Canada has two official languages – English and French. About 98 percent of Canadians can hold a conversation in one of these languages. Eighteen percent speak both official languages fluently.

But we speak a broad variety of other languages, as well. One in eight Canadians speaks a different language at home.

A snapshot in time

How does the government know this? Every five years, a government agency called Statistics Canada takes a census. The census collects demographic data on people living in Canada.