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Federal census shows rising language diversity in Red Deer

Aug 24, 2017 | 6:30 AM

Red Deer’s population continues to become more diverse, according to Federal Census results.

So much so that there’s a new top five in our city for languages spoken other than French and English.

Corrected data released on August 17 by Statistics Canada shows that more than 112 non-official languages were reported as mother tongue in Red Deer in 2016. That’s up from 82 in 2011 and just 15 in 1886.

Currently, the top language spoken other than English or French in Red Deer is Tagalog (Pilipino; Filipino), followed by Spanish, Arabic, Ukrainian and Cantonese. This is a slight shift from 2011 when the top five were Tagalog, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese.

The number of homes speaking English primarily has also decreased from 88.1 per cent in 2011, to 85.2 per cent in 2016. Proportionately, languages other than English and French have increased from 10,230 (11.4 per cent of the population) in 2011, to 14,840 (15 per cent of the population) in 2016.

 Mayor Tara Veer said in a press release that the collected data, demonstrating Red Deer’s evolving demographics, is enormously important to the City.  

“As our population changes, we respond at the municipal level to ensure we are serving residents’ needs through City programming, services and communications. Our growing community of non-English speaking citizens also underscores our ongoing commitment to build community life for all through our welcoming and inclusive initiatives.”

Information from the Statistics Canada 2016 Census will be released in stages later this year. This will include details about income, housing and education.