For the first time in 50 years the proportion of Canadians who can speak both official languages—English and French—has declined and that worries the government’s official languages commissioner, Graham Fraser.
More Canadians reported they could converse in English and French in 2011 according to government statistics. But Canada’s total population went up faster largely due to immigration. So the bilinguals made up 17.5 per cent compared to 17.7 per cent a decade earlier.
Fewer people may be enrolling their children in second-language instruction and that could contribute to the decline. There is a view that instruction varies in quality and is not as successful as was hoped.
English-French bilingualism is at the heart of the Canadian identity. The federal government guarantees services in both languages, as do the courts.
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