Editing Canada (section)

===Language===
[[File:Bilinguisme au Canada-fr.svg|left|thumb|alt=Map of Canada showing distribution of English-speaking, French-speaking and bilingual residents|In 2006, about 17.4% of the population were bilingual, as they were able to conduct a conversation in both official languages.'''<small>{{Legend|#FFE400|English – 57.8%}}{{Legend|#D8A820|English and French (Bilingual) – 17.4% }}{{Legend|#B07400|French – 22.1%}}{{Legend|#F5F5DC|Sparsely populated area ( '''&lt;''' 0.4 persons per km<sup>2</sup>)}}</small>''']]
Canada's two official languages are English and French. [[Official bilingualism in Canada|Official bilingualism]] is defined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the [[Official Languages Act (Canada)|Official Languages Act]], and ''Official Language Regulations''; it is applied by the [[Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages|Commissioner of Official Languages]]. English and French have equal status in federal courts, Parliament, and in all federal institutions. Citizens have the right, where there is sufficient demand, to receive federal government services in either English or French, and official-language minorities are guaranteed their own schools in all provinces and territories.<ref>{{cite web|title=Official Languages and You|publisher=Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages|date=June 16, 2009|url=http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/html/faq1_e.php|accessdate=2011-09-10}}</ref>

English and French are the [[first language]]s of 59.7 and 23.2 percent of the population respectively. Approximately 98 percent of Canadians speak English or French: 57.8% speak English only, 22.1% speak French only, and 17.4% speak both.<ref name="Highlights">{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-555/p1-eng.cfm|title=2006 Census: The Evolving Linguistic Portrait, 2006 Census: Highlights|publisher=Statistics Canada|year=2006 (2010)|accessdate=2010-10-12}}</ref> English and French Official Language Communities, defined by First Official Language Spoken, constitute 73.0 and 23.6 percent of the population respectively.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= Statistics Canada |url=http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo15-eng.htm |title=Population by knowledge of official language, by province and territory|date=January 27, 2005|accessdate=2009-10-20}}</ref>

The [[Charter of the French Language]] makes French the official language in Quebec.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bourhis|first=Richard Y|coauthors=Montaruli, Elisa; Amiot, Catherine E|title=Language planning and French-English bilingual communication: Montreal field studies from 1977 to 1997|journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language|date=May 2007|issue=185|pages=187–224|doi=10.1515/IJSL.2007.031}}</ref> Although more than 85 percent of French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec, there are substantial [[Francophone]] populations in [[Franco-Ontarian|Ontario]], [[Franco-Albertan|Alberta]], and southern [[Franco-Manitoban|Manitoba]]; Ontario has the largest French-speaking population outside Quebec.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/about-apercu/diversity-franco-diversite-eng.htm|title=The Diversity of the Canadian Francophonie|last=Lachapelle|first=R|date=March 2009|publisher=Statistics Canada|accessdate=2009-09-24}}</ref> New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province, has a French-speaking Acadian minority constituting 33 percent of the population. There are also clusters of Acadians in southwestern Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, and through central and western Prince Edward Island.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hayday|first=Matthew|title=Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow: Official Languages in Education and Canadian Federalism|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2005|page=49|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3D6LPBGT59kC&pg=PA49|isbn=0773529608}}</ref>

Other provinces have no official languages as such, but French is used as a language of instruction, in courts, and for other government services in addition to English. Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec allow for both English and French to be spoken in the provincial legislatures, and laws are enacted in both languages. In Ontario, French has some legal status but is not fully co-official.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heller|first=Monica|title=Crosswords : language, education and ethnicity in French Ontario|year=2003|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|isbn=9783110176872|pages=72, 74}}</ref> There are 11 [[Languages of Canada#Aboriginal languages|Aboriginal language groups]], made up of more than 65 distinct dialects.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-589-x/4067801-eng.htm|title=Aboriginal languages|work=Statistics Canada|accessdate=2009-10-05}}</ref> Of these, only Cree, [[Inuit language|Inuktitut]] and [[Ojibwe language|Ojibway]] have a large enough population of fluent speakers to be considered viable to survive in the long term.<ref>{{Cite book
 | last = Gordon
 | first = Raymond G Jr.
 | title = Ethnologue: Languages of the world
 | publisher = SIL International
 | year = 2005
 | edition = 15th
 | format=Web Version online by SIL International
 | url = http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp
 | isbn=155671159X
 | accessdate=2009-10-06
 | ref = harv
}}
</ref> Several aboriginal languages have official status in the Northwest Territories.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fettes|first=Mark|coauthors= Norton, Ruth|title=Aboriginal education: fulfilling the promise|editor=Castellano, Marlene Brant; Davis, Lynne; Lahache, Louise|publisher=UBC Press|year=2001|page=39|chapter=Voices of Winter: Aboriginal Languages and Public Policy in Canada|isbn=0774807830}}</ref> Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut, and one of three official languages in the territory.<ref>{{cite book|last=Russell|first=Peter H|title=Unfinished constitutional business?: rethinking indigenous self-determination|editor=Hocking, Barbara|publisher=Aboriginal Studies Press|year=2005|page=180|chapter=Indigineous Self-Determination: Is Canada as Good as it Gets?|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mxreMX_cf4EC&pg=PA180|isbn=0855754664}}</ref>

Over six million people in Canada list a non-official language as their mother tongue. Some of the most common non-official first languages include [[Chinese language|Chinese]] (mainly [[Yue Chinese|Cantonese]]; 1,012,065 first-language speakers), [[Italian language|Italian]] (455,040), [[German language|German]] (450,570), [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] (367,505) and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (345,345).<ref>{{cite web |publisher= Statistics Canada |url=http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo11a-eng.htm |title=Population by mother tongue, by province and territory|date=January 27, 2005|accessdate=2010-01-19}}</ref> English and French are the languages most spoken at home by 68.3 percent and 22.3 percent of the population respectively.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/standard/themes/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?Temporal=2001&PID=55535&APATH=3&GID=431515&METH=1&PTYPE=55440&THEME=41&FOCUS=0&AID=0&PLACENAME=0&PROVINCE=0&SEARCH=0&GC=0&GK=0&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&FL=0&RL=0&FREE=0|title= First Official Language Spoken (7) and Sex (3) for Population, for Canada, Provinces, Territories and Census Metropolitan Areas 1, 2001 Census&nbsp;– 20% Sample Data| publisher=Statistics Canada| accessdate=2007-03-23}}</ref>