People
The population of Canada was 28,846,761 at the time of the latest
census in 1996, compared to 27.3 million in 1991. The growth rate
from 1991 to 1996 was 1.14 percent per year; this is the fourth
highest rate among the 27 countries in the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), which corresponds roughly to
the most developed industrial countries of the world.
Half of this growth is due to immigration. Canada's liberal immigration
program accepts newcomers from nearly every other country in the
world.
Most Canadians live in cities, and most of the cities are close
to the southern border.
The largest urban centers are in Québec and Ontario provinces, or
central Canada, where some two-thirds of the people live. Most of
the population is ethnically British or French, although other European
countries are well represented, and indigenous peoples are the majority
in the north.
French and English are the official languages, although the people
who speak English as their mother tongue outnumber those whose mother
tongue is French by 2-1/2 to 1. Roman Catholics, who include most
French-speaking people, are the most numerous religious group, followed
by the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church. Immigrants
are a growing minority, particularly those from Asia, and have been
changing the face of Canada's largest urban areas.
Canadians have a high literacy rate and a number of fine universities.
The standard of living is one of the world's highest, although one
in seven households is poverty stricken. Violent crime is low compared
to other North American societies, but has been rising.
Language
Canada is officially bilingual, and all services provided by the
federal government are available in English and French. The selection
of Ottawa as the national capital, located on the Ontario-Quebec
border, reflects the long-standing political and cultural importance
of the two founding nations.
The 1991 census reported that 98 percent of Canadians have at least
some ability to speak one of the official languages and that 16
percent of Canadians are fluently bilingual.
The majority speak English: 62 percent reported English as their
mother tongue in 1991, while 25 percent reported French and 13 percent
a nonofficial language.
The most prevalent nonofficial languages in Canada are, in order
of prominence: Italian, German, Chinese, and Spanish. The indigenous
peoples spoke dozens of different languages, and many are still
spoken today.
Almost all fall into groups of related languages traceable from
a common ancestral tongue. The largest such group is the Algonquian,
Cree, an Algonquian language, is spoken by 94,000 people and is
today's most significant indigenous language in Canada. Other large
groups are Dene, Iroquoian, Siouan, Salishan, Wakashan, Tsimshian,
and Eskimo, Aleut.
There are also three indigenous languages of British Columbia-Kootenay,
Haida, and Tlingit-that are not clearly related to any other known
tongue.
Religion
Most Canadians are Christians, although a rapidly growing number
have no religious affiliation. The remainder practice non-Christian
Eastern religions, Judaism, indigenous traditions, or other forms
of belief such as the New Age Movement.
The Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest single denomination,
representing 45.2 percent of the Canadian population in the 1991
census; approximately half of Roman Catholics live in Quebec. The
great majority of French Canadians are Roman Catholics.
The next two largest denominations in 1991 were the United Church
of Canada, formed in the 1920s through a merger of Methodists, Congregationalists,
and most Presbyterians (11.5 percent), and the Anglican Church (8.1
percent).
Immigration from eastern and southern Asia in
recent years has also brought increasing numbers of Buddhists, Hindus,
and Sikhs.
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