Reference Material

• 2023-10-17, Library of Parliament: Official Languages in the Federal Public Service

  • “Bilingual Positions and Employees: According to 2022 data, 42% of positions in the public service are designated as bilingual, while the percentage of bilingual employees is 39%. The greatest concentrations of bilingual positions are in the National Capital Region (63%), Quebec (66%) and New Brunswick (52%). In total, 96% of incumbents of bilingual positions meet the language requirements of their positions.”

• 2023-01-22, Government of Ontario: Francophone Economic Development Strategy

• “Learn about what we are doing to promote the economic vitality of francophone communities.”

• 2023, Government of Canada: Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration

• “Without question, learning the official languages is a source of personal enrichment for Canadians. Mastery of a second official language provides access to a multitude of information and entertainment sources. Such mastery is also a driver of economic activity across Canada, considering the innovation, strategic-development and market-access capacities that a more highly skilled workforce can develop in a business context.”

• 2022-09-28, Policy Options: Canada should recommit to bilingualism

• “French is in decline in Canada outside Quebec. The country needs fresh ideas to teach the language and promote its economic and social benefits.”

• 2022-08-18, The Gazette: Bilingualism pays: Canadians who speak English and French earn more — census

• “(...) the wage gap between unilingual and bilingual Canadians is widening, said Jack Jedwab, a researcher and president of the Association for Canadian Studies.
  “The economy values people who are bilingual — they have better mobility and more opportunities for certain types of employment,” he added.”

• 2021-04-01, Cambridge University Press: A globalised world: why society needs bilingual speakers

• “The open-mindedness and cultural sensitivity that accompanies bilingualism leads to people becoming bicultural. This is a significant advantage in today’s globalised world and a vital skill when engaging with new cultures and people. Bilinguals can positively affect their community because of their ability to engage more easily with members of different linguistic groups.”

• 2021-03-23, Forbes: Bilingual Organizations: The Leaders Of Global Expansion

• “(...) bilingual employees greatly enhance your company’s capabilities to interact with a larger swath of the population; they help foster a more innovative and diverse business and give you in-house capabilities that provide countless intangible benefits.”

• 2016-05, Canadian Heritage: Economic Advantages of Bilingualism: Literature Review

• The impact of globalization and the implementation of new free trade agreements (...) require Canada to use all the assets at its disposal, including bilingualism, to stay ahead of worldwide competition and capitalize on Canada’s unique value proposition. 

• 2013-06, CEDEC: Canada, Bilingualism and Trade

• “According to our gravity equation analysis, we would expect Bilingual Canada’s trade with French-speaking countries to be more than 65 per cent higher than with countries that do not speak French. This means that, again using 2011 as an example, nominal exports and nominal imports were each US$3.3 billion higher thanks to Bilingual Canada’s proficiency in French.”