Official language proficiency and the civic participation of immigrants

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Résumé (français)

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Résumé (anglais)

This project assesses the relationship between language proficiency and civic participation, comparing immigrant immigrants to the Canadian born. Two core questions are addressed: 1) what are the relationships between language knowledge and the level and type of civic participation within the immigrant population? More specific, does knowledge and use of English and/or French increase the likelihood of civic engagement by immigrants? 2) Do immigrants, particularly those with low levels of proficiency differ from the Canadian born in the type of civic participation? These questions are answered with information from the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey, focusing on rates of associational participation, volunteering, voting, and sense of belonging. The data show that official language skills are associated with the levels and types of civic participation among the foreign born.