The efforts of immigrants and later generations to keep their language and culture alive in Canada

Although Canada is known for its multiculturalism, second and third generation families of immigrants say that they are facing problems to keep their culture and especially their mother tongue alive.

According to Statistics Canada, between 2016 and 2021, approximately 6.3 million immigrants had a mother tongue other than French or English, but in their second generation, that number dropped to 1.2 million. In the third generation, this number even reached 250 thousand people. In Toronto, in 2021, about 42% of the city's residents had a mother tongue other than English or French. Of these, 25.9% spoke a language other than Canada's official languages at home.

According to experts, shame and embarrassment of the mother tongue is one of the main reasons for the disappearance of languages over the generations. Many languages are disappearing in Canada and grandparents are very upset that their children no longer speak their language.

It is important to support the preservation of multilingualism, which makes Canada a special place to live.

Experts believe that government incentives and financial aid in the arts is one of the ways to maintain multilingualism.

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