The 1871 Census, undertaken a few years after the adoption of the country’s Constitution, highlighted the ethnic duality of the population – 61% of British origin and 31% of French origin. Eighty years later, following the Second World War, those of French origin still represented 31% of the population, while the British segment had declined to 48%. The stability of the proportion with French origin was due to the importance of international immigration in demographic growth in the years before and after the First World War. In 1951, 20% of the population had neither British nor French origins, a considerable increase since 1871 (nearly 8%) - those of aboriginal origin still represented about one percent of the population. The ethnic diversity of the population has been accentuated over the past half century by the high levels of international immigration and the gap between the fertility rates of the aboriginal population and that of other Canadians.

Over the years, ethnic diversity has given way to the linguistic duality. The two major ethnic groups represented more than 90% of the population in 1871; in 1996, 90% of the population speaks French or English most often in the home. However, this permanence masks the very different evolution experienced by English - and French - speaking communities across the country.

Today, in Canada, two large official languages groups represent about 83% of the population. There are also numerous other language groups, none of which represents more than three percent of Canadians. Both geography - 5500 kilometres (3400 miles) from coast to coast - and history play an important role in understanding the present language situation.

If we look at Canadians as a whole, we find that the language that most (84%) of them can speak is English, followed by French which about one-third (31%) of the population can speak. About one in six Canadians (17%) speak both official languages according to the 1996 Census. Those who live in areas where the two languages groups are in close proximity have a far greater tendency to speak both English and French. For example, half of the population in the Montréal metropolitan area and 44% of the population of Ottawa-Hull can speak two official languages.