ethnic origin by province

Of those Canadians having an Asian mother tongue, over half reside in Ontario. Amost 28% reside in British Columbia, and less than 1% live in the Maritime provinces. Of notable interest is Ontario, where the number of Asian mother tongue speakers has grown almost 2%. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec show a decrease in Asian mother tongue since the 2001 census.

Source: Detailed Mother Tongue. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 4 December 2007. 2006 Census of Canada. Catalogue number 97-555-XCB2006007. 13 April 2009.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or redisseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

Notes: 1. Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census.
2. Figures are taken from the single response category.
* The figures for Chinese include Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Taiwanese, Chaochow (Teochow), Fukien and Shanghainese, as well as Chinese languages not otherwise specified.
** Other Asian Mother Tongue includes: Konkani, Marathi, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Pashto, Indo-Iranian languages (not specified), Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Dravidian languages (not specified), Tibetan languages (not specified), Sino-Tibetan languages (not specified), Lao, Thai, Khmer (Cambodian), Bisayan languages (not specified), Ilocano, Malay-Bahasa, Pampango and Malayo-Polynesian languages (not specified).

While over 8% of Canadians have an Asian mother tongue, the percentage is greater in British Columbia and Ontario, and lower in all other provinces, especially the Maritimes. In B.C., those having an Asian mother tongue form over 17% of the population. The 2006 census data reveals that Chinese has replaced French as the second most commonly spoken language outside of Quebec.

Source: Detailed Mother Tongue. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 4 December 2007. 2006 Census of Canada. Catalogue number 97-555-XCB2006007. 13 April 2009.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or redisseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

Notes: 1. Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census.
2. Figures are taken from the single response category.
* The figures for Chinese include Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Taiwanese, Chaochow (Teochow), Fukien and Shanghainese, as well as Chinese languages not otherwise specified.
** Other Asian Mother Tongue includes: Konkani, Marathi, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Pashto, Indo-Iranian languages (not specified), Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Dravidian languages (not specified), Tibetan languages (not specified), Sino-Tibetan languages (not specified), Lao, Thai, Khmer (Cambodian), Bisayan languages (not specified), Ilocano, Malay-Bahasa, Pampango and Malayo-Polynesian languages (not specified).

Mother tongue is defined as the first language a child learns and still understands at the time of the census. Chinese is the most widely spoken mother tongue across all provinces, with the exception of Manitoba where Tagalog (Philipino) is the largest group. In British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, Punjabi is the second most common Asian mother language. In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Korean is the second most common Asian mother tongue.

Source: Detailed Mother Tongue. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 4 December 2007. 2006 Census of Canada. Catalogue number 97-555-XCB2006007. 13 April 2009.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or redisseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

Notes: 1. Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census.
2. Figures are taken from the single response category.
* The figures for Chinese include Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Taiwanese, Chaochow (Teochow), Fukien and Shanghainese, as well as Chinese languages not otherwise specified.
** Other Asian Mother Tongue includes: Konkani, Marathi, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Pashto, Indo-Iranian languages (not specified), Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Dravidian languages (not specified), Tibetan languages (not specified), Sino-Tibetan languages (not specified), Lao, Thai, Khmer (Cambodian), Bisayan languages (not specified), Ilocano, Malay-Bahasa, Pampango and Malayo-Polynesian languages (not specified). 

Over 47% of all Canadians indicating Chinese ethnicity in the 2006 census reside in Ontario; for those indicating Tamil ethnicity, the percentage is over 89%. By contrast, less than one percent of each of the top ten Asian ethnic groups in Canada reside in the Maritime provinces.

Source: Ethnic Origin. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, April 2, 2008. 2006 Census of Canada. Catalogue number 97-562-X2006006. 2 April 2009.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or redisseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

Note: 1. Ethnic origin refers to the ethnic or cultural origins of the respondent’s ancestors and should not be confused with his or her citizenship, nationality, language or place of birth.
2. Figures are taken from the total responses category. Multiple responses may be given.
* Other Asian includes: Afghan, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Burmese, Cambodian, Goan, Gujarati, Hmong, Indonesian, Kashmiri, Khmer, Laotian, Malaysian, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashtun, Sinhalese, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Thai and Tibetan.

As a percentage of total population, the concentration of Asian Canadians increased in all provinces (since the 2001 census). Concentration is greatest in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. In B.C., the percentage of the total population who indicated an Asian ethnic origin in the 2006 census is over 27% – the highest in the country. The proportion is second-highest in Ontario (16.3%) and third-highest in Alberta (11.2%). It is interesting to note the proportion of Asian ethnicities over a 20 year span. From 1981 to 2006, the percentage of Asian Canadians in Canada has tripled. The percentage of those with East Indian origins have also increased greatly, from 0.3% to 3.1%.

Source: Ethnic Origin. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, April 2, 2008. 2006 Census of Canada. Catalogue number 97-562-X2006006. 30 March 2009.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy the data and redisseminate them, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without permission from Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at www.statcan.gc.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

Note: 1. Ethnic origin refers to the ethnic or cultural origins of the respondent’s ancestors and should not be confused with his or her citizenship, nationality, language or place of birth.
2. Figures are taken from the total responses category. Multiple responses may be given.
* Other Asian includes: Afghan, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Burmese, Cambodian, Goan, Gujarati, Hmong, Indonesian, Kashmiri, Khmer, Laotian, Malaysian, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashtun, Sinhalese, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Thai and Tibetan.

Ethnic origin is defined as the cultural group(s) to which the respondents ancestors belong. The number of Canadian residents with Asian ethnicity has increased 27% since the 2001 census. As of 2006, Canadians of Asian origin make up over 11% of Canada’s total population. Chinese - the group which has now passed the 1 million mark - is the largest Asian ethnic group in all provinces except Manitoba, where Filipino is the largest group. The second largest Asian ethnic group consists of Canadians reporting their ethnicity as East Indian, except in Quebec where they are the third largest group.

Source: Ethnic Origin. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, April 2, 2008. 2006 Census of Canada. Catalogue number 97-562-X2006006. 24 March 2009.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Users are forbidden to copy this material and/or redisseminate the data, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada’s Regional Offices, its World Wide Web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

Note: 1. Ethnic origin refers to the ethnic or cultural origins of the respondent’s ancestors and should not be confused with his or her citizenship, nationality, language or place of birth.
2. Figures are taken from the total responses category. Multiple responses may be given.
* Other Asian includes: Afghan, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Burmese, Cambodian, Goan, Gujarati, Hmong, Indonesian, Kashmiri, Khmer, Laotian, Malaysian, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashtun, Sinhalese, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Thai and Tibetan.