CHAPTER VIII 
ORIGIN AND LANGUAGE—USE OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH BY 
IMMIGRANT PEOPLES 
Canada is the meeting place of many peoples. Within her boundaries many tongues are 
spoken. The development and use of a common medium of communication has in the 
ast, as the sociologist avers, conditioned the emergence of human societies. Unless indi- 
viduals can make known to the other members of the group their feelings and thoughts, 
snd unless they in turn are able to understand and appreciate the emotions and ideas of 
“heir fellows, a group consciousness is impossible. The “ animated moderation” which has 
gradually been replacing the rule of force is based on discussion which, in turn, is conditioned 
by the ability of converse. Common media of communication are as important in modern 
democracies as with primitive peoples. 
In Canada, there are two official languages, French and English, Before considering 
the extent to which immigrants from other countries are learning one or both of these, it is 
of interest to examine how far those of French origin have learned to speak English and 
those of British origin to speak French. The following percentages have been computed 
from the tables on language spoken by the population 10 years and over, resident in Canada, 
Tune 1. 1921, (Census, Vol. 2, page 514) »— 
FABLE 96.—PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATION OF BRITISH ORIGIN REPORTED AS ABLE TO 
SPEAK FRENCH. PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATION OF FRENCH ORIGIN REPORTED AS 
ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH, 1921. 
french........... 
English speaking.......ocoevivieinens. 
Origin 
rerinnereneeeneeeres. Males 
) Females 
Total 
Percentage 
reported 
1being able 
0 speak 
Fnelish 
57-7 
45-0 
50-8 
Percentage 
reported 
a8 being able 
to speak 
French 
dales........ B81 
lemales..... 4-4 
rotal........ 4-8 
Two points are of interest in the above table. First, the striking difference between 
she proportion of French who have learned English, and the proportion of those of English 
speaking origins who have learned French. While approximately half of the French people 
10 years of age and over reported themselves as able to speak English, less than one-twentieth 
of the English of similar age claimed to be able to speak French at the time of the Census. 
However, this comparison is somewhat misleading. The learning of a language other than 
‘he mother tongue is largely a matter of social and especially of economic convenience, and 
the proportions of the British and French stocks among whom it is a matter of convenience 
50 learn the other language are very different. While 23-0 p.c. of the French in Canada are 
domiciled outside Quebec, t.., in provinces where English is the dominant language of the 
seople, only 7.3 p.c. of the English speaking peoples are resident in the province of Quebec 
where French is the native language of the vast majority of the population. When the 
aumber of English who have acquired French is expressed as a proportion of the total of 
English speaking origins in Canada, of whom perhaps only 10 to 15 p.c. ever come into 
sontact with French-speaking Canadians, the result is hardly comparable with that for the 
French, with 25 to 30 p.c. living among English-speaking ‘Canadians. 
A much fairer comparison is between the English-speaking stocks in the province of 
Quebec, and the French in parts of Canada outside that province, Of the former, 30.7 pe. 
(10 years and over) were able to speak French at the date of the Census; of the latter, 
AC