Survey on the Official Language Minority Population (SOLMP)
Detailed information for 2022
Status:
Active
Frequency:
Occasional
Record number:
5355
The Survey on the Official Language Minority Population (SOLMP) is a postcensal survey of the English-speaking population in Quebec and the French-speaking population elsewhere in Canada. The data will provide a better understanding of the current situation of official language minorities regarding issues such as education and access to various services in the minority language.
Description
The Survey on the Official Language Minority Population (SOLMP) is intended to support data users in official language minority communities (OLMCs) by providing data on current issues and topics that affect official language minorities, meeting data needs that are not covered by existing data and measuring the evolution of the OLMCs' situation since the last survey, conducted in 2006.
Through data collection, the SOLMP will support departments and federal agencies in the development and implementation of official languages objectives and programs. This includes the Action Plan for Official Languages, as well as government, university and private researchers who are interested in issues that particularly concern OLMCs.
Data sources and methodology
Target population
The SOLMP 2022 target population is made up of individuals who were part of the official language minority in Canada as of the 2021 Census and remained so as of May 16, 2022. This sub-population consists of English-speaking residents of Quebec and French-speaking residents in the other provinces and territories in Canada, as well as their children. It also includes children who, because of the linguistic profile and language of instruction of a parent, would be eligible to receive education in the minority official language of the province or territory in which they reside.
From the target population, the observed population includes only individuals living in a private household and who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents. As well, individuals residing on an Indian reserve or certain Northern communities are excluded. Finally, with regards to the three territories, only individuals who live in the capitals are eligible to be sampled.
Instrument design
The SOLMP questionnaire is based on that of the Survey on the Vitality of Official Language Minorities (SVOLM), a postcensal survey conducted in 2006. Updates were made to the questions in consultation with external advisory committees.
The SOLMP questionnaire was tested by the Questionnaire Design Resource Center (QDRC) by interviewing recruited test respondents; recommended changes to the questionnaire were implemented based on QDRC recommendations.
Sampling
This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.
A stratified random sample of individuals, adults and children, is selected based on characteristics reported on the Census 2021 with respect to their place of residence, their age and linguistic profile.
Individuals are the sampling units and not households. When a child is selected, the person answering the questionnaire on the child's behalf is an adult of the same Census family.
Strata are obtained by crossing three pieces of information: place of residence, age and linguistic profile. For all provinces the place of residence is the province except for Québec, Ontario and New Brunswick where the place of residence is one of a number of pre-specified sub-regions. For the three territories the place of residence is their capital. The linguistic profile is based on the one official language of Canada standing as that of the minority in the place of residence. For Québec it is English, and everywhere else it is French.
Within each stratum, a random sample is drawn after the frame has been sorted first by census dissemination area based on their official language minority index of concentration.
Data sources
Data collection for this reference period: 2022-05-16 to 2022-11-30
Responding to this survey is voluntary.
Data are collected directly from survey respondents and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys.
The metadata will be provided upon release.
View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .
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