US embassy cable - 03MONTREAL453

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MONTREAL 000453 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, ELAB, PGOV, PREL, SMIG, SOCI, CA, Labor 
SUBJECT: Census Data Shows Quebec More Bilingual Since 1996, 
Mostly Due to Montreal Demographics 
 
 
This cable was jointly prepared by Montreal and Quebec City 
Consulates. 
 
1. SUMMARY: Statistics Canada (Statscan) has released 
several tranches of 2001 census data in the last four months 
regarding language usage and immigration, figures which are 
closely watched in Quebec, by both the media and government. 
The Statscan numbers show Quebec to be 3 percent more 
bilingual than in 1996, but provincial statistics suggest 
that bilingualism is mostly a Montreal area phenomenon.  END 
SUMMARY 
 
2. Statscan's 2001 census data, reveals Montreal was home to 
12 percent of all new immigrants to Canada between 1991 and 
2001.  While Haiti was the top individual country of birth 
for immigrants to Montreal in the 1990s, accounting for 6.6 
percent or 14,200 of the immigrants arriving during the 
decade, Arab countries were the birth places of 29 percent 
of immigrants who settled in Montreal during the 10-year 
period. Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco were the top three 
countries of origin for immigrants to Montreal.  While 
Quebec as a whole admitted 37,498 immigrants in 2001, a 15 
percent increase over the previous year, according to the 
provincial Ministry of Citizen Relations and Immigration, 
the provincial capital only received 1,500. 
 
3.  The Statscan data also showed Quebec's population to be 
40.8 percent bilingual, 3 percent more bilingual than it was 
at the time of the 1996 national census, while French 
language usage in Montreal also inched up.  According to 
Statscan, the 2001 Census data showed that French language 
usage is rising on the island of Montreal, marking the first 
upturn after a 30-year downward spiral.  The proportion of 
Montrealers who speak French at home inched up to 56.4 per 
cent in 2001 from 55.6 percent in 1996.  In comparison the 
Anglophone population in Montreal decreased to 17.7 percent 
in 2001 from 18.9 percent in 1996. 
 
4. Jack Jedwab, executive-director of the Montreal-based 
Association for Canadian Studies, told us there are a number 
of reasons behind the shifts in language usage.  First, he 
believes young Anglophones are continuing to leave the 
province in search of job opportunities where bilingualism 
is not so necessary.  Secondly, more Anglophones are 
marrying into French-speaking families, and adopting French 
as the language used at home.  But most importantly, 
according to Jedwab, there has been a sharp increase in the 
Montreal allophone community's usage of French.  (Allophone 
is the term used in Canada to denote someone whose mother 
tongue is neither English nor French.) 
 
5. Statscan said that Allophones in Montreal increased to 
29.1 percent of the population from 27.7 percent in 1996, 
while both the French- and English-mother tongue populations 
decreased accordingly.  Among allophones, usage of French at 
home has increased almost four percent to 20.4 percent in 
2001 from 16.6 percent in 1996.  Meanwhile, the use of 
English at home by allophones dropped slightly from 24.1 
percent in 1996 to 22.1 percent in 2001.  These numbers 
reflect the fact that in Quebec, children whose parents are 
allophones are required to attend French language schools. 
 
6. Bilingualism is not nearly as widespread in the 
francophone heartland of Quebec, including the capital. 
Institut de la Statistique du Quebec (ISQ) data shows the 
level of bilingualism in Quebec City at only 5.6 percent; 
the provincial capital is 96.7 percent French speaking. 
According to 2001 ISQ figures, 44 percent of the population 
in Northern Quebec is francophone, 3.4 percent is 
anglophone, and 52.6 percent speaks another language, mainly 
Cree or Inuktitut.  With a population of less than 40,000, 
the northern Quebec region (covering three quarters of the 
province's land mass) remains first in Quebec in terms of 
the proportion of people whose mother tongue is neither 
French nor English.  Of all the regions, the Saguenay holds 
the highest percentage of population whose maternal language 
is French at 98.6 percent. 
 
7. In Quebec, 50.4 percent of Allophones are able to speak 
both national languages.  But Allophones also continue to 
use their mother tongues.  According to the 2001 census, 
Italian is still the most popular third language spoken in 
real terms, but Arabic saw the most growth.  During the five 
years between 1996 and 2001, the number of Arabic speakers 
increased by 29 percent.  And for the first time, Arab- 
speakers surpassed Spanish-speakers in their numbers in 
Montreal.  The Arab/West Asian minority in Quebec has now 
become the second largest minority after Blacks.  StatsCan 
counted 123,580 persons broadly-defined as Arabs living in 
Montreal in the 2001 census, up from 96,240 in 1996. 
However, the census permits respondents a wide range of 
choices, including "Canadian," in identifying their origins; 
we have seen widely varying estimates on the actual numbers 
of Arab-origin Montrealers. 
 
