Languages Spoken in Elgin County Prepared by: Fiona Murray For CMPW 717: Report Writing and Information Design March 1st 2020 Figure 1 Top Left: Maria Bueckert stands behind three of her children. She and her husband, Heinrich, immigrated to Aylmer from Mexico in 2011. Top Right: Workers at the Ford Factory in St. Thomas work on the last car before its closure in 2011; Bottom Left: Dutch immigrants harvest tobacco in West Lorne in 1986; Bottom Right: Petrusia Hontar, project coordinator of the St. Thomas-Elgin Local Immigration Partnership, Shelley Harris, director of education and settlement at the YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin, and Juliane Hundt, manager at the YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin. Sources: canadianmennonite.org; cbc.ca; elgincounty.ca; 1 Executive Summary This report analyzes language data from the 2016 and 1991 censuses to explore the linguistic diversity of Elgin County census division and draw conclusions about significant language communities in the area. Looking at census responses in the Mother Tongue (first language) (100% data) and Knowledge of Language (25% sample data) categories, this report identifies two main language communities in Elgin County aside from English: German and Dutch. Not only are there large amounts of German and Dutch speakers, but there are higher proportions of census respondents who speak these languages in Elgin County compared to Ontario (8.29% vs 1.02% and 1.22% vs 0.40%, respectively). These findings are consistent with immigration patterns in Elgin County, although not immediately apparent from immigration data. Nearly a third of Elgin County’s immigrants are from Mexico. However, many of these immigrants are Low German-speaking Mennonites (who are likely reporting their language as “German” on the census). Similarly, there are both current and historical patterns of Dutch immigration in Elgin County, beginning in the early 1950s. Elgin County also has higher proportions of respondents who speak Vlaams (Flemish) and Khmer (Cambodian) (0.15% vs 0.02%, and 0.17% vs 0.06%, mother tongue speakers respectively). This report serves as a resource for service providers in Elgin County, as well as a testament to the linguistic diversity of Elgin County, despite its overwhelmingly English-speaking population. Figure 2 Air Soukhaseum, Somleuane and Somsack Soukchareun, Nien An Van and One Keo Homsombath arrived in Aylmer from Laos, via Thailand in 1980. (Source: Elgin County Archives). 2 Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................... 4 Research Questions .................................................................................. 5 Methodology .................................................................................................. 5 Analysis ......................................................................................................... 5 Mother Tongue Languages ........................................................................ 5 Knowledge of Languages .......................................................................... 9 Immigrant Countries of Origin .................................................................. 12 Changes in Languages Spoken (1991-2016) ........................................... 14 Limitations ................................................................................................... 15 Discussion: Relevance of Findings .............................................................. 16 Significant Immigrant Populations ............................................................ 16 German ................................................................................................ 16 Dutch .................................................................................................... 18 Linguistic Uniqueness .............................................................................. 19 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 19 References .................................................................................................. 20 Figure 3 A representative of the Central Community Health Centre, San Sok, and Maria Fiallos receive Newcomer Champion Awards from the St. Thomas-Elgin Local Immigration Partnership. (Source: stthomastimesjournal.com). 