Highlights
Ontario's dynamic Francophone community is increasingly diverse:
10% are visible minorities and nearly 22% of immigrants arrived between 2001 and 2006
Demography
Ontario is home to close to 600,000 Francophones – in 2006, the total population of the Francophone community was 582,695 – an increase of 4,545 people since 2001.
One in every twenty people in Ontario is a Francophone with the population largely concentrated in Eastern and Northeastern Ontario. A significant proportion of the Francophone population lives in Central Ontario.
The Francophone community is older compared to the province overall – proportionately there are more seniors 65 years and over and fewer people under 35 years.
Mobility and Place of Birth
Three out of five Francophones were born in Ontario and one in five was born in Québec. About 14% of Ontario Francophones were born outside of Canada and most Francophone immigrants settled in Central Ontario.
The demographics of the community is changing – nearly 22% of all Francophone immigrants arrived between 2001 and 2006 – a greater percentage than among the general population. Ten percent of Ontario Francophones are visible minorities.
Language Retention
The majority of Francophones (55%) reported French as the language most often spoken at home – although its use at home is decreasing across all regions except Central Ontario. About two-thirds of Francophones in Eastern and Northeastern Ontario speak French at home.
Over two-thirds of Francophones use French at work and close to 90% of all Francophones are bilingual.
Economic Situation
Francophones are more likely to complete apprenticeship or trades certification compared to the overall population. Slightly fewer Francophones complete high school compared to Ontario overall.
In 2006, Francophones in Ontario had higher average employment incomes than the overall population. This also held true across all regions, although Francophones in Southwestern and Northern Ontario had lower average incomes than those in Central and Eastern Ontario. The wage gap between Francophone women and men was smaller than for Ontario overall.
While the unemployment rate was similar to that of the overall population, there were regional variances: the highest unemployment was in Northern Ontario while the lowest was in Eastern Ontario.
In 2006, fewer Francophones in Ontario were living below the low-income cut-off compared to the overall population. Regionally, Francophones living in Central Ontario, and in particular Toronto, had the highest proportion of people living below the low-income cut-off.