8. The Quebec government continues to try to attract more 
immigrants and encourages them to establish outside the 
Greater Montreal area. The outgoing PQ Cabinet Minister 
Joseph Facal told us last year the province is trying to 
increase its annual intake of immigrants to 45,000 over the 
next 2-3 years.  Presently, the volume of immigrants living 
outside Montreal is only 15 percent but the aim is to 
increase that level to 25 percent.  Quebec targets 
francophones from North Africa, Europe and Asia; however, 
about half the immigrants who come to the capital are from 
Eastern Europe.  Jobs remain a problem but the Quebec 
authorities are trying to place "visible minorities" in 
government jobs, with a target of 33 percent for new hires 
in Montreal, 25 percent in Quebec City and 8 percent 
elsewhere in the province.  Currently placement is around 
3.4 percent of the province's 60,000 civil servants.  The 
further north, the less immigrants: Nunavik (Northern 
Quebec), comprising 55 percent of the entire Quebec 
territory, attracted the least number of newcomers in 2001- 
02 with only 2 immigrants, followed by the North Shore (8), 
and the Gaspe region (13). 
 
9. Quebec immigration recruitment policies do appear to have 
had a positive effect on the increase of French usage in 
Quebec.  The Census revealed that 49 percent of all new 
immigrants to Quebec speak French or English, compared to 
the Canadian average of 39 percent who speak either of the 
two official languages.  However, Alain Jean-Bart, former 
president of S.O.S.-Racisme (the Quebec chapter of the 
international anti-racism group), complained to us that the 
Quebec government selectively recruits Francophone 
immigrants (sidestepping would-be immigrants from West 
Africa, for example) while recruiting so-called 
"francophonisable" peoples in Latin American countries. 
S.O.S. Racisme has worked to counter stereotypical notions 
that Chinese and other immigrants are not francophonisable, 
i.e. not integrating into or contributing to the life of the 
province.  An official from the Ministry of Citizen 
Relations and Immigration recently confirmed that the GOQ 
has focused lately on recruiting immigrants from Argentina 
but he implied that the MRCI is merely exploiting the 
difficult economic situation there to bring skilled, 
educated workers to Quebec. 
 
10. Despite successes in Quebec's efforts to attract French 
speakers, Census 2001 revealed that Montreal remains third 
after Toronto and Vancouver in attracting new immigrants. 
Of the 1.8 million immigrants who arrived in Canada during 
the 1991-2001 period, only 12 percent settled in Montreal, 
while 56 percent went to Toronto and 20 percent settled in 
Vancouver.  Quebec continues to have difficulties in 
retaining new immigrants.  Statscan reported a net migration 
loss for Quebec of 57,000 people from 1996 to 2001, 
representing a net loss of 0.9 percent.  While these numbers 
may reflect migration that occurred following the 1995 
referendum on Quebec independence, the population decrease 
remains surprising given Quebec's economic resurgence of 
1999-2001. 
 
11. Quebec had the sixth highest rate among Canadian 
provinces of foreign born residents with 10 percent of its 
population in 2001 born outside Canada.  Quebec also has 
fewer visible minorities - only 7 percent of its population 
-- than the other high-population provinces.  Quebec Premier 
Bernard Landry, commenting on the Statistics data was quoted 
as saying, "Quebec must have more immigrants, for obvious 
reasons.  The land is vast, our natural rate of growth is 
low.  So families, children, people are a priority for us, 
including those families and people coming from 
immigration." 
 
12. The Association for Canadian Studies' Jedwab believes 
that for Quebec to both attract and keep immigrants, not 
only does the economy have to continue strong, but the GOQ 
needs to find more ways to involve immigrants in civil 
society institutions such as city council, school boards and 
the civil service.  "Give these people [immigrants] a sense 
that they have a meaningful role in Quebec," he says. 
Minister Facal announced last month a plan to hold 
provincial government agencies more accountable for minority 
hiring.  Under the new proposal, Department heads will be 
required to publicize their hiring strategies and report the 
results at legislative hearings. 
 
13. Statistically, Quebec outperforms every other Canadian 
province on bilingualism, with the second closest being New 
Brunswick at 34.2 percent bilingual (the rest of the 
provinces all have bilingual populations less than the 
national average of 17.7 percent).  Quebec's rate of 
bilingualism at 41 percent is approaching the Western 
European rate of 47 percent.  As Jedwab points out, "without 
the important numbers of bilingual persons in Quebec, the 
rest of Canada would rank in the lower end of the spectrum 
with the United Kingdom and the U.S." Ironically, 
bilingualism has been a federal, not a provincial goal.  The 
Chretien government's recent announcement of a C$751 million 
infusion into French language instruction throughout Canada 
was met mostly with indifference in Quebec. 
 
14. COMMENT: When you look at the political map of Quebec, 
it is the central Quebec, francophone areas that remain the 
most traditional and in the past, most tied to the Parti 
Quebecois.  Our contacts noted that, despite impending 
provincial elections, the release of the 2001 statistics on 
bilingualism did not create the same angst in the Quebec 
media and among politicians as in 1996, when the statistics 
came out a year after the 1995 referendum on independence. 
In fact, Landry has publicly acknowledged that it has become 
a rarity to see an anglophone less than age 50 who does not 
speak French.  While the province is not at the point of 
embracing bilingualism as a goal, even the Parti Quebecois 
realizes that for Quebec to sustain demographic and economic 
growth, the province needs new blood, and not just in 
Montreal.  END COMMENT 
ALLEN