Discrimination at school based on language?

Question:
A researcher is looking for data on discrimination in education (school: elementary, secondary or postsecondary) based on language.  We note that various GSS surveys and the Public Service Employee Survey have questions on discrimination based on language linked to work (and even types of discrimination at work in the case of the GSS cycle 30) but not linked to school.  Is there anything that we are missing?

Answer:
We’ve received the following response from subject matter:

“It appears that at this time we do not have information of this sort.  However, C34 of the GSS will and will be starting collection in April with a scheduled release date of November 2020.”

Census 2016 Data Covering Sign Languages and Demographics

Question:
A researcher would like more detail on demographic characteristics for the use/knowledge of sign languages (mother tongue, language spoken at home, languages understood, and languages most used at work, than is available from the Census 2016 profile or Census 2016 TBTs/data tables), for Ottawa and Gatineau. 

The Census 2016 profile gives us three categories of sign languages: American Sign Language, Quebec Sign Language, and Sign Languages n.i.e. = not included elsewhere / non incluses ailleurs*)

The researcher has a few questions…



1.       More specifics about those sign languages covered under “n.i.e./n.i.a. “?  If more is known, is it possible to either get a partial or complete list of these, and if so, could she get contact information for a custom tabulation (contact information)?

2.       Are there more data tables (or a PUMFJ) to come on socio-demographics (i.e., occupation, education and income) for these three sign languages spoken/mother tongue/understood (at least three as below) for Ottawa and Gatineau?   I found a number of Census 2016 TBTs/data tables with three categories of sign languages for Ottawa and Gatineau (but only with the demographics of age and/or sex … or 100% data I think). 

• a. 98-400-X2016345  Language Spoken at Home (263), Single and Multiple Responses of Language Spoken at Home (3), Mother Tongue (269) and Age (7) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census    

• b. 98-400-X2016059  Mother Tongue (269), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age (15A) and Sex (3) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents of Canada, Provinces and Territories and Federal Electoral Districts (2013 Representation Order), 2016 Census

• c. 98-400-X2016057  Mother Tongue (269), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age (15A) and Sex (3) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents of Census Metropolitan Areas, Tracted Census Agglomerations and Census Tracts, 2016 Census

• d. 98-400-X2016058  Mother Tongue (269), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age (15A) and Sex (3) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents of Canada and Forward Sortation Areas, 2016 Census Agglomerations

• e. 98-400-X2016075 Language Spoken Most Often at Home (269), Other Language(s) Spoken Regularly at Home (270) and Age (15A) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents, Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations

• f. First Official Language Spoken (7), Language Spoken Most Often at Home (269), Age (15A) and Sex (3) for the Population Excluding Institutional Residents

                           i.      98-400-X2016069 Canada and Forward Sortation Areas

                          ii.      98-400-X2016070 Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census 
                                  Divisions and Census Subdivisions

                         iii.      98-400-X2016071 Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census 
                                  Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations

                         iv.      98-400-X2016072 Census Metropolitan Areas, Tracted Census 
                                  Agglomerations and Census Tracts

                          v.      98-400-X2016073 Canada, Provinces and Territories and Federal  
                                  Electoral Districts (2013 Representation Order)

Thank you for any further suggestions for the researcher to pursue.  We note that she could go back into the 2006 PALS survey in RTRA.  If possible, she’d rather have more current sign language / demographic data tables though.


Answer:
Subject matter has responded with the following:

1.       The Sign Languages, n.i.e. category consists of sign languages that are not Quebec Sign Language or American Sign Language, so for example, the n.i.e category consists of broad responses of “Sign Language”, as well as more specific responses such as Polish Sign Language or Spanish Sign Language. It is not possible to have a custom tabulation with the breakdown of this category.

2.       Any table consisting of the full detailed version of a language variable also has the sign language categories in them. The detailed language variables are with demographic information only. There are also a few language of work tables with detailed variables which show the sign language categories. Here they are:

98-400-X2016094
98-400-X2016095

That said, if you can’t find a table with all the variables you need, you can always request a custom tabulation.

Regarding the PUMF however, the individuals PUMF will be released this winter and it will include variables on language, however I do not believe they will be so detailed as to include the sign language categories.

Updated Products: SVOLM - Revised files

Hello,

Please note the updated products listed below and the path to access them via the DLI FTP and web sites.

Survey on the Vitality of Official Language Minorities, 2006 - Revised Files
Revised English versions of the codebook, user guide,  and SAS and SPSS syntax cards for SVOLM 2006 are now available.  The corresponding SAS and SPSS data files (.sas7bdat and .sav) have also been corrected - these new versions include corrected information that address the concerns raised between the French and English labels.

WEB:  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/svolm-evmlo/svolm-evmlo2006-eng.htm
FTP:   /dli/DLI-Collection_Other-Products/Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities – svolm/2006

svolm2006cbk-ver2.pdf
svolm2006cbk-ver2.txt
svolm2006gid-ver2.pdf

svolm2006-ver2.sas
svolm2006-ver2.sps

2006dat-spss-sav-ver2.zip

2006dat-sas7bdat-ver2.zip 

New versions of the French and English SPSS data files (.sav) containing long variable descriptions and missing values are also available:

2006dat-dli-spss-fra-sav-ver2.zip

2006dat-dli-spss-eng-sav-ver2.zip

Some users may prefer to use these .sav files, which were based on the SPSS cards created by the DLI unit in response to concerns about the variable names raised by Laine Ruus on July 30, 2009. More information pertaining to those files is available at the following links (for DLI members only): 

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/mhonarc/dli-ild-msg/msg15440.html

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/mhonarc/dli-ild-msg/msg15166.html

Portrait of Official-Language Minorities in Canada: Anglophones in Quebec

A Portrait of Official-Language Minorities in Canada: Anglophones in Quebec is being released today. This study paints a general statistical portrait of the official-language minority in Quebec based on data from the Census of Population and the Survey on the Vitality of Official-language Minorities in Canada, conducted in 2006. The purpose of such a portrait is to present a set of characteristics, behaviours and perceptions of the official-language minority population, exploiting the analytical opportunities contained in the data.

