Unpacking the Diversity of Quebec Anglophones

Disponible en anglais seulement - When we think of the diversity of Quebec’s English-speaking population what usually comes to mind is its substantial share of immigrants and variety of ethnocultural and ethnoracial groups. It is however characterized by multiple identities that include regional diversity with a relatively important concentration of its members in the Montreal region, a significant percentage of seniors and noteworthy differences in levels of education, income and employment. Generational differences are reflected in the relative ability of the group to speak both English and French. Most studies of the views of Quebec’s Anglophone population have focused on its politics and the tendency has been to depict it as relatively monolithic in terms of its identity. In that which follows attention is directed at the sociocultural characteristics of the Anglophone population and the impact of the group’s diversity on its perception of Quebec society. Amongst the matters considered are the priorities identified by Anglophones, the importance they attribute to access to selected services, in what language their social contacts take place, their interest in employment with the civil service and their perceptions around access to such jobs, the extent to which they respectively regard the French language and the English community as threatened, whether they intend to move and if so what motivates migration decisions and finally their perceived impact and awareness of community leadership. Conducted by the firm CROP for the Community Heath and Social Services Network (CHSSN) in the fall of 2005, the results oft his study are based on a survey of more that 3 100 Quebec that speak English most often in their homes.