boundaries", "society"]
geographic_scope []
open_canada_collection fgp
open_canada_date_published 2019-03-01 00:00:00
open_canada_keywords {"fr": ["société", "économie", "statistiques", "Recensement", "langue", "Données socio-économiques", "Statistiques", "Données géographiques"], "en": ["society", "economy", "statistics", "Census", "language", "Socioeconomic data", "Statistics", "Geographic data"]}
open_canada_subject ["government_and_politics", "society_and_culture"]
sensitivity_level unrestricted
title_fr Population majoritaire (%) de langue maternelle par subdivision de recensement, 2016
update_frequency as_needed