This demolinguistic portrait of the English-speaking population in Quebec was undertaken with the financial support of Canadian Heritage's Official Languages Secretariat, Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Justice Canada. It is one of eleven such portraits of official-language minorities in Canada, prepared by the Statistics Canada's Language Statistics Section.

Enclosed is the link to the Spotlight on the Census web page http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm

Inconsistency in Questionnaires for 1991 Health and Activities Limitation Study

Question

A sharp-eyed work study student (who I’m sadly losing to a job at Université d’Ottawa) noticed a discrepancy between the French and English questionnaires for variable H13 (page 51) in the 1991 HALS.

In the French version of the questionnaire, the interviewer instructions are “Lisez la liste”, while the English instructions are “Do not read list”.

Which is correct? If both were, should a note be put on the file to indicate this discrepancy in collection instructions for this variable?

Answer

Unfortunately, the Division has confirmed that what you did find in the English and French instruction for HALS 1991 was what was done and we will add a note on the file to made the uses aware of this of this discrepency.

Thanks for pointing this out to us.

Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities, 2006

Question

With apologies for any duplication, I'd like to ask whether there will bea PUMF for Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities, 2006 (SVOLM)?

Answer

The division responsible for the Survey on the Vitality of Official Language Minorities has confirmed that a PUMF is in process. They expect to release it by the end of March.

Messengers in Toronto - Info needed

Question

I have a faculty member looking for the languages spoken (preferred) or ethnicity of messengers working in the City of Toronto (or even CMA)

I think the census is going to be the only resource that has this The relevant NAICS is 49221 or 492210 and the relevant NOC-S is B563.

Census 2006 tables that go to the level of detail for NAICS and NOC-S do not have detailed data on language or ethnicity.

I wonder if Census could supply this info or if not whether it would be possible to get a custom tab?

Thanks for any help and suggestions of other sources.

Answer

Our Census Consultant has confirmed that this would be a custom tabulation - specifically either Industry or Occupation codes crossed by the pertinent language or ethnic origin variable. However, the noted the following:

"the counts I see for NAICS and NOC-S are at the CMA level, and a custom consultant may indicate that the counts are not sufficient enough to produce any valid information for any detailed crossing of the variable."

2001 census files - can't unzip/open

Question

I've downloaded the following files from the ftp site and have received the same error for all of them when trying to unzip: "Cannot open file. It does not appear to be a valide archive. If you downloaded this file, try downloading the file again." Then when I click OK I get "Errors occured while extracting. Do you want to view the last output?" When I say Yes I get the following message: "End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not a Zip file, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part Zip file."

I did try downloading again but I get the same messages I downloaded about 40 other files that worked fine. Any ideas as to whether I'm doing something wrong or whether the files are corrupted?

List of files that I can't unzip (ftp/dli/census/2001/ascii/topic-based tabulations/):

Families and Household Living Arrangements
95F0313XCB2001001
95F0314XCB2001001
95F0315XCB2001001
95F0316XCB2001001

Language Composition of Canada
95F0333XCB2001001
95F0336XCB2001001
95F0339XCB2001001

Canada's Workforce: Paid Work
95F0380XCB2001001

Answer

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. There may have been a slight problem when the files were loaded onto the FTP.

We noted one small point - Canada's Workforce: Paid Work 95F0380XCB2001001 - this file seems to download, but the others
(95F0380XCB2001001east.zip/ont.zip/que.zp/west.zip)
were problematic.

I am working at getting another copy of the files. I will advise you once we have reloaded them on the FTP.

Thanks again for keeping us informed about the situation and we'll try to get this done asap.

1981 and 1991 BST

Question

I can't find these tables. I didn't find them on the FTP site. Could someone tell me where those are?

Census of Canada, 1981. User Summary Tape
EAC81A10: Population by Mother Tongue (Short form, Enumeration area level)
EAC81B10. Population by Sex and Home Language, Official Language, Ethnic Origin, and Religion (Long form, Enumeration area level)

Census of Canada, 1991. Basic Summary Tabulation
L9101: Population by Mother Tongue, Showing Age Groups (Short form, Enumeration Area level)
L9102: Population by Home Language (27), Showing Age Groups (13b) (Long form, enumeration area level)
L9103: Population by Mother Tongue (27), Showing Home Language (8) and Sex (3) (Long form, enumeration area level)
L9104: Population by Knowledge of Official Languages, Showing Age Groups (Long form, Enumeration Area level)
L9105: Population Able to Speak Various Non-official Languages, Showing Age Groups (Long form, Enumeration Area level)
L9106: Population by Mother Tongue (27), Showing Knowledge of Official Languages (5) and Sex (3) (Long form, enumeration area level)

Answer

1. Easiest suggestion I have for you is to go directly to Laine. She's got all the census stuff, all electronically.

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/cc91/cc91bsts.htm
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/cc81/cc81bsts_ea.htm

2. These were also uploaded to the DLI.