3 Introduction Figure 4 Map of Elgin County (Source: St. Thomas-Elgin Local Immigration Partnership) Elgin County is located in southwestern Ontario along the banks of Lake Erie. It is bordered by Middlesex County to the north; Kent County to the west; and Oxford and Norfolk counties to the east. With a population of about 89 000 in 2016, the main population centres in the county are St. Thomas (pop 38 909), Aylmer (pop 7492), and Port Stanley (pop 2148) (Statistics Canada, 2017). Elgin County is a largely rural area. Its main industries are manufacturing, health care and social assistance, and retail (2011). There is also a comparatively large proportion of population employed in agriculture and related fields (compared to Ontario). St. Thomas was historically a hub of railway transportation and manufacturing (Richards, 2015). Elgin County is situated on the traditional lands of the Oneida of the Thames, Chippewas of the Thames and Munsee-Delaware Nation (Government of Ontario, 2019). It was colonized by Europeans in the early 1800s. Notably, Elgin County was the site of the Talbot Settlement, overseen by Colonel Thomas Talbot. Elgin County initially had large numbers of Scottish and Irish settlers (Brunger, 2015). In the years after WWII, large numbers of Dutch immigrants began to settle in southwestern Ontario, including in Elgin County, largely working in the agricultural industry (Schryer, 1998; St. Thomas Elgin Local Immigration Partnership, 2012). Similarly, beginning in the 1950s, Mennonites—an Anabaptist religious group originally from Germany—began to immigrate back to Canada from Latin America (especially Mexico) and settled in the Elgin County area (Haile & Funk, 2019). Small numbers of Dutch immigrants, and large numbers of Mennonite immigrants continue to arrive in Elgin County today. There are also small 4 populations of South and Southeast Asian immigrants, centred mostly in St. Thomas (Statistics Canada, 2017). Although Elgin County is overwhelmingly white, Canadian, and English- speaking, there is cultural and linguistic diversity that is often overlooked. This report serves to highlight the range of languages spoken in Elgin County, and identify the unique linguistic characteristic of the area. This report will provide a basis for understanding the multiculturalism of Elgin County, and will also be an important reference for service providers in Elgin County. Research Questions The report will answer the following questions: 1. What languages are spoken in Elgin County? 2. How do the languages spoken in Elgin County compare to the languages spoken in all of Ontario? 3. Which languages have higher proportions of speakers in Elgin County compared to Ontario? 4. Do these languages correspond with immigrant countries of origin in Elgin County? 5. How have the languages spoken, and numbers of speakers, changed between 1991 and 2016? Methodology This report is based on data from the 2016 Canadian Census. Data from the 1991 Canadian Census is used for comparison. However, the methodology used in the 1991 census is different from the 2016 census, and so the data cannot be compared directly. Rather, the results from the two censuses can be used to sketch general trends over the past 25 years. The 2016 Census includes data on Mother Tongue (first language spoken) (100% data), Languages Spoken Most Often at Home (100% data), and Knowledge of Language (25% sample data). This report analyzes Mother Tongue and Knowledge of Language data to capture both the instance of other languages spoken in Elgin County and the preservation of other languages in an overwhelmingly English-speaking area. Proportions of speakers as a percent of the total respondents were used to compare languages spoken in Elgin County and in Ontario. Both the number and proportion of speakers were used to analyze changes in languages spoken over time. Analysis Mother Tongue Languages A total of 62 mother tongue languages were reported on the 2016 census, with five people reporting a mother tongue language that was “n.i.e”—not included elsewhere on the survey. These mother tongue languages span 5 every continent. The most popular mother tongue languages in Elgin County are as follows: Table 1 Mother Tongue Languages in Elgin County (Source: 2016 census, 100% data) Rank Mother Tongue Language Number of Speakers Percentage (of respondents) 1 English 75000 85.98% 2 German 7230 8.29% 3 Dutch 1065 1.22% 4 French 820 0.94% 5 Portuguese 330 0.38% 6 Spanish 315 0.36% 7 Polish 305 0.35% 8 Italian 205 0.24% 9 Croatian 195 0.22% 10 Hungarian 190 0.22% 11 Khmer (Cambodian) 150 0.17% 12 Vlaams (Flemish) 135 0.15% 13 Arabic 100 0.11% 14 Vietnamese 85 0.10% 15 Ukrainian 80 0.09% English is by far the most popular mother tongue language, with an overwhelming 86% of the population. However, what is most interesting is the large proportion of speakers reporting German as their mother tongue. 6 Figure 5 Mother Tongue Languages in Elgin County (Excluding English) (Source: 2016 census, 100% data) When compared with the most popular mother tongue languages in Ontario, only